Update on the zombie apocalypse: newspapers won't survive either

In a precise exercise in timeliness, two days ago I explained on this blog how humankind might survive a zombie apocalypse. In that post, I explained that offering strategies for self-defense against zombies was the wrong conversation, and that instead, we need to focus on strategies for mass coordination using social tools. I wrote that "too much control of information in government hands can lead to mass information and, ultimately, disaster" and that the people can mobilize and coordinate mass defensive maneuvers using Twitter, text messaging, and smartmob tactics.

Now today, alert reader ZedWord has notified me that zombies have attacked journalism. Paul Dailing has uploaded early details at the Huffington Post. As I predicted, social media played a key role in reporting the invasion. Dailing explains that

[n]ews of the zombie apocalypse swarmed through the Twittersphere, then the blogosphere, the statusphere, the vlogosphere, the Facebookosphere, the Xangasphere, the LavaLifeosphere, the mesosphere for some reason and the screamingmobosphere....

TV stations sent their bustiest reporters boldly into the fray as newer and better logos were designed. Morning shows asked viewers to text in their opinions of death by zombies - text 1 for "The undead should not eat our babies," text 2 for "The undead should."

"The undead should not" won decisively, except on Fox News.

The best part of the piece, though, is what happened in the comments section. The first response came from the Zombie Anti-Defamation League, which wrote:

We at the Zombie Anti Defamation League (zadl.org) object to the vitalist tone in which the article is written.

Too often in films, popular culture, and news reporting are our post-vital friends depicted as mindless ghouls. We would hope in these enlightened times of the 21st century, that we can finally begin to rise above those vitalist stereotypes, and present a more honest and inclusive view of Zombies. This is the reason for the ZADL. We do not seek to cast aspersions upon you, but only to provide a voice, and educate people about the vitalist attitudes that pervade our culture.

Words like "menace" and "undead" are considered distasteful to us, and we seek to change the dialog about Zombies by using more Zombie-conscious terms like "post vital."

We thank you for your attention in this matter.

Go to the article to read Paul Dailing's response to the ZADL.