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[–] 36 points 2 months ago (25 children)

Isn't that usually how infestations work though?

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  • [–] 39 points 2 months ago (16 children)

    Humans infest shark habitats. You don't see sharks coming into your gated community, do you?

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (14 children)

    No, sharks rarely infest gated communities. The point was that infestations usually consist of animals that live in the place they are undesired.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 months ago (8 children)

    No, the point is that indigenous populations are not infesting their own natural habitats.

    For example, "Native Americans" did not "infest" the United States. White people did.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    That's a different point though. If you have a termite infestation, you might say that they're invasive to the house and it's not their natural element. However you might also say that they live there, which is equally true.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    If you have a termite infestation, you might say that they're invasive to the house and it's not their natural element. However you might also say that they live there, which is equally true.

    But the post is about sharks in the ocean. It is their natural habitat, they live there, but because they're sometimes inconvenient to humans, humans sometimes use the phrase "shark-infested waters", which can be damaging because it frames disrupting the ecosystem as some kind of defensive act.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    For example, "Native Americans" did not "infest" the United States. White people did.

    Do you imagine the various indigenous populations of Americas popped out of the ground like mushrooms? They're pretty far from their "natural habitat" in the plains of sub-saharan Africa... Or is that too far back in history and their "natural habitat" is in Siberia and Polynesia?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    It's not that they came from nowhere, but rather that they aren't pests. Invaders slaughtered them and colonized the country, and in modern times are actively destroying ecosystems and the environment.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    So the right phrasing would be "no, it's their natural habitat", not "no, they live there", since, and this was my point if you go back, if an animal infests something it usually lives there, making the point in the post redundant.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 18 points 2 months ago (7 children)

    Aren't infestations about something that wasn't there before and doesn't actually belong there?

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  • [–] 11 points 2 months ago* (5 children)

    No, it is about their presence being wanted or not. I don't want to go to a swamp because is infested with mosquitoes for example, mosquitoes were always there.

    https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/infestation
    https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/infest

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    I saw both links pop up as well. I opted to go with the first, standard, book— webster’s instead of cherry picking.

    The problem is, both meanings are correct. However, the “troublesome” definition is primary.. and look at the example given:

    1 to spread or swarm in or over in a troublesome manner

    shark-infested waters

    2 to live in or on as a parasite

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  • [–] 0 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    We are aware of the dictionary definition. OP was precisely about arguing that that definition is a based on a fallacy.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 0 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Present where they are unwanted, but often used to describe their natural habitat.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

    I see. The word infested has nothing to do with being their natural habitats or not, it means that there's plenty of an animal we don't want for whatever reason, otherwise we would say that it is rich in those animals.

    Edit: Oh, second I see. The fallacy is that they are using a wrong definition that is creeping into a common use of the word not yet in the dictionary.

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