ElMondoHummus
12th July 2007, 03:59 PM
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article2062085.ece
British forces in Basra... are being held responsible for the latest danger to strike the city – a plague of giant man-eating badgers.
... and
The suggestion that British Forces are behind the Basra badger is only the latest bizarre misdeed attributed to them on the local rumour mill. Other accusations include... slipping snakes into waterways.
And there's this video:
http://www.youtube.com/v/Ftt0GJuYwV4
... that I found on an Althouse (http://althouse.blogspot.com/2007/07/animal-news-incredibly-cute-and-not.html#comments) thread. Like what a commenter said there:
If some Americans believe George W. Bush conspired to kill 3,000 persons in the attacks upon the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, why should we be surprised some Iraqis think the indigenous badger was unleashed upon them by the British?
But really, this is an example of how people can latch onto the most absurd stories merely due to societal pressure. That Times Online article is well balanced - there are quotes from a veterinary hospital director, for example, noting that some dead badgers prove that they were present before the British soldiers were - but still, much of the populace in the area being discussed seems ready and eager to embrace the conspiracy theory that man eating badgers were let loose upon them by foreign soldiers.
It's interesting how people are willing to suspend disbelief for absurd "theories".
British forces in Basra... are being held responsible for the latest danger to strike the city – a plague of giant man-eating badgers.
... and
The suggestion that British Forces are behind the Basra badger is only the latest bizarre misdeed attributed to them on the local rumour mill. Other accusations include... slipping snakes into waterways.
And there's this video:
http://www.youtube.com/v/Ftt0GJuYwV4
... that I found on an Althouse (http://althouse.blogspot.com/2007/07/animal-news-incredibly-cute-and-not.html#comments) thread. Like what a commenter said there:
If some Americans believe George W. Bush conspired to kill 3,000 persons in the attacks upon the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, why should we be surprised some Iraqis think the indigenous badger was unleashed upon them by the British?
But really, this is an example of how people can latch onto the most absurd stories merely due to societal pressure. That Times Online article is well balanced - there are quotes from a veterinary hospital director, for example, noting that some dead badgers prove that they were present before the British soldiers were - but still, much of the populace in the area being discussed seems ready and eager to embrace the conspiracy theory that man eating badgers were let loose upon them by foreign soldiers.
It's interesting how people are willing to suspend disbelief for absurd "theories".