Quote:
Originally posted by SigmaChiCard
Wine&Blue was kind of saying that Lil_G needs a more permanent solution that just the temporary killing of a couple of the racoons. The whole time I was reading that, with the state of affairs everpresent in my mind, I immeadiately saw how, yeah, that's what America needs to do. And then she said when you kill one, another appears, which seems to be the general theory that if we just blow up some of Afghanistan, and kill Osama, then the next highest order official in the Taliban regime would step in and take Osama's place. I mean, I've always realized that would happen ever since the Afghan people began saying it, but the parallel between that and the racoons just clarified it on a new, unique level for me. See what I'm saying now?
|
Interesting point - i don't think the concept is extensible to this level, but i'll play along for the sake of discussion, b/c it is interesting after all.
The problem - there's not an infinite number of raccoons . . . there's a finite supply of them. So realistically it is definitely possible to exhaust the supply, and keep the garbage from being spread over the yard (so to speak).
The problem with the problem - do we really want to take out that many raccoons? Is there a better solution? Have we exhausted our options through other bad decisions, so as to make diplomacy with the furry little things impossible?
It's easy to say "Buy a trashcan" - Lil_G's point was that the trashcan solution doesn't work either. There's a way to solve every sort of containment dilemma for the raccoons - they're very resourceful, and smarter than we give them credit for.
So what's the solution?
Well, there's eradication of the raccoons, or at least lowering numbers until they become benign. But this is basically inhumane, depending on your particular set of subjective values.
There's also prevention - keeping the raccoons from stirring up the garbage. This has proven unsuccessful for eons, and no good 100% solution exists. Appeasement would be the only way - literally giving them the garbage they desire - and this is a weak solution from the standpoint of the more powerful force in the situation (ie the guys putting out the garbage), and is probably impossible due to previous commitments. However - it is humane, by nearly every values system.
I don't really see any "middle-of-the-road" example as being applicable or worthwhile - so realistically, those are the options . . .
As you can see, the raccoon problem is difficult . . . and if you want to extend it to the next level, as Cory seems apt to relate to, the problem exacerbates itself because the "humanity" element becomes more prevalent.
Sometimes, you eat the bar - and sometimes the bar eats you (as they say in The Big Lebowski)