Max Brooks, how could you?

I've been reading Max Brooks' follow-up to The Zombie Survival Guide, World War Z. While I am less than thrilled with his fictional take on the future war between zombies and humans, I am even less thrilled with his interviews regarding the second book.
Take, for example, these interview quotes from Brooks (the emphasis is mine),

"Everything in World War Z (as in The Zombie Survival Guide) is based in reality... well, except the zombies." (link).
and,
"...I wanted to create a world that if there were zombies, this is how you would actually survive." (link)

Thank you, Mr. Brooks for completely invalidating any statements you've made regarding zombies. How can somebody claim to be an expert on real-life situations with subject, but then deny the subject's existence? Since Mr. Brooks goes around the country giving zombie defense seminars, the least he could do is believe in the zombie threat. Yet, in interview after interview, he undermines his own authority on the zombie menace, by reducing it to a fictional cause.

Some interviews:
WashingtonPost.com
HouseOfHorrors.com
EatMyBrains.com
Daniel Robert Epstein (Suicide Girls.com)
Ain't It Cool News

After pondering for over a week about how to react to this gross betrayal, I have this to say:
Max Brooks may not believe in the zombie menace, but at least his works of "fiction" have brought the menace to the public forefront. I only hope his latest work doesn't destroy this public attentiveness to the subject.
Regardless, I am still preparing to fight the good fight, and I hope this loss to the zombie hunter community doesn't change anyone's preparations to fight the undead hordes.