Today I learned... (Post interesting facts.)

Marmaduke wrote:Today, I learned that the Today I Learned thread was first started on 5th January 2013.

Merged.

I've recently learned that there's a significant section of people who hate monkeys. Sometimes monkeys in general, but often specifically baby macaque monkeys. Really hate them, to the point of wanting to hurt them. I've no idea why.

Some context. A while ago, I had been talking to a friend, and it came up that they didn't like monkeys. Thought they were creepy. Sure, nothing weird in that. More recently, I was watching the BBC rendition of His Dark Materials, which has a monkey character, and one of the people who I was watching it with mentioned that the monkey was creepy. Again, nothing weird in that, the character is meant to be creepy. But they kept mentioning how gross and creepy they found the monkey, every time it was on screen. I asked them if they disliked monkeys in general, and they said yes, they didn't like them.

Huh, I thought, is this a common feeling? Most people seemed to be neutral, or liked seeing monkeys, and there didn't seem to be any other mammalian animal which evoked such specific negative feelings. So, I looked it up. Yup, it's pretty common. More disturbingly, I learned that there seems to be a phenomenon whereby people not only express dislike for monkeys, but actually enjoy thinking about and watching them be harmed. Here's an example of a Reddit thread with someone confessing their, self admittedly irrational, hatred of monkeys.

I went down the rabbit hole. There's loads of "monkey hating" videos on YouTube. People commenting how much they hate monkeys and how they'd like to hurt them. Bizarrely irrational stuff. I see that other people have noticed it, and they too are wondering what causes the irrational hatred of monkeys. Major theory seems to be that people who live in areas where monkeys live view them as pest due to their behaviour, but this doesn't seem to explain the really strong reaction. One idea is that people experience an "uncanny valley" effect, in that monkeys are somewhat similar to humans, and this creeps them out. But great apes don't seem to elicit the same reaction, and they're even more similar, obviously. Another theory is that people see some monkey behaviour as particularly cruel, and perhaps combined with the human similarity, evokes a visceral negative reaction. What is going on? Elaborate trolling? Genuine psychological quirk? Species specific sadism?

I am monkey-neutral and very confused. There are monkey haters amongst us, and I demand an explanation.

Magic J wrote:I've recently learned that there's a significant section of people who hate monkeys. Sometimes monkeys in general, but often specifically baby macaque monkeys. Really hate them, to the point of wanting to hurt them. I've no idea why.

Some context. A while ago, I had been talking to a friend, and it came up that they didn't like monkeys. Thought they were creepy. Sure, nothing weird in that. More recently, I was watching the BBC rendition of His Dark Materials, which has a monkey character, and one of the people who I was watching it with mentioned that the monkey was creepy. Again, nothing weird in that, the character is meant to be creepy. But they kept mentioning how gross and creepy they found the monkey, every time it was on screen. I asked them if they disliked monkeys in general, and they said yes, they didn't like them.

Huh, I thought, is this a common feeling? Most people seemed to be neutral, or liked seeing monkeys, and there didn't seem to be any other mammalian animal which evoked such specific negative feelings. So, I looked it up. Yup, it's pretty common. More disturbingly, I learned that there seems to be a phenomenon whereby people not only express dislike for monkeys, but actually enjoy thinking about and watching them be harmed. Here's an example of a Reddit thread with someone confessing their, self admittedly irrational, hatred of monkeys.

I went down the rabbit hole. There's loads of "monkey hating" videos on YouTube. People commenting how much they hate monkeys and how they'd like to hurt them. Bizarrely irrational stuff. I see that other people have noticed it, and they too are wondering what causes the irrational hatred of monkeys. Major theory seems to be that people who live in areas where monkeys live view them as pest due to their behaviour, but this doesn't seem to explain the really strong reaction. One idea is that people experience an "uncanny valley" effect, in that monkeys are somewhat similar to humans, and this creeps them out. But great apes don't seem to elicit the same reaction, and they're even more similar, obviously. Another theory is that people see some monkey behaviour as particularly cruel, and perhaps combined with the human similarity, evokes a visceral negative reaction. What is going on? Elaborate trolling? Genuine psychological quirk? Species specific sadism?

I am monkey-neutral and very confused. There are monkey haters amongst us, and I demand an explanation.

I’m one of those people and it’s interesting how you brought this up. However there is no rational reason. They fill me with loathing.