By Bulletin Staff
In the first of this two-part series, the Bulletin explores the phenomenon of zombie denialism, its causes and impacts. In the second part of the series, we will examine ways to address zombie denialism at the national level and at the level of your holiday dinner table.
Emmet Salan says he’s never seen a zombie. In fact, Salan doesn’t believe it’s possible to see a zombie because he doesn’t believe that zombies are real.
“It’s a hoax. The government made up the zombie threat years ago as a way to control people,” says the 83-year-old resident of the Gentler Breezes retirement community near Sarasota, Florida.
Salan, who describes himself as “a retired bartender from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan,” is hardly alone in denying the existence of zombies. Experts report a growing number of Americans are simply refusing to accept the overwhelming evidence of the existence and threat posed by the undead.
“Putting Us All at Risk”
“Zombie denialism is a dangerous and growing issue in this country,” says Dr. Tyrone Berger, a psychologist who studies the phenomenon. “It’s dangerous because the zombie deniers downplay the real threat that the living dead pose to society, which leaves us all more vulnerable to outbreaks of the zombie virus. They really are putting us all at risk.”
Dr. Berger points to public polling data that suggests the percentage of Americans who don’t believe in zombies has been steadily increasing, despite the rising number of zombie attacks and casualties in the war on the undead.
According to Dr. Berger, typically zombie denialists challenge eyewitness accounts, scientific evidence and documented incidents of zombie attacks, attributing these occurrences to elaborate hoaxes, mass hysteria or misinterpretation of events.
“They are usually highly skeptical of authority and mistrusting of expertise. They reject the consensus among zombie scientists, and some even argue that the existence of zombies is a conspiracy fabricated by governments or the media to exert control or instill fear in the population,” Dr. Berger explains.
Often, Dr. Berger says, deniers live in areas that have seen little or no zombie activity, and the lack of direct exposure makes it difficult for them to believe in the possibility of the dead reanimating and attacking the living.
“Without firsthand encounters or proximity to zombie-infested regions, some people just dismiss reports and evidence as exaggerated or fabricated. Honestly, who can blame them: With so many AI-generated deepfake tools readily available these days, it’s hard to believe our own eyes anymore, let alone what we haven’t seen with our own eyes,” Dr. Berger says.
The Road to Disbelief
In a recent article in Annals of Zombie Psychology, Dr. Elsbeth Jarrett writes that people are often driven to zombie denialism as a psychological coping mechanism.
“The idea of zombies and their threat to humanity can be terrifying. Some individuals adopt denialism as a way to deal with the fear and stress associated with acknowledging the possibility of a zombie apocalypse. Denial allows them to maintain a sense of normalcy and control in a chaotic and frightening world where they could be torn limb from limb at any moment,” Jarrett writes.
Similarly, according to Jarrett, some individuals deny the existence of zombies because accepting their presence would mean accepting the potential breakdown of the social structures and norms that govern our communities – a breakdown of civilization itself. “For these individuals, accepting the reality of the undead brings the possibility of societal collapse into sharper focus than they are prepared to deal with,” Jarrett writes.
Jarrett also describes how social media can draw people into zombie denialism. “Once someone watches one denialist video, the social platform algorithms ensure that the person’s feed includes more of the same sort of content, leading them ever deeper down the rabbit hole of disbelief,” Jarrett explains.
The Dangers of Denialism
Dr. Joseph Lazenby, who teaches zombie psychology at Wexler University and speaks frequently about zombie denialism, argues that the phenomenon is dangerous and could have severe and far-reaching consequences as the zombie virus continues to hang, Sword of Damocles like, over society.
At its heart, denying the existence of zombies means denying the need to prepare for attacks by the undead, Lazenby says, emphasizing that denialism leads to a false sense of security, causing people to lower their guard and neglect safety measures.
Moreover, as deniers grow in numbers, they are starting to have a political voice, creating pressure on elected officials to reduce investments in measures to prevent or contain outbreaks, such as quarantine protocols, fortified defenses or evacuation plans.
“By convincing themselves and others that no threat exists, people ultimately make themselves more vulnerable to being bitten or eaten by the ravenous dead,” he says. “Then, when an outbreak does occur, deniers’ complacency results in higher infection rates, higher casualties and greater difficulty in containing the spread of the zombie plague.”
Look tomorrow for the second part of the series, where we will examine ways to address zombie denialism at the national level and at the level of your holiday dinner table.
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