Zombie Apocalypse: Coming November, 2024

Perhaps it won't happen, but we should be prepared for the possibility.  There are political and social zombies.  It seems they have no will, nor it seems do they have much in the way of brains, being hungry for them and resentful of those that possess them.  They seem incapable of reason, are easily led, and have no thought of the consequences of their fantastically limited view of reality, of the world, of the universe for that matter, being eager to consume the source of intelligence itself.  They stagger towards the future, voracious and fierce in the pursuit of sameness.  

The Walking Dead aren't creatures of fiction.  They walk among us.  They haven't died physically, but spiritually and mentally, to be regenerated in the service of dark magic.  They vote.  They run for office.  They're elected.  They have no agenda to speak of; they don't like agendas, thinking them to be what they're pleased to call "liberal."  They merely wish to be zombies, answering to the voodoo that created them, unquestioning, unthinking, remorseless, relentless.  It's not surprising that the Nazis were associated with zombies, even during WWII.  They are of a type, just following orders embedded in them by something, a leader for political zombies, aliens or some kind of plague for others.

They've shown that they pay no attention to what has been said or done in the past, especially if it's contrary to and critical of what and who they are zombies for.  While they may be lacking in brains, those they possess have been thoroughly washed.  What they believe they believe without question.  What they are willing to do they will do without conscience.  They're true believers in what is demonstrably untrue, the worst kind of fanatics.

Does their existence have anything to do with the popularity of zombie movies, books, graphic novels and TV?  It's an interesting question.  But generally, the zombies are the enemy in those media.  They're fought against, and they must be killed.  One of my favorite zombie movies is an older one--The Last Man on Earth, starring Vincent Price.  It might be argued that those raised from the dead by a plague in that movie were more vampires than zombies, loving blood and coming out at night, but I think they have most of the characteristics of fictional zombies so many, it seems, know and love.  Vincent Price as Dr. Morgan travels about the city in the day, gathering corpses while they're inert and burning them.  At night they assail him in his house while he drinks and plays records.  The zombies I write of are deplored by some, enjoyed and exploited by others.

Those who deplore them are amazed, as they should be, by their dull wits and gullibility but have no plan to combat them.  There is something novel about them.  Our Great Republic has always had its share of suckers and snake oil salesmen gracing its elections.  But in general the salesmen have been merely venal.  Now it seems they have something more dire in mind than the acquisition of money needed to retain power; at least their chief spokesman does.

Let's hope Sinclair Lewis wasn't prescient.