The new exotic
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Someone please help me — I don’t know how to read this other than as straight up xenophobia.
Does this help?:
“… What climate change could make more likely is the local transmission of an exotic ailment as viruses found in warmer climates find previously cooler areas more to their liking. And with a reservoir of mosquitoes or other insects already here or also moving into new habitats, officials warn that’s not a good combination.
Reiskind said there are 60 species of mosquitoes in North Carolina, with a half-dozen or so considered non-native and not likely found in the Tar Heel State a century ago.”
https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2022/10/27/nc-could-set-record-for-west-nile-virus-cases-2022/69561870007/
Brent, I appreciate the reply and the added context. It still seems to me that the *joke* of the strip depends on a double meaning, and in any case, that it would be naive to believe that readers would not infer that this strip is in part a comment about climate refugees—human ones.
Absolutely, the implication to the reader that the previous panel was discussing human climate refugees was indeed intentional, in order to misdirect expectations so that the concluding panel would be a surprise punchline to show that the invasive species was another insect and the virus they were carrying with them. Misdirection is a classic tool for people attempting humor.