Welcome back to Chat Pack, a once-a-month open thread inspired by the Chat Pack discussion cards of my youth. Last time we discussed what's getting you through. I’ll host the next one on July 1st.
Some time a few years ago, when I felt like everyone was giving rats such a hard time, I started coming to their defense. When people inevitably start to vocalize their hatred of rats, I’ll say things like, “They’re just trying to live their lives” or “You think squirrels and chipmunks and prairie dogs are cute—they’re all cozied up in the Rodentia order right next to rats!” Inevitably, someone will whip out the ol’ “They spread disease” argument and I’ll counter with the fact that humans also spread disease, are responsible in fact for this whole bloody pandemic. That doesn’t really shut people up about hantavirus and the plague, but it makes me feel better. The rats are just trying to live!
Here’s an excerpt of a conversation with someone I’d hoped might come home with me, and my God did I drive the nail into the coffin on that date.
For me at least, it’s a total riot to love something everyone else hates—to take out this back-pocket opinion and lob it over to a group of surprised people, an underhand pitch they didn’t expect. It leaves them holding the ball trying to defend their hatred of these creatures that, in all likelihood, never did them wrong.
Admit it! It’s impressive to drag a slice of pizza from a New York City sidewalk back to the rat den. It’s resourceful to scavenge all the shiny pretty things in your life from what others have discarded. To pool resources with your scampering little friends, guarding the keys to the city, while the city hates you. That’s the real triumph.
What do you love that everyone else hates? And why do you love it? Are you vocal about your unpopular opinion? Do you keep it to yourself? Have you been shamed for it? Celebrated for it? Is it part of your identity?
Rats can read human emotions and studies have shown that they have empathy! It is also apparently really easy to teach them tricks if you own one as a pet. They have scent glands on their feet that leave a trail and allow them to sniff their way back to their den after grabbing that piece of pizza. Just a few more facts you can use to defend them :) I am sure you aren't surprised to hear that I'm also a fan!
We briefly had a pet rat, a white rat found in a Harvard parking lot, undoubtedly abandoned by some heartless undergraduate. We kept it overnight, joked that it was our Golden's pet (and Wulfie was delighted by it), but I was relieved when a pet store said they would take it. Only later did I realize it was probably snake food....
Alas, this was before smartphones, before you. We had it in a cardboard box on the floor, knowing he wouldn't hurt it--just imagine him peering over the edge in fascination and with no small bit of trepidation.
I think I've always felt an affinity for the underdog. I love rats, too. I had one (haha, I like to tell myself it was the same one) whom I named Lucky who lived in the alley of my previous residence. I would see him in the morning, nibbling weeds in the garden. One time I brought him an almost-empty jar of almond butter and he got in there and licked it clean. It was so cute. But my favorite animals are sharks. I have shark stuff everywhere. I get really upset when there is a show about sharks that makes them seem like bloodthirsty monsters. I have never seen nor read Jaws, and I never will.
I love that. I am also partial to the underdog, perhaps because I see the underdog in myself. In the ways rats and sharks are misunderstood, I think many of us also feel misunderstood or misread by the world, so to be a defender of these creatures, even in small ways, feels to me like defending ourselves.
I guess my earliest unpopular love is spinach (and liver with bacon and onions). I DID like it, but when I realized it made me look good in contrast to my older sister, who didn't, I experienced a not unpleasant feeling of power and leverage. Might or might not have encouraged my "love" of spinach.
I personally hate that confrontation has such a bad reputation. I'd so much rather someone be a little blunt but get their feelings out. It's seen as hostile and it shouldn't be it's just a form of ~communication~ Let's get behind confrontation. smh
Bring forth the heated arguments! But yeah, I agree...can't say I'm good at confrontation (having been socialized, like many of us, to be non-confrontational), but I think it's the best policy. I've been feeling annoyed about a bunch of things and have just been simmering about it, but this might be the kick in the ass I need to actually say something.
I need to set up a burner account so I can like this more than once!
When I first started at my company, you could totally have it out with someone, whoever had the best idea won, and once it was done, it was done. Now it’s all very passive-aggressive and very little progress gets made.
Oh I LOOOOVE this prompt hahahaha. I love divas... insufferable, chintzy, pink glitter divas; Ariana Grande is one of my favorite artists at almost 31-years old. I also love really out-of-touch cultural villains like Gwyneth Paltrow and Elon Musk because they are innocent in their own perverse way and serve as proof that nothing is real lol
Okay Ariana Grande is divinely talented and the epitome of a diva so I'm here for that take. She knows who she is. And while I can't say I agree re: cultural villains like Paltrow and Musk, I respect the unpopular opinion. And my god is it true they're proof that nothing is real...I keep thinking about how up in arms everyone was when Musk bought Twitter and (like all Twitter discourse) everyone on the bird app has just moved on already.
Yes Robert! Nick Cage at his finest. This was one of my all-time favorites as a kid (really made me feel like a grownup to watch an adventure movie). Not long ago I rewatched it for the first time in like a decade and it's campy sure but I thought it held up.
Rats can read human emotions and studies have shown that they have empathy! It is also apparently really easy to teach them tricks if you own one as a pet. They have scent glands on their feet that leave a trail and allow them to sniff their way back to their den after grabbing that piece of pizza. Just a few more facts you can use to defend them :) I am sure you aren't surprised to hear that I'm also a fan!
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/05/rat-brain-behavior-neuroscience-research/631646/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20220526&utm_term=The%20Atlantic%20Daily&fbclid=IwAR11naMMiPAUFMTaN6MEKNiZXBPdbbDSV_3zsssd2cqIcSTDL9QlDLWxZ7Y
My fellow ratvocates, THANK YOU for coming to the defense of these intelligent, noble creatures.
We briefly had a pet rat, a white rat found in a Harvard parking lot, undoubtedly abandoned by some heartless undergraduate. We kept it overnight, joked that it was our Golden's pet (and Wulfie was delighted by it), but I was relieved when a pet store said they would take it. Only later did I realize it was probably snake food....
I love love love the image of Wulfie playing with the rat...any chance you have photos?
Alas, this was before smartphones, before you. We had it in a cardboard box on the floor, knowing he wouldn't hurt it--just imagine him peering over the edge in fascination and with no small bit of trepidation.
I think I've always felt an affinity for the underdog. I love rats, too. I had one (haha, I like to tell myself it was the same one) whom I named Lucky who lived in the alley of my previous residence. I would see him in the morning, nibbling weeds in the garden. One time I brought him an almost-empty jar of almond butter and he got in there and licked it clean. It was so cute. But my favorite animals are sharks. I have shark stuff everywhere. I get really upset when there is a show about sharks that makes them seem like bloodthirsty monsters. I have never seen nor read Jaws, and I never will.
I love that. I am also partial to the underdog, perhaps because I see the underdog in myself. In the ways rats and sharks are misunderstood, I think many of us also feel misunderstood or misread by the world, so to be a defender of these creatures, even in small ways, feels to me like defending ourselves.
All I can think of is Michael Jackson's song Ben. No thank you on the rats.
I guess my earliest unpopular love is spinach (and liver with bacon and onions). I DID like it, but when I realized it made me look good in contrast to my older sister, who didn't, I experienced a not unpleasant feeling of power and leverage. Might or might not have encouraged my "love" of spinach.
I personally hate that confrontation has such a bad reputation. I'd so much rather someone be a little blunt but get their feelings out. It's seen as hostile and it shouldn't be it's just a form of ~communication~ Let's get behind confrontation. smh
Bring forth the heated arguments! But yeah, I agree...can't say I'm good at confrontation (having been socialized, like many of us, to be non-confrontational), but I think it's the best policy. I've been feeling annoyed about a bunch of things and have just been simmering about it, but this might be the kick in the ass I need to actually say something.
I need to set up a burner account so I can like this more than once!
When I first started at my company, you could totally have it out with someone, whoever had the best idea won, and once it was done, it was done. Now it’s all very passive-aggressive and very little progress gets made.
Oh I LOOOOVE this prompt hahahaha. I love divas... insufferable, chintzy, pink glitter divas; Ariana Grande is one of my favorite artists at almost 31-years old. I also love really out-of-touch cultural villains like Gwyneth Paltrow and Elon Musk because they are innocent in their own perverse way and serve as proof that nothing is real lol
Okay Ariana Grande is divinely talented and the epitome of a diva so I'm here for that take. She knows who she is. And while I can't say I agree re: cultural villains like Paltrow and Musk, I respect the unpopular opinion. And my god is it true they're proof that nothing is real...I keep thinking about how up in arms everyone was when Musk bought Twitter and (like all Twitter discourse) everyone on the bird app has just moved on already.
Yes Robert! Nick Cage at his finest. This was one of my all-time favorites as a kid (really made me feel like a grownup to watch an adventure movie). Not long ago I rewatched it for the first time in like a decade and it's campy sure but I thought it held up.