Exploding Sperm Whale Analogy Highlights Importance Of Staying Home Amid Pandemic
A local government in northern England cited the botched detonation of a rotting sperm whale carcass in Oregon in 1970 as the perfect example of why people should stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic.
In a series of tweets on Monday, Doncaster Council said the Oregon highway department’s controlled explosion of the whale ― which resulted in chunks of blubber raining down on onlookers and cars while the majority of the carcass remained on the beach in the city of Florence — showed why people should listen to experts.
Sometimes it’s “better to just sit at home and do nothing than go outside and do something ridiculous,” the council tweeted.
“The problem hadn’t gone away, only now there were thousands of bits of problem spread for miles around,” the local authority added.
The thread went viral and even earned praise from the city of Florence itself, which tweeted: “We can all learn from the past!” with the hashtag #StayHomeSaveLives.
Check out the thread here:
In November 1970, officials in Oregon, USA decided to blow up a rotting whale carcass. The whole thing went horribly wrong.
Why do we bring this up? Well, this story can teach us 3 things about #coronavirus ️ pic.twitter.com/9MOeRESkzx— Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 6, 2020
The story begins when a 45-foot sperm whale washed up on the beach in Florence, Oregon on 9 November 1970.
Here it is: pic.twitter.com/mF3n5tUHmq— Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 6, 2020
There was some debate amongst locals about what to do with it.
1️⃣ Although unpleasant, they could leave it to decompose.
2️⃣ They could try and chop it up and bury it (again, not pleasant)
3️⃣ They could blow it up with dynamite and hope that seagulls ate all the small chunks. pic.twitter.com/zgmK7og2uq— Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 6, 2020
