The Zombie Apocalypse: Be Prepared

Zombies are common in sci-fi/fantasy stories, comic books, and horror flicks. We all have probably seen movies about zombies or zombie-like creatures at some point in our lives. Night Of The Living Dead (1968; and a remake in 1990), Dance Of The Dead (2008), Zombie Strippers (2008), Resident Evil (film series), R.I.P.D – Rest In Peace Department (2013), World War Z (2013), etc. are all movies about such creatures.

 

World War Z is an apocalyptic film directed by Marc Forster and is loosely based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Max Brooks. The film stars Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations investigator who must travel the world to find a way to stop a zombie-like pandemic , that is toppling armies and governments, and threatening to destroy humanity itself.

Some of us enjoy horror movies, so it’s fun to watch. Some of us are rather terrified but we know that they are just movies; they are all just fiction. But what if they’re not just movies? What if zombies were real? 

Wikipedia defines "zombies" as "animated corpse(s) raised by magical means, such as witchcraft." In modern parlance, these un-dead former friends walk endlessly, seeking out brains of the living on which to feast. If they eat your brains, you don't die, entirely. You, too, become a zombie. However, throughout the history of mankind, there have been a grand total of zero zombie sightings confirmed by anything remotely resembling science.

But the U.S. government wants you to be prepared for the zombie pandemic anyway. Really, they even have posters.  See below

Yes, the Center for Disease Control (CDC)'s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response published these photos, along with the online resource-kit titled "Zombie Preparedness." The government agency notes that "there are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example."

That agency’s site leads to a blog post introducing the guide, which goes into some detail: "First of all, you should have an emergency kit in your house. This includes things like water, food, and other supplies to get you through the first couple of days before you can locate a zombie-free refugee camp." Specifically, the CDC suggests including items like a utility knife, duct tape, soap, and some first aid supplies, but in the last case, offers some pause: "although you're a gone if a zombie bites you, you can use these supplies to treat basic cuts and lacerations that you might get during a tornado or a hurricane."

And really, it's those types of emergencies -- real ones -- that the CDC is hoping to get you prepared for. The CDC's "Zombie Task Force" was a PR stunt, and a very successful one at that. The entire production cost $87, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, and gained so much traffic that it crashed the CDC's blog's server. 

Millions of people learned about emergency preparedness kits through the stunt.... and a few of them may have thought zombies were real, too. 

A zombie apocalypse isn't a real emergency because there's no such thing as zombies. David Daigle, the agency's spokesperson, told the Huffington Post that there was nothing to worry about: "CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms)."