LOL! The great walrus vs fairy debate of 2024 is a viral debate started by Tumblr user baddywronglegs that asks whether you would be more surprised to find a walrus or a fairy at your doorstep. The debate was started in a viral poll asking which you would be more surprised by, with “walrus” winning out by a substantial margin. The debate inspired numerous responses, memes, and even fan art, notably the one below depicting a walrus-fairy hybrid.
Source: baddywronglegs
(via: r/CuratedTumblr)
So after reading all this, which would surprise you more to find on you doorstep, a walrus vs a fairy? Let us know in the comments below!
“Actually, you would be surprised at the amazing shifts that humans will use to deny the evidence of their own eyes when they don’t choose to believe something.” — A fairy, in a book wherein fairies, while not common knowledge to most characters, are known to exist.
(“The Lioness and Her Knight” by Gerald Morris, for those interested.)
This has very strong resonance with Dirk Gently, who asserts that once you eliminate the improbable, then whatever remains, however impossible, must be the truth.
…and once you go through all the improbable events that would have to happen, in a specific order for the walrus to knock on your door, you realise that’s massively, humongously improbable.
For it to be a fairy, however, requires only that something we’ve assumed to be true for decades actually isn’t true. And how often has science pulled that rabbit out of the hat on us? You can’t go two weeks without scientists going “oops, we were wrong, sorry!”
Once that small logical leap is made, “oh, it’s a fairy” ceases to be that surprising.
What Martian said.
I believe that it’s much easier for us to accept one new thing, however impossible, than to accept that reality as you know it is false. At that point, it’s a balance beam of Fairy vs. Intelligent Travelling Walrus. Which of those is more upsetting to your world view? That really depends on each person and what they can believe, accept, and convince themselves of. Even your location matters, a walrus is a hell of a lot more believable the closer to get to where they reside. A fairy is much easier to accept if you already believe in the supernatural or religion in general.