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‘A Cure For Dead’ Pushes the Prejudice that Zombies are Inherently Bad and Need to be ‘Cured’

Posted By on March 15, 2011

Bear with me a bit as I actually employ my degree in Criminal Justice/Political Science a bit, folks:

Frequently in Anti-Zombie fiction, we are presented with a certain narrative, that of the Reluctant Protagonist Who Must Combat the Zombie Hordes. In this storyline, the protagonist, despite acting like a sociopathic madman or madwoman, looting, pillaging, and laying waste to the countryside, is in fact ‘justified’ by the savage turn of events the world has taken. His victims, err, ‘enemies’, are Zombies, or the particular misunderstanding thereof employed by the creative personality behind the Anti-Zombie movie/book/game.

The Reluctant Protagonist does not want to do these terrible things to Zombies, you understand. He/she simply must, because they are inherently subhuman creatures and would do awful things if left to their own devices. Pity the Zombie, these films say, but double-tap them just the same.

This repulsive line of thought has historical parallels, in case anyone is wondering. In the 19th century, Criminal Justice went through a revolution under what is called the ‘Positivist’ School. Simply put, Positivists searched for an objective basis to measure crime and determine what a crime was, rather than crime being defined simply as something that breaks the law. Positivists had some good ideas, but unfortunately, many of them attempted to combine late 19th century understandings of Biology to crime, and the result was what is now called the ‘Italian School’.

Have you seen the episode of The Simpsons, by chance, where Mr. Burns reveals he is a fan of phrenology, the measuring of skulls to determine mental traits? He famously dismissed Mr. Smither’s criticism of phrenology as quackery by stating:

“Of course you’d say that…you have the brainpan of a stagecoach tilter!”

That, in a nutshell, is the Italian School. Criminality, or other undesirable behaviors, is the result of the criminal being an evolutionary throwback, a lesser breed of humanity. (Or, sometimes, the result of brain damage.) In any case, the criminal population was to be managed clinically, generally locked up as long as possible, because crime was biology, and as such neither deterrence nor rehabilitation were possible. It was a short step from the Italian School to the adoption of Eugenics policies designed to ‘fix’ the problem of a criminal population once and for all by removing it from existence, one way or another.

I bring this up to point out how, despite this school of thought being thrown out ages ago with regard to the Living, it still predominates the average person’s understanding of Zombies today. Zombies are inherently criminals, or so the average American believes; they cannot help feasting upon the flesh of the living, particularly their delicious brains. It’s not their ‘fault’ per se, and they are often depicted as objects of pity (witness Bub the Zombie in ‘Day of the Dead’) by even the most hardcore Anti-Zombie directors and authors.

This has the benefit of allowing the directors and writers of these media projects to reconcile the obviously improper behavior on display by the lead characters with pre-existing notions of decency and proper behavior. Via Italian School-style assumptions about the Differently Animated population, we can handwave away the aggression and psychosis of the main characters of an average Anti-Zombie; it’s not their fault either, you see. Biology demands headshots.

Riiight.

Into this sorry tradition of moral rationalization comes ‘A Cure For Dead’, a new Anti-Zombie web series whose trailer I have posted below. Essentially we are presented with a standard Zombie Apocalypse scenario, but the twist is, some boffins have discovered a ‘cure’ for Zombiism. Now the one surviving member of this scientific team needs to journey through hostile territory (aka the Zombie Community) and he recruits a team of experienced Survivors/spree killers to help him do just that:

We are presented here with a sort of idealized fantasy of Italian School positivism. If the Zombie Apocalypse was written by Cesare Lombroso, it might look exactly like this. Only, you know, in Italian, I suppose. Here we have a population who are doomed to crime via biology, especially the crime of devouring our plucky protagonists (which has to rate as a misdemeanor at most, considering how annoying Survivors usually are).

Doomed, unless the noble academic can implement a plan to cure them of their inherent inferiority through applied biological science. Eugenics in a glowing green syringe.

Needless to say, The Zombie Rights Campaign takes a very, very dim view of this premise. Historically, such views have only led to tragedy and violence, and that is precisely what we see, even in this short trailer, from ‘A Cure For Dead’.

Zombies are people too, and may indeed have a fundamentally different biology from the Living, but that does not alter in any way their underlying sameness when it comes to our shared humanity. ‘Curing’ a Zombie is an assault on individual identity and a declaration of war against an already oppressed and marginalized population that only wants to live side by side with the Living. That’s terrible, and it’s what the ZRC is here to combat.

Thus, based on the available materials, the ZRC can tentatively brand ‘A Cure For Dead’ with our lowest mark, that of Living Supremacist. Stay tuned for further evaluation as episodes become available.

I'm actually using my CJUS degree today!
Hat Tip to BuyZombie for bringing this to out attention.

‘You’re Lucky’ Shirt from Hot Topic Extends Anti-Zombie Prejudice to Teen Market

Posted By on March 14, 2011

Hot Topic, the beloved chain of emo teenagers and fans of having absolutely everything printed with a design from 80s cartoons or Invader Zim, has decided to cash in a bit on the Anti-Zombie market with this t-shirt. which ‘humorously’ states that:

Offensive and inaccurate.

Honestly, the brain-eating thing is just completely out of hand. For some reason, this one particular stereotype, traceable to the Russo/O’Bannon masterpiece of schlock ‘Return of the Living Dead’, has endured in the public consciousness more than almost any other, and yet, in very, very few works about Zombies, whether Zombie Friendly or Anti-Zombie or worse, has it been the case, and the overall proportion of the Differently Animated who require occasional neural ingestion is very low indeed.

Still, it persists, and hence we have here a snarky, high-school ready bit of sarcasm insulting the reader of the shirt along with the Differently Animated as a group. Offensive, bigoted and shallow, what a winning combination in apparel.

The Zombie Rights Campaign therefore, and with some justification we think, rates this garment as Anti-Zombie.

Go back to selling backpacks with Gir on them, Hot Topic.

‘The Walking Dead’ DVDs Give Insight Into their Process of Making Living Supremacist Propaganda

Posted By on March 14, 2011

Some fascinating details on the ‘Walking Dead’ DVD box set now available, which the ZRC will be buying as soon as I can arrange a suitable container to prevent the concentrated evil from these monstrous DVDs from seeping into our living environment. Maybe a fire safe that’s been consecrated? How did they bind Samael in the Hellboy movie? Ah yes, the tears of a thousand angels. It’d be tricky to get that many tears..

Ahem. Anyway, on to the details at hand, and the fawning way the Mainstream Press gobbles up the behind the scenes information on making Living Supremacist propaganda:

The Walking Dead was a surprise hit last fall, pulling in 5.3 million viewers for its first episode and more than six million for the series finale. The DVD and Blu-ray, out this week, includes all six episodes; a half-hour making-of; and various short features including a peek behind the scenes at the making of “bicycle girl” (a grisly, legless zombie).

There’s also a look at “zombie school,” the quick course taken by all the undead extras to ensure consistent behaviour. Because it would never do to have shambling, Romero-style zombies mixing it up with freaky, fast-moving 28 Days Later types.

Such attention to detail is what makes the series so watchable from the get-go. For instance, Grimes finds a horse and decides it’s a better ride than his cruiser, which leads to the shot of a lone horseman riding a deserted highway into Atlanta, past outbound lanes choked with abandoned cars. (Although if civilization ever came to an end, wouldn’t people fleeing cities use both sides of the road? Still, an impressive image.)

Oh, the number of problems with the logic of ‘The Walking Dead’ doesn’t stop there. I mean, here you have yet another Zombie Apocalypse where someone wakes up in a hospital despite being comatose for weeks and is fit and spry enough to jump around and fend for themselves immediately. What’s up with that?

Then of course there’s the fact that, somehow, when a protagonist is asleep at the start of a Zombie Apocalypse, despite being surrounded by heat-seeking and allegedly carnivorous ‘Zombies’, they never get bothered. Is this meant to resemble an old-school Role Playing Game, where nothing in the world happens when the party is asleep?

Hey, maybe that’s how you ride out a ‘Zombie Apocalypse’. You just need to find an inn, pay 50 gil, and you can sleep until the danger has passed. Simple, right?

But logic issues aside, look at this process a bit. In an attempt to maintain internal consistency the demagogues behind ‘The Walking Dead’ establish a crash-course in carefully crafted stereotyping, so that their actors, or rather, their stooges, maintain a consistent public face for their hate campaign.

Isn’t the fact that their scenario requires such careful and elaborate scripting a sign, a remarkable one at that, of how unrealistic it is? If the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ was in fact a relevant and imminent threat you’d think it wouldn’t require special acting classes.

Still, they soldier on, preparing another season (at least) of their despicable and unconscionable media assault on the Differently Animated, and with a sycophantic press corps devouring every morsel of gossip about all things Walking Dead, they won’t have any trouble finding their audience once again.

‘ZOMs’ May be Adorable But Are Still Living Supremacist

Posted By on March 14, 2011

Kickstarter has become an integral part of many independent projects; I’ve contributed to a few myself, and the ZRC endorsed the Detroit Needs Robocop Kickstarter campaign as a thoroughly Zombie Friendly project, so it’s with some sadness I have to report that it can be used for nefarious, plushy evil as well:

It’s coming… the ZOM horde!!! And it’s going to be the cutest zombie apocalypse ever.

Until now, ZOMs have all been hand-sewn and only available for sale at conventions, art galleries, and on Etsy. But the demand for these plushy little brain-eaters is starting to turn epidemic.

“What can I do?” you ask.

Pre-order here to support the first commercial run of ZOMs and get one (or more) of the first edition, most highly collectible ZOMs ever!

Once we’ve reached the first-level goal of $5000, we’re ready to start production on a batch of “Horace” dolls, the first ZOM I ever created. So pre-order one or ten or more, or make it personal and order a custom ZOM. You’re account will be debited only when the kickstarter ends and we have reached the goal. Then when your ZOM arrives, you can report your precious little bundle of horror on the ZOM Outbreak tracking map at zoms.com, and watch the epidemic spread from the relative safety of your home.

ZOMs are, if you follow the link or watch the above video, a line of adorable, plushy Zombie stereotypes. Dripping with blood, mouths agape, they’re cuddly but incredibly regressive, and the plush toy line seems engendered to, much like Plants vs. Zombies, push the incredibly harmful Zombie Apocalypse myth via another ‘family friendly’ product. Sure, people will find these particular Zombie-like creations adorable, but that adorable-ness only serves to get a foot in the door, the foot of hatred and prejudice.

Yes. A foot of hatred and prejudice.

At any rate, the secretive and nefarious cabal behind ZOMs is now looking to have batches professionally made, and have started a Kickstarter campaign in order to raise money. Thus is the power of working together, of Solidarity if you will, turned against the Zombie Community. We here at the ZRC cannot condemn this sad turn of events enough. If adorable Anti-Zombiism makes it out of the beachhead already established by ZOMs, where will it end? This could be the next major breakthrough in the ever-evolving media campaign against the Differently Animated.

So please, don’t donate to the campaign. I know the temptation, how attractive it might seem to have your very own cuddly plush Zombie. I realize that such products, even imperfect, are few and far between. But hold fast, please, and save your money for more Zombie Friendly products! Resist the siren call of huggable, fuzzy, yet still Anti-Zombie toys.

The ZRC is compelled to award ZOMs, based on their marketing and furtherance of the ‘Outbreak’ mythology, our lowest rating, that of Living Supremacist.

An outbreak of cuddly hate.

Thanks to BuyZombie for bringing this campaign to our attention.

Influenced by Zombie Apocalypse Myth, Police Oppress Those They Think Are Zombielike

Posted By on March 13, 2011

A truly disturbing story out of Georgia, where apparently ‘Zombie’ has become a code word for people the police find undesirable and want to defame, even harass:

WARNER ROBINS — The houses along the half-mile street, Southern Avenue, are outwardly worn, and the people who live in the neighborhood are well-aware the street is ridden with crime.

“Junkies and prostitutes. They the ones walking up and down the street” at night, said resident Martavis Williams.

The residents who spoke Friday about their downtrodden street in the northeast corner of the city agreed those Southern Avenue frequenters were likely the target of the term a Warner Robins police lieutenant allegedly used in a reported Facebook post. One resident said he did not have a problem with the comment about “the Zombie Apocalypse” on the street.

“The date of the Zombie Apocalypse is approaching quickly. If you want proof drive down Southern Ave at 0200. All you will see is Zombies and Brandon the Zombie hunter,” said one of three alleged posts that investigators are reviewing.

Truly an unnerving and unsettling case of an individual who seems to have lost contact with reality and now believes himself to be a hero-figure, a Survivor, from some ghastly ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ scenario. Which of course would justify callousness and indifference toward the citizens of a crime-ridden area he allegedly serves; after all, if they’re all ‘Zombies’, or soon will be, what’s the point, right? So goes the logic of the Living Supremacist.

Naturally the media chooses to frame the debate in other terms; is ‘Zombie’ actually a code word for African-Americans, they ask, instead of looking at the truth: the blood-drenched Anti-Zombie media is having a real impact in the way actual authority figures, armed with guns and funded by the state, do their jobs and interact with the citizenry, whether Living, Undead or somewhere in between.

Shocking and appalling behavior all around, and yet another failure to add to the lengthy list from our society’s so-called journalists I might add.

Compounding the tragedy is the fact that even those who have been lumped in with Zombies and oppressed in the name of a ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ still find themselves unable to ally with the Differently Animated against this mistreatment:

However, residents Mystic Best, 27, and Crystal Jackson, 19, said, the term “zombie” is inappropriate, no matter who said it. Though the friends admitted to being in trouble with police in the past, they said Southern Avenue is their home.

“It was really foul,” Best said. “I have a family, kids. When I walk through here, I don’t see no zombies.”

Maybe if Best opened their eyes they could see that Zombies are people too, and the police are employing a classic divide and conquer strategy, successfully, it seems, stifling any nascent Solidarity movement between the Differently Animated and other underserved Georgia communities.

Don’t even get me started on how it’s apparently now acceptable to conflate Zombies and drug addicts, prostitutes, etc either. We’ve seen ‘Zombie’ used to describe parasites, diseases, out-of-vogue ideas in politics and economics, and now it’s a term to describe any criminal element that stodgy authorities don’t want to deal with. Isn’t that special?

Repulsive. The whole story is just repulsive and sad. Special Kudos to Valve and Robert Kirkman for setting their Anti-Zombie franchises in the South, by the way, and inflaming what are obviously already dangerous tensions in the region. I hope they’re happy with the results of the polluted Anti-Zombie culture and mythos of the Deep South, one that they helped to further poison.

Saturday in Videos

Posted By on March 13, 2011

I haven’t uploaded absolutely everything yet, but I have a decent slate of videos the ZRC took at the rally yesterday to share with our dedicated blogging audience.


(Opening ceremonies, singalong of an old union song.)


(A fantastic speech about the natural alliance of farmers, who are after all rural labor, and traditional urban labor movements)


(Ryan Bingham performs ‘This Land is Your Land’, which was really nice)


(Jim Hightower gave a nice talk as well)

That’s about it for now; I have another couple of videos I may upload later though. The ZRC is trying to keep busy and keep up our work documenting these events, because what those of you outside Wisconsin are seeing, of what little the national news shows, is highly inaccurate and prejudicial. The truth here on the ground needs to be documented. Fortunately, via so-called new media like Flickr, Youtube, and of course blogs like ours, we can get that truth out to the wider world.

Thanks for watching.

The Nexus of Zombie Rights and Labor Rights Again Exposed

Posted By on March 13, 2011

At the rally Saturday I saw a man holding a sign that, unfortunately, perpetuates some negative stereotypes about the Differently Animated.

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Now, of course, some Zombies like brains. Some Zombies require brains as part of their balanced diet, in the same way that Living people need Vitamin C or diabetics need insulin. It’s nothing to be ashamed of and certainly nothing to apologize for. Thanks to John Russo and his ilk, however, the Living Community has often become fixated upon this brain-eating thing and attributes it, in the manner of a moral failing rather than a simple biological necessity, to all Zombiekind, and that’s both inaccurate and offensive.

So I spoke with the man at length, and astonishingly, he was willing to trade me his sign for a few of our latest ZRC informational pamphlet!

I can say without a doubt that we made a serious difference on Saturday. That sign is now safely stashed away here in the ZRC compound, as a memento of another mind and heart opened with the power of the Zombie Friendly message. Once again we see the value of Solidarity demonstrated in vivid terms, and I think the ZRC’s wide-ranging solidarity efforts are validated by results like these. It was a good morning indeed for Zombie Rights.

Saturday ‘Tractorcade’ Protests at Wisconsin Capitol

Posted By on March 13, 2011

Yesterday I went down to the protests at the Capitol, and they were easily the biggest yet. It took me an hour to get parked and I was using the city garage furthest from the square. If I had to estimate, given that previous large protests were rated at 80k+ people, this one probably involved 120k or more.

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The highlight of Saturday’s protest, at least in the morning when I went, was the ‘Tractorcade’ event, where farmers from around Wisconsin drove their tractors into Madison and, in effect, occupied the Capitol with their slow moving traffic.

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This is highly reminiscent of the large scale protests seen often in France, where farmers and truckers use their vehicles to shut the country down with blockades. It heartens me greatly because, in the event a general strike *is* called, and at this point we have to hope it will be, this is the sort of logistical capability that will be required. Nothing shuts down a government faster than paralyzing its roads with heavy machinery.

Anonymous was there, to the extent one can say any anonymous organization is anywhere. I find their presence heartening too, as Anonymous has proven to be a highly effective agitator and disruptor of late, and let’s face it, it’s better for society that their skills be directed at legitimate evil than random idiots on the internet.

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(Great sign, btw)

At the stage they had a great lineup of speakers and musicians. Most of the speakers were farmers, heads of local cooperatives or unions themselves.

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The crowds were *enormous*

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(I wish I knew this man’s name. He gave a great speech which I caught most of on video, about the history of populism and the alliance of labor and farmers)

Ryan Bingham did a great set there, and I have his rendition of ‘This Land is Your Land’ up on Youtube.

Jim Hightower also gave a lengthy talk that was half standup comedy, half political speech. Interesting mix really.

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(Here’s a dedicated individual)

In case you were wondering if it was officially the 60s again, SDS was at the protest.

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Saturday was a lot lower key than the abuse I saw earlier in the week, and people felt comfortable bringing their kids, which is how it *should* be, and shame forever on the Capitol Police for making it otherwise earlier.

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(Union Cab was also out in force helping to snarl traffic. More general strike ammunition I suppose)

That’s about it for Saturday in pictures. The full set from Saturday, with unfortunately a lot of dupes, is here. The collection of all Madison related protest pics is here, and the ZRC Youtube channel is here.

Anti-Zombie Book “The Living End: A Zombie Novel” Takes Page From Resident Evil, Goes After Puppies Too

Posted By on March 12, 2011

I wonder why it is that, of all the potentially Zombie animals out there, it’s dogs that seem to inspire the most fiction. Perhaps the earliest I became aware of this phenomenon was in the story ‘The Pack’ by Chet Williamson, written in 1991. (Now that’s a gruesome one, more than a bit strange, and, after a fashion, even somewhat sympathetic to Zombie dogs). However, Zombie dogs definitely hit their stride with Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan), which quickly made them into one of its iconic ‘monsters’ the player can beat up on to stroke their ego and gave the Anti-Zombie crowd a new target to fixate upon, which has only grown in popularity over the years.

Into this climate of Anti-Zombie dog hatred steps a new book which blends the Zombie Apocalypse with dogs who may, or may not, be Zombies as well, scoring a two for one on spreading fear I suppose:

One Hundred and Fifty Million Zombies. Sixty Million Dogs. All of them hungry for warm human flesh. The dead have risen, killing anyone they find. The living know what’s caused it-a vicious contagion. But too late to stop it. For now, what remains of society are busy shutting down nuclear reactors and securing chemical plants to prevent runaway reactions in both. There’s little time for anything else. Failed comic book artist Rick Nuttman and his family have joined thousands of other desperate people in trying to find a haven from the madness. Perhaps refuge can be found in the village of Sparta or maybe there is salvation in The City of Ruth, a community raised from the ashes of Carolina. In the low country below the hills, a monster named Danger Man changes everything. While watching over it all, the mysterious figure of BC, moving his gigantic canine pack westward, into lands where survivors think they are safe And always, the mindless hordes neither living nor dead, waiting only to destroy. There will be a reckoning.

There will be a reckoning, unless those pesky ASPCA people get in the way! Or something!

Sorry, all this apocalypse talk has angried up the blood.

So which will it be that ends the world? Zombies? Dogs? The Irish? Who or what else can we spread suspicion to? What else can we cross with Zombies to sell copy?

Maybe a Zombie version of ‘Watership Down’ where the rabbits finally get their revenge on man?

As is true of just about every object fashioned by the hand of man, ‘The Living End: A Zombie Novel’ is available on Amazon if you choose to acquire it.

For Zomdogs, I prefer Patches, our Spokeszombie Tim’s loveable pet, who you can see in our latest pamphlet I might add. But to each his own.

The Mountain Goats are with Wisconsin

Posted By on March 11, 2011

hee. I’m definitely a Mountain Goats fan so this is nice information to have, and it comes with a cool video from JD of The Mountain Goats to share:

Power In A Union from JD on Vimeo.