iStockphoto / bpperry
Did I wake up this morning thinking I’d spend some time writing about a dead whale that washed up on the shores of Florence, Oregon back in November 1970? I certainly did not. But that’s a tiny fun part about this departure from the everyday life I was used to a month ago, I’m never quite sure where the day will lead me once I wake up and flip open the computer.
This Twitter thread from UK’s Doncaster Council is meant to teach us all the lesson that we should be listening to experts right now. They use the story of a whale carcass washing up on an Oregon beach in the 1970s. The townsfolk were presented with several options on how to dispose of that whale carcass and they chose to use a metric dick-ton of TNT instead of listening to the experts.
The story you’re about to scroll through is straight-up wild and I hope you’ll thank me later (find me on Twitter at @casspa) for putting this on your radar:
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
— City of 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
— City of 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
— City of Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 6, 2020
It was decided that leaving the whale to decompose would be too unpleasant in the short term.
No one wants the smell of rotting sperm whale when they’re eating their Christmas dinner. pic.twitter.com/FYsH2xgCgy
— City of Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 6, 2020
Fortunately, at least for the purposes of this history lesson, they chose option 3.
They would blow up the whale. pic.twitter.com/39r7noYnHo
— City of Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 6, 2020
George Thornton, who sensibly seems to be wearing a hard hat, was the engineer in charge of the explosion.
By his own admission, he wasn’t sure how much dynamite would be needed to completely obliterate one of the world’s largest mammals, so he opted for half a tonne. pic.twitter.com/st2VLfsiha
— City of Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 6, 2020
An ex-member of the military advised George and the other officials that this was waaaay too much, and just a few sticks of dynamite would be enough.
They ignored his advice. pic.twitter.com/J9hVoy44Fj
— City of Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 6, 2020
On 12 November, in front of a crowd of excited spectators (yes, really)…they exploded the whale.
— City of Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 6, 2020
Very quickly, the short-sightedness of the plan became evident.
The huge amount of dynamite sent massive chunks of blubber flying through the chilly air, and it rained down around the terrified onlookers. pic.twitter.com/LTD5c3e4Ca
— City of Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 6, 2020
The overwhelming smell sent people running for their homes as rotting whale plopped down around them.
The situation was dangerous – a car was even crushed by a huge lump of blubber a quarter of a mile away. pic.twitter.com/Mw0svXy90Y
— City of Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 6, 2020
To cap everything off, the main bit of the whale stayed exactly where it had been.
The problem hadn’t gone away, only now there were thousands of bits of problem spread for miles around.
— City of Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 6, 2020
So why do we tell you this story? Well, as far as we can see, there are three #coronavirus lessons here: pic.twitter.com/1mAG2albiH
— City of Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 6, 2020
1️⃣ DON’T IGNORE THE ADVICE THAT EXPERTS GIVE YOU.
They know what they’re talking about.
— City of Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 6, 2020
2️⃣ Sometimes, it’s better to just sit at home and do nothing than go outside and do something ridiculous.
Let nature take its course.
— City of Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 6, 2020
3️⃣ When you ignore expert advice and act like an idiot, you cover everyone else with decaying whale blubber. #StayHome and stop being selfish.
🧨 🐳
— City of Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 6, 2020
I think that saying this story is 100% relevant to our current global health crisis doesn’t tell the whole story but there is a good lesson to be learned here. Now is the time to listen to experts. The epidemiologists. Infectious disease experts. The doctors who have spent countless hours in the field treating sick patients. These are the people we should listen to. Not the armchair quarterbacks at home who are getting all of their information from viral text message scams.