A Society of Group Thinkers Is A Society of Zombies
by Null -- October 18th, 2024
Dystopian, apocalyptic, zombie outbreak stories are nothing new to me. As a kid I would tell these same stories on the bus with friends, stories where the undead were out for vengeance, ready to steal whatever life is left from the living. Though, when looking at these classic zombie stories now, as an adult, I am hit with the realization that these are not just simply stories, but also commentaries on modern day society and humanity that showcases the pitfalls and dangers of violent groupthink, represented by none other than the zombies themselves.
I want to draw from the same quote Lee Rozelle used in his Zombiescapes and Phantom Zones: Ecocriticism and the Liminal from “Invisible Man” to “The Walking Dead.” This particular quote is from Nick Muntean, in which he describes the zombie.
“...a liminal figure, simultaneously both life and death, and yet not really either, a monstrous ‘degree zero’ of humanity that defies easy categorization or explanation" (Muntean)
Is this not exactly the same concept of when an individual falls victim to mass groupthink? You lose your sense of self and humanity, adhering to whatever majority standard or idea rules. There is no individuality, just the same sunken face and tattered clothes roaming around in a mindless mass. If a large group of people agreed on the same thing, came to a consensus easily and swiftly, would they not resemble your everyday zombie hoard? Think about what happens when a hoard of zombies spots (or hears) a surviving human or an animal. What do they do? Think and bicker and debate about the best way to get a nice, juicy brain for dinner? Discuss what seasonings are best for the frontal lobe and which are best for the cerebellum? No! They immediately move forward, all consumed with the same idea, blindly following whoever is in front of them. There might not even be food, there might not even be anything, but there’s a commotion going on so each zombie has to get a piece of that action!
Humanity acts the same. If enough people subconsciously believe and think the same thing, then others will follow the same idea, lacking any sort of critical thinking or reasoning. This is seen today, and in the past, when huge amounts of people get exposed to the same thing and all decide on the same “right” thing to do.
Take social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok for example. Say you came across a video that has ten million views and three million likes. Automatically you would be inclined to think that the video must be something amazing (usually amazingly funny). So, you may drop a like, as the kids say, or go into the comments for further inspection. Boom. One of the top comments is about how someone misunderstood the concept of the video, got offended, and insulted the creator. Others with the same common misconception would then feel inclined to react the same, spread more hate and anger, and the cycle continues.
Individuals lack vital critical thinking when met with something unknown, confusing, misunderstood, or different. They react with violence and anger, they band together to face this abnormality together, tearing it apart in a blind rage.
But… isn’t this the same as the zombies depicted in The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman? Confused creatures who do not know any better, do not want to know any better, and react with violence and bloodthirst? Destroying whatever it is that set them off in the first place? This is starting to sound like me trying to excuse the actions of zombies and make them out to be some lovable creatures, but that’s not the case. The zombies are just the perfect example for groupthink, the dangers of it, the mindlessness of it, the madness.
Nowhere is safe in a society built of groupthink, single ideas shared by everyone, operating like a brainwashed, power hungry machine (George Orwell’s 1984, anyone?). The people in these societies, too, share the same name as the very metaphor enacted in these apocalyptic stories: zombies.
-Null
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