Recent reports of what are being termed \u201czombie apocalypse\u201d attacks may have some people wondering if the End Times are here, but are there other explanations for these gruesome acts, and could they be a reflection of our modern society?<\/p>\n
On almost a daily basis now, reports of \u201czombie-like\u201d attacks grab headlines.\u00a0 Within the past several days there were new reports out of Miami and Louisiana.\u00a0 In Miami, police arrested a homeless man after he snarled at them and threatened to \u201ceat two officers.\u201d\u00a0 In Louisiana, a 43-year-old man was arrested after allegedly biting off a piece of another man\u2019s face during a domestic issue.\u00a0 Both of these incidents are being blamed on \u201cbath salts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like an episode from AMC\u2019s \u201cWalking Dead\u201d television series, reports of bizarre behaviors and cannibalistic attacks began last Saturday when Rudy Eugene literally chewed 75% of victim Ronald Poppo\u2019s face off in Miami.\u00a0 Within days, there was another incident in Maryland when a Kenyan college student was arrested for dismembering and eating the heart and brains of his roommate. Then there was the New Jersey man who stabbed himself dozens of times, throwing pieces of his intestines at police when they arrived, and \u201cCanadian Psycho,\u201d Luka Magnotta, who posted a video of himself that showed him hacking apart his victim, then eating parts of his flesh.\u00a0 Investigators said Magnotta literally \u201ctore his victim apart like a doll.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0The list goes on<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n What\u2019s happening?\u00a0 Why the sudden increase in all of these bizarre acts involving cannibalism, depravity, and almost superhuman strength?\u00a0 Could these events be happening more than we would like to think?\u00a0 Are they the result of the new street drug, \u201cbath salts?\u201d \u00a0Is there a virus or parasite to blame?\u00a0 In the case of AMC\u2019s \u201cWalking Dead,\u201d is life imitating art?\u00a0 Is it really just a \u201cMad, Mad, Mad, Mad World<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n Look around and the zombie theme is everywhere\u2014zombie parties and parades, zombie pub crawls, advertising, movies, books\u2014people seem to be infatuated with zombies.\u00a0 Zombiephiles<\/a> are everywhere.\u00a0 You can even purchase zombie gnomes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Zombies are used in everything from commercials to safety and disaster preparedness campaigns.\u00a0 In Illinois, the Department of Transportation uses commercials depicting a zombie apocalypse in efforts to get drivers to \u201cclick it or ticket,\u201d stating that \u201cAnything can happen on the road\u2026even zombies, so be prepared!\u201d\u00a0 In British Columbia, a recent campaign for preparedness<\/a> used the zombie apocalypse theme, stating that \u201cIf you\u2019re ready for zombies, you\u2019re ready for a disaster.\u201d\u00a0 Even the World Health Organization (WHO) got into the act in May, listing a \u201czombie infestation<\/a>\u201d as a threat after an outbreak of unknown origin in Uganda turned children into mindless \u201czombies.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cbrainchild\u201d for all of these types of campaigns can be traced to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which created a campaign for disaster preparedness in May 2011 based on a zombie apocalypse, hoping to reach \u201cyounger, media-savvy\u201d audiences by using the popular zombie theme. In light of recent tragic events, however, the CDC is now maintaining its stance that zombies aren\u2019t real<\/a>, and that the “CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms).” \u00a0Additionally, the CDC is downplaying an article which ran in Discovery Magazine<\/em><\/a> <\/em>in August 2008 regarding parasites that can alter brain chemistry and cause bizarre behaviors in their hosts.<\/p>\n Considering past government experiments testing new viruses through vaccines, could this rash of recent attacks be the result of viruses being introduced through vaccines or a host of other means?\u00a0 As Larry Berrreth of the Longmont, Colorado, Examiner<\/em> notes, the incident in Miami \u201cappears to be an escalating part of a series of strange events<\/a> that began in that area ten days before. Taken individually, it is easy to dismiss these as random unfortunate events.\u00a0 When reviewed as part of a larger picture, consider them as food for thought, rather than becoming food for zombies.\u201d<\/p>\n But is the \u201czombie apocalypse\u201d being used to cover up the real mental illnesses behind these depraved acts?\u00a0\u00a0 As Elizabeth Heath points out in her article<\/a>, perhaps as we \u201cstruggle with our fears of something so unthinkably horrible as cannibalism, dismemberment or self-evisceration,\u201d using the term zombie apocalypse \u201ctrivializes \u2013 in an especially cruel way for loved ones of both the perpetrators and victims \u2013 both these heinous crimes and the extreme mental illness that likely prompted them.\u00a0 The men suspected of committing these crimes all had histories of violence, erratic behavior and mental illness.\u00a0 Whether it was drug use or psychosis that pushed them so far over the edge to complete loss of impulse control, we\u2019ll never know for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n