[KT89] Disillusioned and Disenfranchised: Part 2 The Brand Name Zombie Swarm

Day 1,077, 09:22 • Published in Canada Canada • by Kilgore Trout 89


I would like to thank everyone who has been reading and voicing support for this series. Many of you have already provided me with some new insight to bring into the series and I am glad to see that some discussion has cropped up around this issues I’ve been raising. Please be sure to read the whole series and provide feedback.
Part 1: The Financial Juggernaut



So what is a Brand Name Zombie, and why do they come in swarms? Normally, we consider zombies to be those dead citizens who populate mothballed companies or pad out the ranks of top parties. This is not the type of zombie we should be concerned with. As everybody knows, despite the fact that real life zombies are incapable of cogent thought, they consistently go through the motions of everyday life on a superficial level, often while moaning a constant refrain of “BRAAAAINS”. Evidently, somewhere in the world, several of these zombies spend their days banging on a keyboard and mouse while logged into eRep. These zombies are those who have clearly forgotten their reasons for associating with a charismatic brand name, yet feel it necessary to barrage us with the brand at every step. The brand could be a large group such as the DAL, the CEP, TCO or the CAF. It could be a person like Bruck, Tyler F Durden or Jacobi. It could even be a movement like The Supernation or MOAR WAR. These zombies latch onto their chosen Brand Name and rather than contributing to a national discussion, simply bombard eCanada with shouts, articles, ads and comments with the same one-line refrains.


As if fishman wasn’t terrifying enough...

Now, many of you may feel that this sounds a lot like your standard troll and I’ll tell you where the difference lies. A troll relies on having something to contradict, hence the common statement “don’t feed the trolls”. When someone takes the time to put forward a reasoned argument or suggest a course of action, a troll will usually take the time to identify the argument they disagree with and scream something like “Mentorship Program? FAIL!!!” at the top of their lungs. I will give trolls their due – at least they are intelligent enough to read through the articles and identify what they disagree with. Now the zombie on the other hand is mindless and apparently incapable of rudimentary skills such as reading and critical thinking. A zombie looks at only two things: who wrote this article and how does my brand feel about the author. If the zombie’s brand support the author, it will get a vote and usually a comment along the lines of “I want to make 500 babies with this man”. If the zombie’s brand opposes the author, it will get a comment along the lines of “The CCC party is better!”. The especially low thinking zombie won’t even go this far and instead will write “FREE A CITIZEN” at the bottom of every article regardless of the content material.


Seriously, do you even remember what you’re trying to free him from?

One or two brand names zombies is not a problem, however when a swarm of these brain dead creatures forms, all productivity in the country is lost. When the swarm gets going, nothing will stop them until they tire of their onslaught and move on to await the next wave. Want to write a reasoned article on how to improve the country? Good luck, because once the swarm gets hold of your article, any valid point you had will be denigrated into a series of partisan rants and your message will be lost in the tumult of “Your party/army sucks, mine is better”. Forget the fact that the idea wasn’t presented in the context of a political group, the zombies will make sure that’s where it ends up. How about that terrible article you read this morning? Horrible grammar, no coherent point, obviously more concerned with pictures that represent nothing than actually making a point. Guess what? That’s going to be in the top five because the person who wrote it was smart enough to put a logo on it for a big group. Once the zombies see the logo, rational discourse goes out the door.

Guaranteed to get TONS of votes now!

So, what can be done to fix the problem? Remember what I said in article one? Read, think, comment. Do that. Don’t vote or comment on an article simply because you’re affiliated with the author. Figure out what idea the author is presenting and then comment on it. If you like it, say why. If you don’t like it, give a reason based on their argument. If you think they’re headed in the right direction, but there is more to say, point that out. If we work with each other to build up discussion on issues, we can drastically improve the situation. If we can put aside our brands for the 10 minutes it takes to go through the news, maybe we will actually start to get some work done. We need to STOP evaluating individuals and ideas based on our group affiliations and START evaluating them on merit. Oh, and one more step. When you comment, think about what your comment is intended to do. If you are not trying to be constructive, it’s best to keep your comments to yourself.



If you liked this article, be sure to subscribe so you can follow the series. The next article will be The Wrong Role Play and will look at how our role-play institutions are contributing to mediocrity and promoting sensationalism and trolling rather than rational discussion.