The rat-lickers of the Black Death and of the current pandemic


It's January of 2021 and while I was texting a good friend of mine, wishing him well and hoping that he was staying safe, I asked him to stay away from "rat-lickers", which is a term I've heard very recently that resonates with people like me who like history. It refers to the Bubonic Plague of the Middle Ages, which was pretty bad. You can Google it if you don't believe me. And speaking of which, there were a lot of people who didn't believe in it back then. And to be fair, you really can't blame them, it was spread invisibly by fleas that jumped from dead rats to humans.

Of course nowadays we know about germs, and viruses, and all that stuff - at least the basics, but back then it must have been a huge mystery. From what I've read the fear was that black cats caused it, with some type of witchery, and of course the cats suffered, and with less cats you have more rats.

If you follow me here, the people who really, really, didn't believe in all of this would immediately do the opposite of what was suggested. If the extermination of rats was suggested, these people would actually handle rats (whether they licked them or ate them I really don't know, and don't want to think about it). These people actively made things worse, but in their innocence thought that they were doing the right thing, proving that it was all just imaginary.

But let's be clear here - not understanding the science, and even not believing in it, doesn't make a person a rat-licker. If they go along with the suggestions, maybe grumbling, they're fine. A true rat-licker is a person who makes an effort to prove that there's no such thing as the plague, or a pandemic. Nowadays they not only walk into buildings not wearing a mask, they walk up to people and cough on them.

Speaking for myself, I'm inclined to go along with the suggestions from doctors and scientists. Of course, they could show me a virus, using an electron microscope, but I would have no idea what it was. There are a lot of things in my life that I've given over to experts, like accounting. I can understand the basics, but the really complicated stuff I leave to the experts.

Let's be careful out there, everyone!

Comments

  1. PetuniaApril 5, 2021 at 12:58 AM

    Yep it’s all about the rats if you lick them you’ll spread the plauage

    ReplyDelete
  2. PetuniaApril 5, 2021 at 12:59 AM

    Rats cause many diseases ,

    ReplyDelete

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