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Cicadas can, in large groups, be damaging to one's hearing[0]. [0] https://wusa9.com/mobile/article/news/local/cicadas-emerging-all-over-where-is-the-noise/65-

• eganist 5y ago
  While this is literally true (anecdotally, during the peak of it in early June, I registered 106db standing still in a suburban neighborhood just outside the beltway near a large tree playing host to quite a few of them), I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that it's not the noise that drove people to gas the bugs. More likely in my mind: 1. protecting young trees 2. a perceived need to protect brush/flowers/etc. 3. mitigating the landshrimp "ick" factor (i.e. "it's big, gross, and lands on my shirt for no reason").