Zombies
When a Person Is Stripped of Their Humanity
When a Person Is Stripped of Their Humanity
We’ve all seen the images.
A photo of someone bent over.
Barely standing.
Caught in what people call the “fentanyl bend.”
Or slumped in what’s often described as “the nod.”
And underneath it
“zombies”
“look at this”
“this is what drugs do”
We see it in headlines.
In comment sections.
Shared as awareness.
As a warning.
Sometimes even as proof of what people believe about addiction.
But something happens in that moment.
The person disappears.
They’re no longer someone’s child.
No longer someone who laughs, who loves, who has a history, a story, a life beyond that image.
They become a symbol.
A cautionary tale.
Something to look at, react to, and move past.
We’ve seen this before with other words
“junkie”
“addict”
“lost cause”
Different language. Same outcome.
The person is reduced to a moment.
And that moment is treated as who they are.
But that image?
It could be someone who is sick.
Someone withdrawing.
Someone over sedated.
Someone trying to get through the day in the only way their body knows how.
It is not the whole story.
And when we label them this way, we don’t just describe what we see.
We distance ourselves from them.
Because it’s easier to look at a “zombie” than to sit with the reality that this is a human being in pain.
A human being who deserves dignity.
Care. Connection.
Awareness matters.
But awareness without humanity doesn’t bring people closer.
It pushes them further away.
And for so many of us
the person in that photo isn’t a stranger.
It’s someone we love.
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Thanks for this.. I saw a few videos of the Fentanyl open drug market in Philly as "Zombieland" and it felt vulgar and dehumanizing. These people may be addicted, but they ARE HUMAN BEINGS. Turning them into a news story with some idiot influencer asking them why they like to use Tranq is infuriating. So many people I know who have struggled with Xylazine or Fentanyl carry a shame because they used "the worst stuff". They will try and hide the scars, or where hoodies, or stay away from wound care. Drugs don't have a moral ranking.. they are drugs..