Aren’t infestations about something that wasn’t there before and doesn’t actually belong there?
gjoel@programming.dev 6 hours ago
Isn’t that usually how infestations work though?
Zaphod@discuss.tchncs.de 6 hours ago
quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 hours ago
No, it is about their presence being wanted or not. I don’t want to go to a swamp because is infested with mosquitoes for example, mosquitoes were always there.
Rothe@piefed.social 1 hour ago
We are aware of the dictionary definition. OP was precisely about arguing that that definition is a based on a fallacy.
gjoel@programming.dev 4 hours ago
But live there though.
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 5 hours ago
Humans infest shark habitats. You don’t see sharks coming into your gated community, do you?
Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 hours ago
Would be a rad way to thin out the herd of xenophobic rich people, though 🤔
gjoel@programming.dev 4 hours ago
No, sharks rarely infest gated communities. The point was that infestations usually consist of animals that live in the place they are undesired.
SnoopSqueak@lemmy.today 4 hours ago
No, the point is that indigenous populations are not infesting their own natural habitats.
For example, “Native Americans” did not “infest” the United States. White people did.
gjoel@programming.dev 4 hours ago
That’s a different point though. If you have a termite infestation, you might say that they’re invasive to the house and it’s not their natural element. However you might also say that they live there, which is equally true.
bobo@lemmy.ml 3 hours ago
Do you imagine the various indigenous populations of Americas popped out of the ground like mushrooms? They’re pretty far from their “natural habitat” in the plains of sub-saharan Africa… Or is that too far back in history and their “natural habitat” is in Siberia and Polynesia?