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Is the Cobra effect story true or is it a racist British/Western trope “Look how devious and greedy the Indians/natives are, even when we are trying to make the
by RcouF1uZ4gsC 3y ago
Is the Cobra effect story true or is it a racist British/Western trope “Look how devious and greedy the Indians/natives are, even when we are trying to make their lives better?”
Can you really breed Indian cobras in a home in captivity? Cobras are very good hunters and trying to keep them confined (remember how they are freed at the end of the story) and feed a growing population yourself is likely to take some time and effort, perhaps money that might not be worth the bounty?
- spacecadet 3y agoIm inclined to believe this theory based purely on how miss leading most written history has shown to be in terms of racism.
- bradrn 3y agoHowever, a very similar story has been proven true (or so Wikipedia claims): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanoi_Rat_Massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanoi_Rat_Massacre
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 3y agoThat story comes via the French and I don’t think it passes the sniff test. In what scenario is it easier to cut the tail of a living (fighting) rat, than to kill it first and the cut the tail off a dead rat?
- 2cynykyl 3y agoI think the point is that people were breeding rats so that they could make more money. Then when the ended the 'program', the rats just got released, making the problem worse, no?
- sokoloff 3y agoIt's a matter of the payoff though. Sure, it's easier to cut the tail off a single dead rat than a single live rat. But if your goal is to maximize the number of rat tails you end up with, cutting it off a live rat is probably worth the additional effort.
- jevoten 3y agoYou can breed a living, tailless rat to produce more rats.
- AlbertCory 3y ago> has shown to be in terms of racism. by whom?
- spacecadet 3y agoMy take. I read a ton of history.
- khaki54 3y agoReally? What about "look how clever the Indians/ natives are?" Not everything is racism. A similar result occurs every time something like this is tried regardless of race. Countless examples including in the U.S. and yeah people will run scams like this even if the scam is convoluted and twice as much work as doing the honest thing.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 3y agoI don’t think it is clever to deliberately keep a bunch of cobras in your home and then set them free.
- datadrivenangel 3y agoIt's called animal breeding and people still make money doing it! Improperly disposing of your animals when you realize there's no market for them anymore is the issue here.
- khaki54 3y agoYeah but if you dreed a bunch of cobras in your house, it solves the rat problem and keeps the neighbors away
- rob74 3y agoOr it's an Indian trope "look how stupid the British are" ?