The Central Dogma

On the Degradation of Society: The Word Undead

With the rise of zombies in recent culture, it seems the undead are more popular than ever. Ever seen a zombie apocalypse survival guide? Well I have and it was freaking awesome. But back to my point. With the rise of zombies has come with the rise of the term “undead”. Though this term has also been used to describe vampires as well as zombies (though technically aren’t vampires zombies too?) I have most frequently seen it used to describe the former.

   So think about this: the word UNDEAD. What does it really mean? A zombie is someone who died, and then came back to life through necromancy or a random act of god (Jesus anyone?) or whatever means that fit the situation. Either way, a zombie is someone resurrected, though probably not returned to their pristine living state. So I guess the term undead came from the sense that the zombie was once dead, and someone made it… undead.

    But think about this: UNBORN. Before someone is born, the state they are in is known as being unborn (as in a mother’s unborn child). But a child who is unborn has never been born before, and hardly anyone I know had something happen to them to undo their birth after they were born. A child is considered unborn because it hasn’t been born yet.

    So who here is right? Zombies or Babies?

   Here is what I think: After searching my mental dictionary I came up with a few more words that begin with “un”.

   Undone, undo, unprecedented, unprepared, unmanageable, uninteresting, unimaginable, unrivaled

    To undo something is to make something that happened, un- happen. (as in my favorite button on photoshop)

   To be unprepared is to be not prepared for whatever situation you encounter.

   To be unmanageable is the inability to be managed.

   To answer the argument, I call a tie. To be undead is to have undergone the process of reversing death. To be unborn is to not have been born yet. They’re both right.

   How does this fit under “The Degradation of Society”? Well, first of all, I’m annoyed with the teenage population’s infatuation with an imaginary creature (that came from people getting drugged out of their minds). Zombies don’t exist, so there will probably never be a zombie apocalypse. I’m also slightly frustrated with the ambiguity of the English language.

    One final note: Please NEVER EVER confuse the words allusion and illusion. They are NOT the same thing. I saw someone screw this up on the Internet recently. It makes no sense to say that someone was caught up in the allusion. (an ALLUSION is an indirect reference to somebody or something) If anyone was ever caught up in the allusion, something was seriously wrong. Getting caught up in an ILLUSION is ok though, since magic tricks and other cool stuff like that are illusions. (an ILLUSION is something that deceives the senses or mind)