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Spanish Flu 1918 (lemmy.world)
submitted 9 months ago by robocall@lemmy.world to c/historyporn@lemmy.world
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[-] sylver_dragon@lemmy.world 124 points 9 months ago

Viruses had only been discovered a few decades before this picture was taken. It's very likely that the family (and most of society) had no understanding that the virus was unlikely to jump species and so took the same precaution to keep the cat from spreading the disease that they themselves took. I'd rather people made this sort of mistake than the willful idiots we had this time around refusing to believe in viruses at all.

[-] GroteStreet@aussie.zone 80 points 9 months ago

Or maybe they just thought it'd make a cute, silly family photo

[-] Hupf@feddit.de 20 points 9 months ago

¿Por qué no los dos?

[-] FiniteLooper@lemm.ee 31 points 9 months ago

I think that cat just has white fur on its face, that’s not a mask

[-] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Yeah, I understand why everyone sees a mask, but I don’t think it is one either. You can see too much detail on the nose, I wouldn’t expect to see that much unless it was a very sheer fabric used for the mask.

[-] WanakaTree@lemm.ee 2 points 8 months ago

Ah you're right. Make more sense, I was thinking how the FUCK did they get a mask on that cat??

[-] CrayonRosary@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

Of course not, but for a split second it looks like one, and that's funny. I laughed.

[-] Asafum@feddit.nl 4 points 9 months ago

The cat would be freaking out, I can't imagine how uncomfortable that would be considering their whiskers would be pressed against for so long.

I literally can't imagine because I don't know what it feels like to have whiskers lol

[-] Psychodelic@lemmy.world -5 points 9 months ago

I love that most people seem to believe it's really wearing a mask 😷 😂 😺

[-] match@pawb.social 8 points 9 months ago

Did you check whether cats can be an animal reservoir for influenza before posting this?

[-] phoneymouse@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Yeah, I knew dogs could carry Covid. Just looked it up and cats can carry the flu. Not sure why this poster felt it was necessary to say this about the family when it’s actually incorrect.

[-] tkhobbes@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Cats can carry covid too, as far as I know.

[-] Nougat@kbin.social 6 points 9 months ago

... willful idiots we had this time ...

Oh, there were plenty of those in 1918, too.

[-] otp@sh.itjust.works 7 points 9 months ago

It's a lot harder to be ignorant today. There's so much knowledge everywhere, and literacy rates are really high.

[-] veniasilente@lemm.ee 6 points 9 months ago

It’s a lot harder to be ignorant today.

Florida people: "That sounds like a challenge."

[-] Kiosade@lemmy.ca 2 points 8 months ago

Counterpoint: it’s actually not that hard, because of echo chambers and the algorithms pushing/feeding those echo chambers. Just because people are actually able to read and write more nowadays doesn’t mean critical thinking has improved a lot too.

[-] otp@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 months ago

That's very true!

In the Age of Misinformation, basic literacy isn't enough to learn.

[-] psycho_driver@lemmy.world 41 points 9 months ago

FYI the Spanish Flu's origin was a pig farm in Kansas.

[-] XTornado@lemmy.ml 19 points 9 months ago

The Spanish: WTF!?

[-] Notyou@sopuli.xyz 33 points 9 months ago

The only reason it was called the Spanish Flu was because they were trying to report accurate numbers when the rest of the world was lying for the war effort

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 40 points 9 months ago

In San Francisco there was a mask mandate, and roving groups of men would beat the shit out of anyone they saw without a mask on.

Like, they didn't really know about social distancing, but the went all out for masks.

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 14 points 9 months ago

I bet they took their wallets too, just to make sure the lesson stuck!

[-] wesker@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 9 months ago

Gimme your wallet, sheee. And put on a mask, sheee.

[-] bibliotectress@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Thanks for the accent! I read the second sentence in a much more fun way.

[-] Cethin@lemmy.zip 1 points 9 months ago

To be fair to them, work from home wasn't really possible back then and as much as I'd like for work to not be a requirment to live, it was and is. There were also basically no activities you could do without coming into contact with anyone else. Social distancing would be much harder for them.

[-] pedroparamo@lemm.ee 25 points 9 months ago

That cat is a saint. Mine would of gone Wolverine on me

[-] theedqueen@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

*would’ve

[-] BossDj@lemm.ee 7 points 9 months ago

Wood halve

[-] ElderberryLow@programming.dev 7 points 9 months ago

Same here. Straight to kitty-nuclear option.

[-] otp@sh.itjust.works 3 points 9 months ago

How does a cat "of go"?

[-] evranch@lemmy.ca 3 points 9 months ago

As cats of go, it went

[-] otp@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 months ago

*of went

[-] bi_tux@lemmy.world 19 points 9 months ago

this picture is a lie, Bill Gates traveled back in time to apply micro chips to the population of 1918

[-] rdyoung@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Don't give him any ideas

[-] athos77@kbin.social 11 points 9 months ago

Cats can catch and even die from covid; I would've be surprised if the same thing happened with the original version of the 1918 plague.

[-] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

Yea some tigers got COVID in the San Diego zoo

[-] Makoto009@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago

Protect your loved ones!

this post was submitted on 29 Feb 2024
571 points (99.1% liked)

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