The headline is a quote from George Orwell’s Animal Farm. In the tale, animals learn the hard lesson that they are valued according to the desire of those in power. They also learn that the value is dictated by the actions and not the words of those in power.
Where are the Greenie Environmentalists when the Center for Disease Control declares war on mosquitoes for allegedly carrying the West Nile virus? Where are the Animal Rights Activists when mosquitoes fail to receive a speedy and public trial where the burden of proof for the West Nile accusation rests on the prosecution? Where are the subversive ecoterrorist acts when states decide to exact genocide on local mosquito populations through airborne poison?
They are conspicuously absent.
Such defense of animals like mosquitoes would be an act of intellectual honesty. Unfortunately, intellectual honesty in these aforementioned groups is rare.
Where are the groups that abhor government intervention like the capitalists, for example? Why are they standing idly by while governments at all levels take drastic and undemocratic measures to “combat” the mosquito “question.” Why are they not proposing more level-headed measures against mosquitoes such as economic sanctions? Surely capitalist markets exist for both the suckers of blood and those who want their blood sucked. Perhaps, they could argue, there is a defect in the contemporary market that does not facilitate such voluntary exchanges. Repairing such market defects is the proper role of government–not widespread murder.
So the question is: why are there no defenders of mosquitoes?
For the Greenies, defending mosquitoes would probably lead to death except that the true reasons do not have such depth. Truth be known, mosquitoes are not widely considered to be “cute” or “cuddly”. While no surveys have been taken on the matter, it is a safe bet that most Americans would be offended if they received a postcard with a giant mosquito on it. It could also be said that a portion of those offended would contact the police about a possible death threat.
For the Capitalists, creating a “mosquito service sector” to the already long list of questionable “expanding markets” would serve only to further a widely held belief that capitalism is a four-letter word. There’s something sinister about raising venture capital for the emerging inter-species biological materials trade.
Mosquitoes are left without allies. Because they cannot reason the impact of their behavior, people are left with no choice but to go 11 Bravo on the insect automata when going outside after dusk.
At Cyberista, we’re leaving a light on for mosquitoes–an attractive electric blue light that will torch them and any other unreasonable insect that flies into it.
