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I remember reading some old tale about all the animals gathering to decide what to do about humanity. Every animal hated humans, so they all voted to destroy us

by jonahrd 10y ago

I remember reading some old tale about all the animals gathering to decide what to do about humanity. Every animal hated humans, so they all voted to destroy us. Except the mosquito, which was the only one to stand up for us because they needed food. The moral of the story was that in return for looking out for us, we should let mosquitoes drink what they need from us. (not my story, I read it in a history book about India)

bognition 10y ago
I remember reading the same story, however in this case I'm not sure how the metaphor should be applied
StavrosK 10y ago
So if I steal food from you every day and some of my friends want to kill you, and I say "no, don't kill him, I need him so I can steal food", you should give me food every day as thanks?
- castis 10y ago
  Well in order for this comparison to work, you'd be programmed on a deep level to take from him in order to sustain your own life. Your choice of the word 'steal' implies that the mosquito understands the morality of theft but just doesn't care. Then again I tend to read way too far into things, my bad.
krylon 10y ago
The problem is not mosquitos drinking small amounts of our blood. The problem is that in doing so they infect people with diseases like Malaria, effectively killing thousands of people every year. I like the story, though.
- _AllisonMobley 10y ago
  Those people, if they survived, would have gone on to cause far more ecological damage to the planet than they otherwise did. Until we figure out how to colonize other solar systems, endeavors to spare every human life from such naturally occurring population controls seems foolishly good-hearted.
logfromblammo 10y ago
Fables are crafted to convey the moral, rather than deriving the moral from natural circumstance. I recall reading a tale with animals interacting with a human. There was something about the chicken wanting to be saved from the wolf, so it gave the human its eggs. The cow wanted to be saved from the wolf, so it gave the human its milk. The horse wanted to be saved from the wolf, so it gave the human its strength and speed. They all end up slaughtered and eaten by the human and his "dog" (a.k.a. the wolf) when they were no longer useful in any other way. The chicken stopped laying. snap The cow stopped milking. slice The horse went lame. bang The moral of the story was essentially, "hahahaha, you stupid animals got played!" On a side note, any animal story where the dog does not side with the human is clearly bunkum. And in any animal U.N., clearly, the human is a veto-wielding permanent member of the security council, so the mosquito, the North Korea of unpopular animals, was just sucking up to a major power to get more food aid. And in that case, we should let the mosquito go pound sand, because they will never stop being annoying little jerks.

by jonahrd 10y ago

bognition 10y ago

I remember reading the same story, however in this case I'm not sure how the metaphor should be applied

StavrosK 10y ago

So if I steal food from you every day and some of my friends want to kill you, and I say "no, don't kill him, I need him so I can steal food", you should give me food every day as thanks?

castis 10y ago
Well in order for this comparison to work, you'd be programmed on a deep level to take from him in order to sustain your own life. Your choice of the word 'steal' implies that the mosquito understands the morality of theft but just doesn't care. Then again I tend to read way too far into things, my bad.

krylon 10y ago

The problem is not mosquitos drinking small amounts of our blood. The problem is that in doing so they infect people with diseases like Malaria, effectively killing thousands of people every year. I like the story, though.

_AllisonMobley 10y ago
Those people, if they survived, would have gone on to cause far more ecological damage to the planet than they otherwise did. Until we figure out how to colonize other solar systems, endeavors to spare every human life from such naturally occurring population controls seems foolishly good-hearted.

logfromblammo 10y ago

Fables are crafted to convey the moral, rather than deriving the moral from natural circumstance. I recall reading a tale with animals interacting with a human. There was something about the chicken wanting to be saved from the wolf, so it gave the human its eggs. The cow wanted to be saved from the wolf, so it gave the human its milk. The horse wanted to be saved from the wolf, so it gave the human its strength and speed. They all end up slaughtered and eaten by the human and his "dog" (a.k.a. the wolf) when they were no longer useful in any other way. The chicken stopped laying. snap The cow stopped milking. slice The horse went lame. bang The moral of the story was essentially, "hahahaha, you stupid animals got played!" On a side note, any animal story where the dog does not side with the human is clearly bunkum. And in any animal U.N., clearly, the human is a veto-wielding permanent member of the security council, so the mosquito, the North Korea of unpopular animals, was just sucking up to a major power to get more food aid. And in that case, we should let the mosquito go pound sand, because they will never stop being annoying little jerks.