Humans: We Know NOT What We Do...

We watched Fargo Season 5. It is super-violent, and wildly entertaining. Hilarious. Engaging too. Intense. Great acting, filming, writing, directing. You name it. Highly recommended.

We learned something too. I, for one, didn't know that Chairman Mao in his Great Leap Forward,  waged war with the Sparrows from 1958-1962.  That's right, those cute little brown birds: Sparrows...

"Authorities targeted four pests for elimination: rats, flies, mosquitoes, and sparrows. The extermination of sparrows – also known as the smash sparrows campaign^[1] (Chinese: 打麻雀运动; pinyin: dǎ máquè yùndòng) or the eliminate sparrows campaign (Chinese: 消灭麻雀运动; pinyin: xiāomiè máquè yùndòng) – resulted in severe ecological imbalance, being one of the causes of the Great Chinese Famine of 1959–1961. In 1960 the campaign against sparrows ended and bed bugs became an official target."

Ha. Mind-bogglingly & gob-smackingly stupid. A good example of why you don't want to put unlimited power in one man's hand. Also, a great example of how Human Beings should be a bit more humble in the face of our grandly interconnected ecosystem and mutually beneficial, web of life. 

The campaign targeted four pests: rats, flies, mosquitos, sparrows. Ha. What is that Bible quote? "The meek shall inherit the Earth." Every living creature on the planet has a job. We fuck with Mother Nature at our own peril. 

What is the moral of the story? "Don't Fuck with Mother Nature." Humans, we know not what we do...