We hope you'll find this blog an educational, entertaining, and inspiring source of information, whether you're recently undead, a long-time member of the differently animated, or a still-living friend of your fallen, yet risen again, brethren. Everyone with an interest in zombie rights is welcome!
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Posted By John Sears on February 16, 2011
Missed this one during our Valentine’s Day rundown, but one of the ZRC’s favorite comics, whose nameless and charismatic Zombie character was a nominee for 2010 Zombie of the Year, has put out a set of Zombie Friendly valentines graphics for you to enjoy over the next year.
It’s so nice when we can *all* share in a holiday, isn’t it?
Posted By John Sears on February 15, 2011
Today via Twitter we here at the ZRC learned about a very different sort of Zombie-related public event:
Zombie Con is a once a year gathering of Zombie Squad members from around the world. This year we will be meeting in Irondale, MO for 5 days, starting June 22rd.
The goal of this week long event is to bring people together to share disaster preparation/survival experience, discuss the direction and future of the Zombie Squad community or to just get away for a week and enjoy some bad movies with good company under the stars.
Doesn’t sound so bad, does it? I mean, they seem to be aware that the majority of Zombie movies are bad ones. That’s a start. Who are these Zombie Squad people?
Zombie Squad is an elite zombie suppression task force ready to defend your neighborhood from the shambling hordes of the walking dead. We provide trained, motivated, skilled zombie extermination professionals and zombie survival consultants. Our people and our training are the best in the industry.
When the zombie removal business is slow we focus our efforts towards educating ourselves and our community about the importance of disaster preparation.
To satisfy this goal we host disaster relief charity fundraisers, disaster preparation seminars and volunteer our time towards emergency response agencies.
‘zombie extermination professionals’? ‘industry’? Using fundraisers for charity as a front for their operations?
These guys are like the cruel, violent, murderous Anti-Zombie Rights Campaign!
On the one hand, it’s vaguely flattering to have arch-nemeses, but we’re talking about organized paramilitary Living Supremacists here – this isn’t something to fool around with.
Just what sort of activities do these people have planned for their sinister retreat?
Wednesday (6/22):
Set up camp
Meet and greet your fellow ZS members
Watch some bad zombie moviesThursday (6/23):
Morning PT
Seminars, presentations and discussion panels
Watch more zombie moviesFriday (6/24):
Morning PT
Field trip to a local shooting range (we supply trap device and clay pigeons)
Watch more zombie movies!Saturday (6/25):
Morning PT
Breakfast provided by Zombie Squad
Canoe trip
MRE Lunch provided by Zombie Squad
Dinner provided by Zombie Squad
Watch zombie moviesSunday (6/26):
Moan about being sore
Clean up and go home
Some of the seminars and discussion panels on the schedule hosted by experts in on their topic included in past Zombie Cons:
Radio Communications (including an ARRL special event station)
Charity fund raising discussion panel
Gourmet Campfire Cooking
Self Defense Techniques
Primitive Fire Building
Intro to Ammunition Hand Reloading
Plant Identification Basics
Blade Sharpening
First Aid
Astronomy – Night Navigation
A GeoCaching Course
Compass/Map Orienteering Course
and more…
It all makes sense now. These are crazed, bloodthirsty, rabidly Anti-Zombie Living Supremacist Survivalists! *Armed*, crazy Anti-Zombie fanatics! Armed, crazy Anti-Zombie fanatics pumped up on gunplay and indoctrinated with violent Anti-Zombie films! A veritable army of them no less.
Wow. Just… wow.
When and where will this powwow of hate and destruction be located?
Where will it be held?
The gathering will be located on private land in Irondale, MO (about 1.5 hours southwest of St. Louis). A map and detailed directions to the location will be provided. Since this is private land we don’t want to advertise it all over the Internet so it will be provided upon registrations. Please email us at camp@zombiehunters.org if you have any questions.
If you will need transportation from St. Louis or from the airport/bus station please contact us ahead of time and arrangements can be made.
On the basis of this alarming development the ZRC is hereby issuing a Travel Advisory for all Zombies and Zombie Allies in the Midwest to avoid, until further notice, Missouri in general and the area around Irondale, Missouri in particular. Based on this information we have to assume that the Missouri area is riddled with covert Anti-Zombie militants who may have infiltrated local emergency response centers and be posing as, or even acting publicly as first responders.
I repeat, for your own safety it is best to simply steer clear of this whole region until further notice. If you have no choice but to go to Missouri, keep a low profile and attempt to avoid all interaction with law enforcement. Conduct your business discreetly and leave as soon as circumstances permit.
The ZRC will issue periodic updates as further news arrives. Let’s just hope this barbaric little retreat doesn’t spill over into widespread violence against the Differently Animated.
Posted By John Sears on February 15, 2011
I suppose, on reflection, there must be a lot of Anti-Zombie magnet products out there. There are magnets for everything, and it’s not too expensive to make them, which helps to explain why I have so many from local takeout restaurants on the ZRC fridge.
Neither is Anti-Zombie poetry unheard of here at The Zombie Rights Campaign, as can be demonstrated with our review of ‘Zombie Haiku’ located here.
Still, when we learned about a clearly Anti-Zombie Magnetic Poetry set from reporting at FearNet, we were appalled:
Whether you are a survivor or the walking dead, put your feelings into words with this box of ravenous yet slow-moving word magnets. Over 200 zombie-specific words like “outrun,” “mindless,” “escape,” “wander,” “hungry,” and, of course, “brains” will make you a literary giant when the zombie apocalypse hits.
Shockingly prejudiced, isn’t it? But perhaps this was an editorial lapse from FearNet? What do the actual publishers have to say?
More or less the same thing, sadly:
Product Description
From the makers of the original Magnetic Poetry Kit – over 200 word magnets of the damned. A box of ravenous yet slow-moving magnets.
‘Ravenous’ and ‘slow-moving’, even ‘damned’; yet again we see prejudice creeping into virtually every word an Anti-Zombie publisher puts out about Zombies.
Well, we have a few choice words for you, Magnetic Poetry makers: how about ‘bigoted’? How about ‘mean-spirited’? How about ‘Anti-Zombie’?
Fortunately there seems to be an answer out there for those who want some Zombie Friendly poetry options, as we took a sneak peek at ‘Brains for Lunch: A Zombie Novel in Haiku?!’ a while back (it’s currently in our review queue). If you need to spend some money at Amazon for Zombie poetry, you have at least three options, but there’s only one the ZRC could endorse.
We leave it up to your consciences which to choose.
(Hint: It’s the last one.)
Posted By John Sears on February 15, 2011
Well, the trend of Anti-Zombie music videos sadly stumbles forward with this new video from a band going by the name ‘The Kidney Stones’.
Perhaps they chose the name to indicate how grueling it would be to watch their hateful video products, who can say? If so, at least an effort was made to warn us off this particular video, which revels in the ‘Zombie horde’ stereotype and then glorifies the ‘inevitable’ violent confrontation between the Living and the Undead, which seems to be the only scenario Anti-Zombie creators are willing to countenance. Oh, sure, they claim to be reluctant when they whip out the pistols and the mayhem, but I think their very uniformity belies any hesitation.
Violence is what these individuals want, and Zombies merely provide a convenient excuse.
So shame on ‘The Kidney Stones’. Shame for trying to make a name for yourselves on the backs of Zombies, who suffer enough harm every day from the already entrenched Mainstream Media, which has certain views of how the Differently Animated should be treated, and is doing its very best to see that no one challenges them.
I’m sure they would be quite pleased by the video posted below, and happy to welcome The Kidney Stones to their ranks as well:
(Hat tip to BuyZombie for this one)
Posted By John Sears on February 15, 2011
We’ve talked about Think Geek and their Anti-Zombie apparel before, but this one came up in browsing FearNet’s gift guide section, and I thought it was worth talking about:
We’ve discussed the importance of Thriller to the Zombie Rights Movement before here on the ZRC blog as well, so to see it specifically targeted, and its Zombie Friendly messaging negated by this savage and violent Anti-Zombie product, is particularly disheartening.
We’re going to go ahead and bump this rating all the way down to ‘Living Supremacist’ because not only is it clearly advocating violence against the Differently Animated and promulgating the worst and basest negative stereotypes about Zombies, but it also argues strenuously against any accommodation or assimilation by pushing back against tolerating even those Zombies who study dance and music for many years to help entertain and enlighten the public. Is no effort good enough for the demagogues at Think Geek?
For shame.
Posted By John Sears on February 15, 2011
It’s always awful to hear stories like this out of the world of politics:
One week ago, the Kansas House Federal and State Committee held a hearing about in-state tuition being granted to the children of undocumented immigrants, which has been the policy in the state since 2004.
Speaking in favor of repealing the law, Rep. Connie O’Brien (R-KS) began telling an anecdote at the hearing about how her son had difficulty in getting financial assistance to attend college. She explained that she took her son to a financial aid office, and as she was waiting in line, she believed there was a girl waiting in line with them who was “not originally from this country.” Fellow committee member Rep. Sean Gatewood (D-KS) asked O’Brien how she knew this student was “illegal.” O’Brien replied that she knew because the student “wasn’t black, she wasn’t Asian, and she had the olive complexion”:
The blind, idiot hate on display here is breathtaking, and has clearly clouded O’Brien’s mind. Why does she assume that Zombies are automatically immigrants of any sort, let alone undocumented? Most American Zombies were, in fact, already Americans before they died, and so should retain their citizenship when that death proves a temporary inconvenience.* Why can’t a Zombie go to your schools, Rep. O’Brien?
Isn’t the real issue here that you think Zombies aren’t real Americans, aren’t real *people*, Ms. O’Brien? Is that why you reach for tenuous and quite frankly unsupportable conspiracy theories about how all Zombies are somehow not Real Americans, and don’t deserve a higher education at in-state rates like their Living cohorts?
Let’s remind everyone just who Rep. O’Brien means when she rants against young people with an ‘olive complexion’ trying to go to school. She means Zombies, Zombies like our own Spokeszombie Tim:
Why should Zombie kids from Kansas, kids much like Tim, have to pay more for the same education? Why does their treatment by the state of Kansas have to be separate but thoroughly unequal?
I’ll tell you why, and bluntly too: because Rep. O’Brien and people like her are Living Supremacist bigots.
Period.
*The 14th Amendment governs U.S. Citizenship, and reads in the relevant portion:
1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Notice that there is no exception for Undeath, not even for regular death, though since regular corpses don’t object I think we can let that one slide. Zombies aren’t just People Too, they’re Americans Too.
One might even take the expansive view that rising in Undeath is a second sort of ‘birth’, and thus that Zombies who didn’t have American citizenship pre-mortem should have a claim on it afterward, but we can leave that argument for another day.
Posted By John Sears on February 15, 2011
Don’t get us wrong; here at the ZRC we believe that Zombification, like any other medical procedure, should be undertaken only after due consideration and with properly informed consent. We also recognize and respect an individual’s wish not to become Differently Animated, no matter how ill-informed and self-destructive that particular wish might be.
At first glance then, these ZombAlert pendants, which can inform friends and family how you want your wishes to be respected in the event of a Death-Pending-Reanimation situation, would seem to be acceptable products, right?
Wrong. See if you can spot the problem(s):
If you were bitten during the Zombie Apocalypse what would your final wish be?
The quick Double Tap?
The classic Decapitation?
For your loved ones to Attempt To Cure You?Well, now you’re covered if they forget to ask.
Optimystical Studios is proud to launch the ZombAlert line!Each ZombAlert© pendant is individually cast by hand from top quality lead free pewter.
Once cast & cleaned the pendants are stamped with your choice of final wishes.
We currently offer: Double Tap, Decapitate, or Attempt To Cure.
Well, for starters, except in those locations where assisted suicide has been legalized, I doubt that the first two instructions are even *legal*. That would seem to limit how broadly these pendants can really be adopted.
Secondly, don’t think we haven’t noticed the ‘Double Tap’ reference to odious and offensive Anti-Zombie ‘comedy’ “Zombieland”. It’s remarkably glib to address serious questions of personal autonomy and medical treatment with a reference to Woody Harrelson’s latest sociopathic star vehicle.
Finally, after Attempt to Cure, where’s the option to get a Voluntary Zombie option? That’s the real outrage here for the ZRC, bad Anti-Zombie jokes and questionable legal implications for doctors aside; ZombAlert doesn’t even *acknowledge* the possibility that someone might, in fact, be fine with, even desirous of, becoming a Differently Animated member of the community!
Is this really so hard to believe? Many’s the day I, have in fact, considered the advantages of Zombification. Baron Mardi hasn’t gotten back to me on rates but I’m definitely keeping his services in mind in lieu of a traditional Will and Testament.
I fail to see why death should separate me from my DVD collection, plus it would help to keep the Art Director honest. No worries about spiking my beverages with poison here, no sir! Not if I would just come right back as a Zombie.
This glaring oversight, or more likely, intentional exclusion of the Pro-Zombie portion of the Living Community, severely compromises the entire ZombAlert concept for the ZRC. I think it’s safe to say, until a revised and Zombie Inclusive version of the product line is issued, that we can give officially these ZombAlert pendants our lowest rating, that of Living Supremacist.
Naturally, we await a response and any attempt to remediate this sorry situation.
Posted By John Sears on February 14, 2011
BuyZombie apparently goes into the wilds of Etsy once a week looking for Zombie related products, and they’ve come back with some gems this time, including my favorite of the week, a t-shirt that reads:
Bring ‘Em Back Alive!
everyone loves a zombie
Oh, if only that were true.
There are also some neat Zombie-shaped magnets made from recycled materials.
Go check it out here.
Posted By John Sears on February 14, 2011
We were alerted to this image by Facebook Friend Stuart Conover, who is kindly hosting it at his blog to avoid soiling our web-space further. What’s important isn’t the image itself, a simple brain on a brown background which you can view at his place, but the caption:
I Love You Almost As Much
As Zombies Love Brains.
Almost.
Once again we see the hateful stereotype of the brain-munching, monomaniacally fixated Zombie, here co-opted to make an ephemeral reference to a mainstream holiday. ‘Zombies only care about brains, and with an extreme, obsessive focus’, the image says. You have to beware of them, or they will devour your grey matter!
Disgusting. Revolting, even, how this graphic perverts the emotion of love which is supposed to pervade this holiday into something sinister and hateful, a twisted excuse to spread hate instead of affection and to target those who just happen to be a little different from the ‘norm’.
The ZRC was saddened to see this, of course, but not hugely surprised. Just wait until St. Patrick’s Day; I bet we see more than a few Zombified leprechaun graphics, and five will get you ten says they won’t be benign either.
Posted By John Sears on February 14, 2011
Recently I started going through the FearNet gift buying guide, looking for more Zombie-related products to review or at least discuss here for the site, and came across one seemingly tailor made for today’s particular holiday:
Vampire romance is so last century. Zombie romance – now that is a sub-sub-genre. This anthology collects 21 stories from authors like Gina McQueen, Brian Keene, Stacy Brown, Jan Kozlowki, and more. Zombie sex slaves, zombie hunting as foreplay, and “mixed mortality” couples are just some of the themes touched upon.
It doesn’t sound too appealing from that description, but the Amazon reviews were much more promising:
Perkins (Cowboy Lover) collects 21 zombie romance stories full of humor, horror, and love. Jaime Saare’s “I Heart Brains” has an SF twist: a man infected with “the z-virus” shopping in a megamart for a gently used replacement body. In Jan Kozlowski’s powerful “First Love Never Dies,” a police detective learns of an undead sex slave operation run by his ex’s abusive father. In Regina Riley’s poignant “Undying Love,” a long-suffering zombie seeks his lost lover. Gina McQueen’s “Apocalypse as Foreplay,” Jeanine McAdam’s “Inhuman Resources,” and Dana Fredsti’s “First Date” are zippy stories about the sexy turn-on of successful zombie hunting. Stacy Brown’s “The Magician’s Apprentice” offers chills as a woman willingly gives up every bit of herself to please a man. Michael Marshall Smith’s “Later” makes one man’s heartbreak palpable when his girlfriend has a fatal accident. Voodoo magic, zombie-creating viruses, and inexplicable zombie apocalypses all make appearances, but effective storytelling moves beyond the reanimation and into the hearts and minds of the characters.
Obviously we’re not going to like the ‘Killing Zombies as some sick courtship ritual’ stories but some of the others sound really, really promising. I think I’ll have to pick this one up for us to review.