ClydeR
02-02-2022, 10:28 PM
Jerry Lara / San Antonio Express-News
The National Butterfly Center on the Texas border is closing "for the immediate future" after conspiracy-fueled attacks against the center on social media escalated in recent days.
The butterfly sanctuary, part of the North American Butterfly Association, made the announcement Wednesday. The decision came just days after GOP operatives descended on the site, reviving baseless and false conspiracy theories linking the center to sex trafficking.
The center's leaders fear the renewed focus on the nature preserve could lead to violence, as similar online harassment directed at a Washington, D.C. pizzeria in 2016 led a man to fire a rifle inside the restaurant.
More... (https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/legislature/article/National-Butterfly-Center-closing-indefinitely-16826463.php)
I'm pretty sure the sex trafficking is just a conspiracy theory. But do we really want to preserve butterflies, considering the terrible harm that they cause to the world?
Picture it. 1967. Ronald Reagan becomes governor or California. The Supreme Court bans laws against interracial marriage. War rages in Vietnam. Riots rage during the Long Hot Summer. Aretha Franklin demands r-e-s-p-e-c-t. And -- importantly for this post -- a meteorologist at MIT publishes a remarkable discovery that creates a field of science that we didn't even know we needed. The meteorologist, Edward Lorenz, discovered that butterflies in Brazil cause tornadoes in Texas. Today, it's called "chaos." Universities have established professorships and entire departments to study and teach chaos. Butterflies may be pretty, but they're too deadly to save. If you think it's too crazy to be true, then I dare you to Google it.
The National Butterfly Center on the Texas border is closing "for the immediate future" after conspiracy-fueled attacks against the center on social media escalated in recent days.
The butterfly sanctuary, part of the North American Butterfly Association, made the announcement Wednesday. The decision came just days after GOP operatives descended on the site, reviving baseless and false conspiracy theories linking the center to sex trafficking.
The center's leaders fear the renewed focus on the nature preserve could lead to violence, as similar online harassment directed at a Washington, D.C. pizzeria in 2016 led a man to fire a rifle inside the restaurant.
More... (https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/legislature/article/National-Butterfly-Center-closing-indefinitely-16826463.php)
I'm pretty sure the sex trafficking is just a conspiracy theory. But do we really want to preserve butterflies, considering the terrible harm that they cause to the world?
Picture it. 1967. Ronald Reagan becomes governor or California. The Supreme Court bans laws against interracial marriage. War rages in Vietnam. Riots rage during the Long Hot Summer. Aretha Franklin demands r-e-s-p-e-c-t. And -- importantly for this post -- a meteorologist at MIT publishes a remarkable discovery that creates a field of science that we didn't even know we needed. The meteorologist, Edward Lorenz, discovered that butterflies in Brazil cause tornadoes in Texas. Today, it's called "chaos." Universities have established professorships and entire departments to study and teach chaos. Butterflies may be pretty, but they're too deadly to save. If you think it's too crazy to be true, then I dare you to Google it.