Popcaan On The Lookout For The CDC’s Zombies
When Popcaan tweeted about the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website’s tongue-in-cheek advice to teachers on how to educate students about a zombie pandemic, he received a flurry of reactions, some ranging from amusement, to ridicule to actual seriousness.
The CDC’s zombie apocalypse advice has been making headlines over the past week, amid reports that the 17th-century French astrologer Michel De Notredame, also known as Nostradamus had supposedly prophesied in his writings that a zombie apocalypse would take place in the year 2021. “In the midst of providing guidelines on an unprecedented pandemic, the Center for Disease Control updated its tips to prepare for another extreme occurrence: A zombie apocalypse,” USA Today wrote.
Having gotten wind of the CDC’s apparent joke Popcaan noted on Twitter on Saturday, “So covid first, now we have to be on the zombie look out???? Wtf.”
So covid first, now we have to be on the zombie look out???? Wtf 👀🧟♀️🧟♀️🧟♀️
— Popcaan (@PopcaanMusic) March 6, 2021
For the most part, his followers made it clear that they found his comment hilarious.
“Goood ting we knw call of duty. Those n-ggaz wont have a chance,” comedygad wrote.
However, there were vaccine skeptics and others who took the comment very seriously, pointing out that the CDC was “up to no good”. “Ah play dem ah play wid people minds boycott the news a pure f-ckery dem ah keep up,” was the response from rjlharvey.
“Vaccine my bro.. they say u need one, then two now bill gates say 3. All about control,” wrote realliverecord4.
Some urged the Numbers Don’t Lie artist to not take the COVID-19 vaccine, arguing that become a zombie was possibly one of the side effects.
“That’s the result of taking that rushed vaccine i believe,” wrote SmartNPretty.
The Nostradamus passage in question, which sparked the CDC’s theatrics, according to Yahoo News reads: “Few young people: half−dead to give a start. Dead through spite, he will cause the others to shine, And in an exalted place some great evils to occur: Sad concepts will come to harm each one, Temporal dignified, the Mass to succeed.”
The CDC’s campaign offers lesson plans for teachers on zombie apocalypse preparedness, as well as a downloadable poster which reads: “Get a Kit. Make a Plan. Be Prepared,” next to a zombie’s face, and general information about preparing for disasters.
According to Yahoo News, the CDC’s advice on preparing for a zombie apocalypse is being lauded by communication experts, as a classic way of drawing attention to disaster preparedness. It also said “disaster preparedness experts and doctors seem to think the campaign is pretty smart”.
It quoted Lee Clarke, a sociology professor at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, as saying that: “While zombie preparedness can seem trite, trivial and amusing on the surface, all the messages are there. They just substitute ‘zombie’ for ‘flood’ or ‘hurricane… Zombies are just more interesting, and it draws people in.”
“The CDC recently updated the Zombie Preparedness section on its website — yes, this is a thing. While the section isn’t new — it originally launched back in 2011 — it does make for interesting timing given that it’s been updated in the middle of a global pandemic that just so happens to be happening in the year of a predicted zombie apocalypse,” Yahoo wrote.
‘The CDC makes it clear online that this is a joke, albeit one with a serious message about the importance of disaster preparedness,” it added.