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The Zombie Apocalypse and the Blurring Line Between Fact and Fiction

1/23/2016

40 Comments

 
I read a sad story today about a 16-year-old who shot and killed his father and brother two years ago and is currently on trial for the killings. According to media accounts, the teen’s father, who was addicted to pain medication, had become convinced that the zombie apocalypse was about to occur and had been training his son in the most effective ways to kill the undead, specifically with headshots and decapitation. The entire family, who lived in Idaho, had joined in the father’s madness and were making plans to escape to a rural and isolated area to ride out the coming rise of the dead, according to accused killer Eldon Samuel III’s mother, Tina Samuel. 
Tina Samuel told the court that her husband would spend days on end playing first-person shooter zombie games with his son and allowed his son to stay home from school to watch zombie movies in order to escape bullies. By most accounts, the boy’s father had dedicated much of his life to zombie-themed media.
 
The whole story is impossibly sad, but I can’t help but reflect on the way it represents in microcosm the way the boundaries between fact and fiction blur. In this case, drug addiction, mental illness, and abuse played a role, but it was fiction that shaped the form that the dead man, Eldon Samuel, Jr., gave to his paranoia and delusions.
 
The story attracted media attention because of the sensational subject matter—doomsday preppers who believe in zombies!—but I can’t help but think that it’s different only in degree and not in kind from people who accept and act on other pop culture tropes that they mistake for fact. How different, really, are the Ancient Aliens fans think that aliens will soon be returning, or the History Channel super-fans who write to me with disturbing frequency to tell me that history as we know it is a lie because they saw something different on TV?
 
But even if you concede that there is a difference between the obviously fictional and the putatively nonfictional, this case is hardly the first where Americans have taken TV fiction for reality. It’s not even the first time Americans have taken zombies for reality. A few years ago the there was a cable show about “zombie preppers” who were convinced that the undead would soon rise. I think that the impact of fiction on individuals’ worldviews is probably underestimated, and as a species that reacts to stories we tend to infer a level of reality behind even fictional stories. In the case of zombies in particular, the media don’t help things by riding the line between fact and fiction with the “science” of the undead, nor do business catering to the paranoid, which have whole lines of “prepping” materials for the dedicated zombie prepper (like this anti-zombie fort), or even the CDC, which produced a tongue-in-cheek guide to surviving the zombie apocalypse that far too many mistook for the real thing.
 
It becomes difficult to figure out what to do about the difficulty some people have in separating fact from fiction. There are no good answers. The people who can’t tell the difference would simply latch on to some other symbolic expression of their inner pain if any one particular fantasy went away, but the fact that there are people who have trouble telling fantasy from real life should give us pause about the ability of the average information consumer to distinguish between good and bad nonfiction claims. After all, surveys find that as many as 1 in 5 Americans is “somewhat” afraid of a zombie uprising occurring someday, while 6% of Millennials say zombies are already real.
40 Comments
Clete
1/23/2016 02:30:26 pm

Frankly, I believe zombies are real. They exist in the United States, confined mainly to the United States Senate and Republicans running for the office of President.

Reply
Tony
1/26/2016 12:29:53 pm

Donald Trump is a yellow-haired werewolf (flavo loup garou?).

Reply
Uncle Ron
1/23/2016 02:52:56 pm

Seriously, Clete, you can not restrict it only to Republicans.

Reply
Mark link
1/23/2016 03:03:22 pm

No, no. Hillary's a lady Dracula, not a zombie. Common mistake.

Reply
DaveR
1/25/2016 11:35:02 am

Condelisa Rice was clearly an alien/human/reptilian hybrid.

Mark link
1/23/2016 03:04:25 pm

I used to know a guy who believed in the imminent zombie apocalypse - an ex-coworker of my mother's. As far as I know, he never stockpiled guns or anything, but he apparently did have a bugout plan and so forth. Perhaps not coincidentally, he was also a major consumer of drugs, including hallucinogens.

Reply
Crash55
1/23/2016 03:10:03 pm

Some people have always had a hard time super aging fact from fiction. What about kids dying thinking they were superman and jumping off of roofs? In probably every era, definitely every era of movie / TV, you can find people you think that what they read or see is true. Zombies are just the latest craze.

There are actual zombies in the insect world. They take over and control the dead host for a while.

There are also supposed zombies in Haiti. Though those people are never dead just controlled through drugs.


Reply
Dan D'Silva
1/24/2016 05:17:20 pm

The insect "zombies" I know of aren't dead either, just in the terminal stages of fungal infection causing patterns of abnormal behavior. I would even compare it to a person being drugged, or at least delirious.

Reply
Time Machine
1/23/2016 04:41:05 pm

Blimey, there are people who still believe "Snuff" was really a "snuff film"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072184/

Reply
Durham
1/23/2016 05:19:58 pm

They lived in Idaho, and planned "to escape to a rural and isolated area". Isn't that a bit redundant?

Reply
David Bradbury
1/24/2016 05:14:48 am

They probably lived in a city, with a population of well over 700.

Reply
Only Me
1/23/2016 05:47:13 pm

It makes me wonder what impact the game The Last of Us had on such people. Even folks who have the game, or at least saw it, often referred to the "Infected" characters as zombies. There are even discussions about what would happen if the fungal outbreak in the game—based on the real-world Cordyceps fungus—actually made the jump to humans and what someone could do to survive.

I realize most of us would have fun discussing just such a scenario for "What if?" purposes, but I guess most anything can be taken too seriously by some.

Reply
Jacko the Beanstalk
1/23/2016 07:22:00 pm

"what would happen if the fungal outbreak in the game—based on the real-world Cordyceps fungus—actually made the jump to humans "

Infected humans would go mad...they'd climb grass stalks.

Reply
Gerard Plourde
1/23/2016 07:53:27 pm

The fact that one in five Americans polled believes that a zombie apocalypse is theoretically possible really does show the importance of sound science education in all schools. Dead, rotting tissue cannot reanimate. Once the brain ceases functioning, independent movement is impossible. To lack basic uncderstanding of what is physically possible leaves one vulnerable to accept anything as true.

Reply
Mark link
1/23/2016 09:51:13 pm

Alternatively, it might mean that 20% of the American public doesn't take opinion polls about zombies seriously.

I mean, I can hope so, can't I?

Reply
Gerard Plourde
1/23/2016 09:56:56 pm

'Tis a possibility devoutly to be wish'd." (Apologies to Shakespeare). Sadly, I agree a remote one.

Shane Sullivan
1/23/2016 10:00:11 pm

In all fairness, the word "zombie" is thrown around pretty liberally these days, and doesn't always refer to a reanimated corpse. It's much easier to believe that a zombie apocalypse is possible if you're willing to define the condition as more closely resembling mass psychogenic illness.

Reply
flip
1/23/2016 11:48:55 pm

Isn't this issue just another Frankenstein? Ie. a reaction to fears about modern technology and progress. In which case the answer is the same as always: more critical thinking taught and more attempts to reach out and explain why we shouldn't be afraid. The rest comes down to better mental health outreach and resources and better assistance for drug users.

Reply
Gerard Plourde
1/23/2016 11:59:00 pm

Mostly I'd agree with your assessment, but I think there's an added element of pseudo-science - the type that claims that technology exists that can detect paranormal activity. It creates a dangerous mix of fake science with ancient superstition and cloaks with a superficially reasonable veneer.

Reply
flip
1/25/2016 07:58:55 am

Which brings us back to more critical thinking taught in schools, etc and more pro-science outreach.

Time Machine
1/24/2016 09:54:09 am

>>>element of pseudo-science<<<

Like STURP and the Turin Shroud.

Reply
Gerard Plourde
1/24/2016 10:21:58 am

What's STURP?

Reply
Time Machine
1/24/2016 10:38:26 am

Shroud of Turin Research Project comprised of scientists "interested" in the Turin Shroud that jettisoned Walter McCrone,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shroud_of_Turin_Research_Project

Disclaimer: The above link does not mean I endorse Wikipedia

Gerard Plourde
1/24/2016 12:50:56 pm

@ Time Machine - Thanks. I have to admit that I don't know what to make of the Shroud. As far as I know no attempt to replicate the detail and precision of the negative image discovered in 1898 has been totally successful. So, assuming it's a medieval forgery, the process by which it was created is still unknown to us. Do you know of any successful attempts?

Reply
Time Machine
1/25/2016 12:12:29 am

Joe Nickell did it on a documentary.

Reply
Time Machine
1/25/2016 12:38:30 am

Joe Nickell did a realistic duplicate of the Turin Shroud on this documentary

Miracles of Faith: Or Creations of Chemistry? (Supernatural Science series, Season One, Episode Two). Episode Two Produced and Directed by Helen Thomas. BBC Scienceworld Production for BBC Worldwide and Discovery Channel, BBC Worldwide Limited, 1999.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1816358/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural_Science


Time Machine
1/25/2016 12:55:21 am

I'll see if I can get the segment about the Turin Shroud from that documentary uploaded on YouTube. No promises.

Gerard Plourde
1/25/2016 12:58:37 am

I'd be curious to see it. Does he actually reproduce a detailed life-size, double-sided image?

Time Machine
1/25/2016 01:09:33 am

It wasn't double-sided. It was only a demo produced for the documentary that duplicated the blood stains and the negative effect.

Time Machine
1/25/2016 10:42:36 am

Here's the YouTube upload - it's only a video-to-DVD transfer so it's not great quality. Joe Nickell is mistakenly presented as "Dr"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gF9Io65QY8

DaveR
1/25/2016 11:43:49 am

If Jesus existed and was executed and then IF he rose from the day...that would make Jesus the first Zombie?

Reply
Gerard Plourde
1/25/2016 11:55:32 am

Good question. Does status as a zombie preclude sentience? If the supposition is that the Gospel accounts are accurate as to death and resurrection, then the supposition would also have to accept the numerous high-level interactions he had with the Apostles. If he's interpreting Scripture and giving instructions regarding the future actions of the Apostles, then he's functioning at a high cognitive level, something of which the traditional zombie is incapable.

Reply
DaveR
1/25/2016 01:37:17 pm

Sorry about the typos in my original post.

What about the zombies from "Pet Cemetery?" They functioned at a higher level than the mindless brain eating zombies of pop culture.

Shane Sullivan
1/25/2016 01:43:16 pm

What goes into the Holy Sepulchre...ain't what comes out.

Sometimes, dead is better.

DaveR
1/25/2016 01:56:10 pm

Ayuh, the ground went sour.

Uncle Ron
1/26/2016 08:20:46 pm

I'm not a horror fan but one of my favorite movies is Pumpkinhead (1988) which steals its fundamental plot device from Pet Semetary and features a zombie-like creature derived from a dead human child.

Gerard Plourde
1/25/2016 03:18:52 pm

DaveR - Your allusion to Pet Semitary is interesting. Do we know if King intended the resurrected pets to be zombies or some kind of possessed beings?

Reply
DaveR
1/26/2016 08:59:42 am

My memory of the book is that old farmer said it was an old Micmac burial ground and they stopped using it when the ground went sour. What you put in the ground ain't what comes out, it's different. They know things that are secret, but true. I don't think they were possessed, but they came back certainly bent on doing bad things.

Tony
1/26/2016 12:40:12 pm

I had a cat that may not have been a zombie, but he definitely had an evil side. It was impossible to find a cat sitter, because he attacked everyone. I loved that cat, and I like to think he loved me, but just to be on the safe side, I had him cremated instead of buried.

Josh B.
1/30/2016 11:42:52 am

It's strange, because magical thinking isn't really new (it's probably among the oldest aspects of humanity, actually), but for some reason it does seem like society has embraced it to a greater degree within the past decade or so...

I've actually been thinking of writing an editorial or article (if I can find a good enough angle, for the latter) about this phenomenon, because I think it deserves a lot more recognition and study. In fact, I was really close to registering a Web domain called "Apocaphile" since the term is so apt, yet it's hardly ever been used to describe these types of people. Or at least it wasn't very prevalent a couple years ago when I last checked; a quick Google search of the word only found a handful of hits.

It's the best way I could think of to describe them, because they don't always fall within the bounds of the deeply paranoid or "doomsayers" who believe "the shit's gonna hit the fan" any day now...

The difference, from what I've observed, seems to be that these "apocaphiles" are not just passive and reactionary; they really want the world to end -- or at the very least, for society and the world as we know it, to end. The scenarios depicted in popular media excite them, and they seem to yearn for it. My theory is that it's simply another way of escaping the banality of real life.

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