Ik you are a nature blog, but here is one extra that makes the rattlesnake fedex thing worse
"A good [x] is a dead [x]" is probably from the cold war era, so uh
@rainbowgod666 It actually predates the Red Scare; here's a circa 1892 reference to "the only good Indian is a dead Indian" from a speech by Richard Pratt, a U.S. Army general. Theodore Roosevelt had similar sentiments in an 1886 speech. And it reportedly was coined by General Philip Sheridan, though this essay goes into discussion as to the veracity of that claim.
So yeah, the whole "only good X is a dead X" saying has deep roots in racism and colonialism, and it shouldn't be surprising that a maxim currently used to justify the unnecessary slaughter of an animal as hated as a rattlesnake would have originated from the systematic and violent dehumanization of indigenous people, given both have been seen as inconvenient to the colonial taking over and "taming" of the land. It says something when people in power decide that the only solution to either other humans, or other species, that get in the way of their having total control over the land is to kill them.
If you look in the reblogs of my original post on the FedEx rattlesnake commercial, there's a scattering of people defending the FedEx driver with the usual "Rattlesnakes are DANGEROUS!!!!" lines that completely ignore the fact that A) yes, those of us advocating for rattlesnakes are very aware that you can't just snuggle one like a puppy unless you want a VERY bad day, and B) we are always pointing out viable alternatives to a snake in your yard other than simply killing it. In the same way, those who advocated for the genocide of indigenous people in the Americas would justify their actions by painting them as universally dangerous and savage, to include in response to anyone saying "Hey, the way we're treating our fellow humans is horrifying and it needs to stop."
And, IME, the sorts of people who carry that level of venomous, reactionary hatred toward rattlesnakes very often have some pretty awful opinions of indigenous people, too. There are a lot more parallels between the extreme hatred that some people have toward certain animals like rattlesnakes and wolves, and the extreme hatred toward the people who have shared the land with them for generations. Needless to say, the lineage of the saying "the only good snake is a dead snake" isn't lost on me.
