Here’s one of those little contradictions in life.

When a society faces a contagion which is, in essence, “beyond belief”, the first thing we do as human beings is try to get more data and make a decision. This is natural behavior and part of the human condition.

Don’t believe me? Watch yourself when you hear about a celebrity death. Eddie Izzard illustrated this in the middle of one of his concerts when he told the audience that Engelbert Humperdinck had just died. And right after he said that he said that he was just kidding. Then he gave the audience a look to say that he was really serious and followed with a statement that it just happened before he went on stage – followed by the “I’m joking.” – followed by the serious face again.

By the end of the joke, people really wanted to know if Engelbert Humperdinck was really alive or dead.

We like to know what’s going on.

One of these “beyond belief” circumstances is news of a zombie outbreak. You know we’ll all hear about it. It will travel through the internet, message boards, and facebook faster than a wild fire. Everyone will react differently. There will be the typical, “No way” to “Well, I don’t know…”

In any event, the one avenue of information that you won’t be able to trust at all is the CDC, The Center for Disease Control. Whether there is an outbreak or not, the CDC will say that there isn’t. If in reality there is, they’ll deny it because they will either 1) not want to cause a panic or 2) be under orders by the government to deny this until the proper authorities can figure out what to do.

Unfortunately, by that time, the outbreak has spread to a point where verifying whether or not the CDC is truthful will be pointless. You’ll be in the middle of a situation where you’ll be happy to have guns, ammo, supplies, and a proper fortification against the undead.

So, if you are one of those people who are waiting for the government to give you a green light to take drastic measures, congratulations, you are a prime candidate for membership in a zombie horde. You’ll be the guy who says, “Oh yeah, that maniac bit me and wanted to chew my face off, but other than this fever and bit of stiffness, I feel fine.” Eventually, your disembodied spirit may need to find a way to forgive your dearest friends and relatives for shooting your animated corpse in the head.

The CDC is not a good indicator of a zombie apocalypse. They are more of a “day 2” consideration. After the outbreak, when the dead are wandering the streets, you may want to head to their bunker and find out where they are in creating a cure or find out what common household chemicals will destroy these abominations.