I can understand why people from SEA and the surrounding areas hate monkeys, them being considered pests, overpopulation, and pestering of the humans that they share a habitat with. But what is with people from the other side of the world, I’m talking the US and sometimes even Europe, seeming to harbor an equal or stronger hatred for monkeys?

I remember reading that BBC article about the journalist who uncovered and exposed a monkey torture ring in Thailand by getting into their Telegram channel or something, and nearly all of the ringleader’s customers were from the fucking Bible Belt. These people probably haven’t been in the same hemisphere as a monkey before. What gives?