Rat-baiting is an ugly underbelly in our otherwise civil
rodent discourse, consisting of the practice of using language and actions which insult or deride rats for purposes of
humiliation,
intimidation, or
coercion. The rat-baiter may for example insult the physical characteristics common to rats: "Hey, rat, why the long
face? Hey, I'm talking to you, big-
nose. I know you can hear me with those giant satellite-dish
ears of yours. I bet your mom carries
rabies." Rat-baiters will not hesitate to mock rat cultural
stereotypes: "Don't go to the rat's house for dinner unless you like
cheese stolen out of somebody's
garbage."
A typical rat-baiter tactic will be to make mocking and denigrating comments, and then when confronted insist that it was just meant humorously, and that the rats targeted by these comments are overly sensitive.
In addition to making insulting comments, rat-baiters have been known to further insult rats by killing them with
poisons,
traps,
shovels, or whatever other implements they might get a hold of. Stunningly, there is no law to discourage either emotional or physical
violence against rats, and in fact many governments join in the repression of this much maligned and misunderstood group, even to the point of carrying out mass
executions.
Note: lizardinlaw reminds me that rats are actually quite nice to each other.