Discourse Blog

Discourse Blog

Share this post

Discourse Blog
Discourse Blog
Liberté, Égalité, Raternité
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Liberté, Égalité, Raternité

Rats..............in France!

Rafi Schwartz's avatar
Rafi Schwartz
Jun 15, 2023
∙ Paid
10

Share this post

Discourse Blog
Discourse Blog
Liberté, Égalité, Raternité
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
5
3
Share
via flickr (cc)

Consider the humble rat. Rattus norvegicus. The ne plus ultra of domesticable rodents (suck it, bunnies). They’ve lived among us for tens of thousands of years, spreading joy and disease in decidedly unequal measure, squeaking their way into the annals of history as a species to both revere and revile. Here in America, rats are often political foils to be stomped and gassed, their corpses displayed by bloodthirsty lawmakers desperate to unleash the full might of their municipal authority on a species with whom most city-dwellers have already reached detente.

But what if there were another way? What if that unspoken, if occasionally fragile, pact between hearty urbanites and urban rats were something more? Something official? Something…French?

Share

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Discourse Blog to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Discourse Blog Inc.
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More