The myth of periodic mass suicide for the arctic rodent persists in our culture. It doesn't really exist, but some say they saw it yesterday at the Minden-Tahoe airport with Trump's maskless MAGA rally.
September 13, 2020

The myth of periodic mass suicide for the arctic rodent persists in our culture. It doesn't really exist, but some say they saw it yesterday at the Minden-Tahoe airport with Trump's maskless MAGA rally.

Scopes did that ultimate debunking of this myth, which dates back to 1958 with the release of Disney's "White Wilderness", but for the sake of brevity, here's a shorter version.

Source: Business Insider

If you know anything about lemmings, it's probably their reputation for plunging off cliffs in acts of mass suicide.

But if the puffy little rodents could talk, they'd tell a different story: that this claim is bogus.

No one knows exactly when the myth started, but a 1958 Disney video called "White Wilderness," which won an Oscar for best documentary feature, has emerged over the years as the likeliest suspect.

Here's a key shot of the lemmings from the now-infamous film:

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The problem? The "documentary" was faked.

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's blog, Disney filmmakers deliberately threw the lemmings off the cliff and ruined the animal's reputation in the process.

The epic "lemming migration" was staged using careful editing, tight camera angles and a few dozen lemmings running on snow covered lazy-Susan style turntable.

Which leads us to this, seen yesterday in Minden, Nevada.

At least someone saw the humor in this event.

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