4 ms·

Disney popularized the myth, but I think it was around before them. I think they wanted to get video of those famous/interesting lemming suicides but the lemmin

Disney popularized the myth, but I think it was around before them. I think they wanted to get video of those famous/interesting lemming suicides but the lemmings wouldn't do it, so they coerced them into it.

paulie_a 8y ago
Tldr: Disney committed lemming genocide
- freeflight 8y ago
  Why the downvotes? From White Wilderness, as the movie shows drowning Lemmings, put there by Disney employees, the narrator goes: "And so is acted out, the legend of mass suicide and destruction of a species." https://youtu.be/xMZlr5Gf9yY?t=2m50s https://youtu.be/xMZlr5Gf9yY?t=2m50s
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - nck4222 8y ago
    >Why the downvotes? Probably because it's inaccurate/exaggerated in a couple ways. 1. Genocide refers to humans, not animals, and requires the act to be targeted at a group of people that share some sort of traits (typically race, or cultural identity). 2. Disney imported "no more than a few dozen lemmings," which doesn't really meet the numbers the word typically is used for. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/white-wilderness/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/white-wilderness/ Disney killed lemmings, and unless they attempted to wipe out all lemmings that share a particular cultural identity, it's probably pretty insensitive to use it in this context.
    - workinthehead 8y ago
      Genocide is by definition against a group having common genetic/ethnic identity. One might also consider that animals are people, too. However, I don't think you can make the case that Disney set out to wipe lemmings from the earthwe.
- hexscrews 8y ago
  Wouldn't xenocide be a more apt description? A quick search for genocide gives the definition of: "the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation." While xenocide is described as: xenocide (plural xenocides) The killing of a stranger or foreigner. (science fiction) The genocide of an entire alien species. (US, colloquial) The intentional killing of an entire foreign (plant or animal) species. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/xenocide https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/xenocide Either is fine really, just seems like a semantic curiosity.
  - lemmicide 8y ago
    He did specify “lemming” genocide, but more to the point, I don’t think Disney killed enough lemmings for it to matter. They aren’t an endangered animal, since they seem to be thriving with a diversity of species occupying niches across the globe, and most species being marked as least concern. Genocide or xenocide would carry the meaning that the very animal (or even a single species) was brought to the brink of extinction, thereby threatening the genome of the animal. Hence “gene”-o-cide. Disney didn’t even encourage abuse or mischief among viewers. So, the comment doesn’t really make sense. No one tried to kill a real live lemming, or coax them off a cliff. The mysterious allegedly suicidal behavior wasn’t a call to action, to change lemmings or their behavioral patterns.
  - xkjkls 8y ago
    Probably -- the problem is that no one actually knows the word xenocide who isn't an Orson Scott Card fan.
  - garmaine 8y ago
    Why? Genocide is by derivation the killing or wiping out of a genetic population. Why can’t that be applied to purposeful extinction of an animal species?
DonaldFisk 8y ago
Since 1532 according to https://wonderclub.com/Wildlife/mammals/norwegian_lemming.html https://wonderclub.com/Wildlife/mammals/norwegian_lemming.ht... Lemming suicide is also mentioned on page 66 of the first edition of Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas de Quincey: https://archive.org/stream/confessionsofeng00dequ_1#page/66/mode/2up/search/leeming https://archive.org/stream/confessionsofeng00dequ_1#page/66/... This was published in 1832 and revised in 1856.

paulie_a 8y ago

Tldr: Disney committed lemming genocide

freeflight 8y ago
Why the downvotes? From White Wilderness, as the movie shows drowning Lemmings, put there by Disney employees, the narrator goes: "And so is acted out, the legend of mass suicide and destruction of a species." https://youtu.be/xMZlr5Gf9yY?t=2m50s https://youtu.be/xMZlr5Gf9yY?t=2m50s
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- nck4222 8y ago
  >Why the downvotes? Probably because it's inaccurate/exaggerated in a couple ways. 1. Genocide refers to humans, not animals, and requires the act to be targeted at a group of people that share some sort of traits (typically race, or cultural identity). 2. Disney imported "no more than a few dozen lemmings," which doesn't really meet the numbers the word typically is used for. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/white-wilderness/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/white-wilderness/ Disney killed lemmings, and unless they attempted to wipe out all lemmings that share a particular cultural identity, it's probably pretty insensitive to use it in this context.
  - workinthehead 8y ago
    Genocide is by definition against a group having common genetic/ethnic identity. One might also consider that animals are people, too. However, I don't think you can make the case that Disney set out to wipe lemmings from the earthwe.
hexscrews 8y ago
Wouldn't xenocide be a more apt description? A quick search for genocide gives the definition of: "the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation." While xenocide is described as: xenocide (plural xenocides) The killing of a stranger or foreigner. (science fiction) The genocide of an entire alien species. (US, colloquial) The intentional killing of an entire foreign (plant or animal) species. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/xenocide https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/xenocide Either is fine really, just seems like a semantic curiosity.
- lemmicide 8y ago
  He did specify “lemming” genocide, but more to the point, I don’t think Disney killed enough lemmings for it to matter. They aren’t an endangered animal, since they seem to be thriving with a diversity of species occupying niches across the globe, and most species being marked as least concern. Genocide or xenocide would carry the meaning that the very animal (or even a single species) was brought to the brink of extinction, thereby threatening the genome of the animal. Hence “gene”-o-cide. Disney didn’t even encourage abuse or mischief among viewers. So, the comment doesn’t really make sense. No one tried to kill a real live lemming, or coax them off a cliff. The mysterious allegedly suicidal behavior wasn’t a call to action, to change lemmings or their behavioral patterns.
- xkjkls 8y ago
  Probably -- the problem is that no one actually knows the word xenocide who isn't an Orson Scott Card fan.
- garmaine 8y ago
  Why? Genocide is by derivation the killing or wiping out of a genetic population. Why can’t that be applied to purposeful extinction of an animal species?

DonaldFisk 8y ago

Since 1532 according to https://wonderclub.com/Wildlife/mammals/norwegian_lemming.html https://wonderclub.com/Wildlife/mammals/norwegian_lemming.ht... Lemming suicide is also mentioned on page 66 of the first edition of Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas de Quincey: https://archive.org/stream/confessionsofeng00dequ_1#page/66/mode/2up/search/leeming https://archive.org/stream/confessionsofeng00dequ_1#page/66/... This was published in 1832 and revised in 1856.