Imagine that there is a scary beast native to your area. The Glorp.
The Glorp is an important part of the food chain. It’s actually part of your culture to respect it. There are more and more Glorps every year, and they are only legal to hunt in very limited situations. Having that many Glorps running unchecked is wreaking havoc with the environment.
The Glorps are starting to show up in town. While they don’t naturally prey on humans, in some situations they can be violent towards people. People have died.
For a long time, many people say, “There’s no doing anything about it. You know the Glorps are sacred.”
When the first feasible Glorp Control Plan is proposed, those people say, “There are so many Glorps, how can we possibly stop them from killing people?! Even getting rid of SOME of them won’t make a dent.”
When you try to reason with them, they insist, “Just be careful of Glorps. Honestly, the Glorps also attack each other, so having Glorps around is sometimes the best deterrent to other Glorps being violent towards people. If you see something, say something.”
Finally, due to overwhelming popular opinion, local government authorizes a Glorp hunt to legally thin the population down to the 20% mark. The Glorps won’t be endangered at all at the 20% mark, and there are rules about the size of Glorps that can be hunted.
After a long, difficult period, the Glorp hunt is a success! There are far fewer Glorps and now there is a Glorp breeding control program in effect. Of course Glorps are still dangerous. Glorps are scary beasts. But, now they are functioning appropriately as a part of the food chain. They aren’t showing up everywhere.
One day, a few months later, a Glorp does wander into town, and it kills several people. The details are unclear right now. It could be that it was one of those small ones that wouldn’t have been hunted. It’s very tragic.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Do you think the Glorp hunt should have never occurred since it didn’t get rid of this recent killer Glorp?
Since the Glorps are culturally important, should Glorps have been left to multiply unchecked?
If the majority of people in town told the government they were okay with some check on the Glorps and half the government did nothing, how should the people have responded?
Glorps started showing up disproportionately at schools, killing about half a class of children every 3-5 school days. Prior to the hunt, should children have simply been homeschooled if their parents were concerned about their safety due to Glorps?
Occasionally, Glorps would show up and kill people at movie theatres, clubs, and concerts, despite anti-Glorp safety measures. Would you continue going to those places, knowing a Glorp attack could happen? How would you take measures against becoming a Glorp victim?
