The Zombie Effect: Why Being Click-Happy Is Killing Our Critical Thinking

When I was younger, one of the scariest movies that I watched was George Romero’s 1968 version of Night of the Living Dead.

Spoiler Alert:

To this day, I believe the scariest scene of the movie was took place during broad daylight when Barbara and her brother saw the first zombie wandering around the graveyard. The saddest scene was the end when Ben was thought to be a zombie and killed.

I have watched this movie several times throughout my life. In my opinion, it is still one of the scariest zombie movies ever created because there is a sense of reality in it because of being able to relate to the character named Ben playing by Duane Jones.

I mention this movie because I want to draw from the concept of what a zombie is. The Cambridge Dictionary captures the essence of this post. It says, “Zombies are not able to think and they are often shown as attacking and eating human beings.”

I like this description because it shows the literal and figurative similarities of what i see in society. We have people who are unfortunately addicted to “zombie drugs.” However, I want to talk about those of us who have been lulled to sleep due to the hypnotic nature of certain forms of education, media, and religion. There are those of us who have followed certain beliefs for so long that we no longer think critically. We live our lives by assuming our way through it. We attack and “eat” others because of the queues that we receive from our favorite talking heads or leaders who say that is what we are supposed to do. It is sometimes hard to have civil and intelligent everyday conversations with some because we no longer critically think. Therefore, we react in ways that are detached from emotions for others unless it is fueled by anger.

This zombie like detachment from emotion and critical thinking makes it difficult to see the humanity of others when they are mourning the loss of their loved ones during a genocide, after their loved one is hung senselessly from a tree, or if an innocent person is just trying to seek refuge to make a better life for their family. While we are looking outwardly at people who we do not like, we may may need an introspective review of ourselves to see if we are have become zombies (people who do not think and constantly attack others verbally and virtually). Hopefully, someone will read this and think about it before you share or tell the next ill-informed message about humanity, or as the elders used to say back in the day, “Before you tell another Bold Face Lie.”

We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.

Angela Davis