Yes, I would say that it is wrong. There is experimental evidence that arthropods can feel pain. Even if some of them can't feel pain, I still see it as wrong to rob something that is conscious of that consciousness for no justifiable reason (such as self-defense or for food).
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Do you think stepping on bugs is wrong - why or why not?
- Thread starter Thrylix
- Start date
Your arguments are strawmen and red herrings.
Jumi
Well-Known Member
Really? I think you're just a bit touchy, I mean I said I kill bugs myself. Just that someone who usually does something he himself thinks is bad and then says "he's a good guy" means absolutely nothing.
It depends where you draw the line. Killing dogs is just about the same as killing cats. Both are useful animals of around equal intelligence who get along well with humans.
Jumi
Well-Known Member
Yawn.
YmirGF
Bodhisattva in Recovery
Sort of like drawing lines between killing a bug and making it an empathy issue. Seriously?
YmirGF
Bodhisattva in Recovery
Quite the snappy comeback.
None of it is an empathy issue, it's a respect issue. In case you haven't been following, it's about killing for no good reason. Ye gods! I wish people would follow along before commenting.
YmirGF
Bodhisattva in Recovery
Empathy or respect in either case makes it pretty ludicrous in my view. For the record, it isn't so much about "following the argument", it's more about giving said argument, in context, an iota of credence.None of it is an empathy issue, it's a respect issue. In case you haven't been following, it's about killing for no good reason. Ye gods! I wish people would follow along before commenting.
Are not. A comparison can be drawn from killing a bug and killing a cow or stalk of clerey. I admit the cow is much more developed than a bug and a bug may be higher on the scale of life than celery tho.
I don't know of anyone that eats bugs but in other countries bugs are consumed as food on a regular basis. I don't think cultures that consume bugs as food brag about it tho. I've never seen a bug mounted hanging on a wall as a trophy.
I can't imagine why anyone would save a bug from drowning. The fish have to eat too.
Well said. I have zero empathy or respect for a bug.
Empathy and respect are terms used in the world of human interaction.
Someone "touchy, feely", enough to really empathize with a bug or who demonstrates respect for a bug might be in need of serious counseling.
Indeed. With so much horror going on in the world one wonders why this topic came up.
I follow it to learn how some people think. Or don't think??????
It's a bug for cryin' out loud.
YmirGF
Bodhisattva in Recovery
Insects are considered a delicacy in many parts of the world. In theory, that killing would be OK, as it is done to sustain a human animal instead of just killing for the fun of it. Hopefully the hunters don't smile as they present their catches to their significant others for preparing for the evening meal... that would so... sinister...
The thread is about killing bugs.
It's not about killing anything but bugs.
"Ye gods! I wish people would follow along before commenting.
About cats. I have a cat, love the critter, she has me well trained.
I don't kill cats or dogs.
So where did the divergent tirade about bacteria, celery, rabbits, intruders in your home come from?
What's incredible about not killing anything just for sport regardless of what it is? That is what the thread is about... or was at the beginning until it went... well, I don't know where it went.
Cows are killed and celery is eaten for human sustenance, not "just because". You're still making red herrings in talking about saving drowning bugs.
Now removing from my mouth:
YmirGF
Bodhisattva in Recovery
I think the thread was started in a rather innocent form of trivial fun. I have a gas when I am out wantonly ravaging the local slug population. It is hilarious AND good fun AND a great help to my huge garden area. That aside, I think the thread suffered from an attempted hijacking early on by those who are a tiny bit too full of themselves and their outreach to humanize all that is. What's next? Cutting the lawn is barbaric because doing so butchers unsuspecting blades of grass? The horror... the horror... the horror....
For context: I do not take part in sport killing, of any kind, and have never done so. I stick to bugs, as we have this deal and they so very much want to move upwards on the great food chain of life. I'm just here to help.
JRMcC
Active Member
It absolutely is a respect issue. For me at least. I suppose it depends what your view on reality in general is here. Everyone has to identify with living things to an extent. because you are a living thing.
Clearly there is a continuum, and there is a certain value assigned to different living things. But isn't that also a matter of respect? Once a human is murdered, they're dead. therefore they can no longer feel pain or grieve for their own death. So how much harm is really done?
I don't know what to say to someone who doesn't respect life. That's really pathetic and sad.
I'm not familiar with thorbjorn's religious/spiritual views, but clearly his moral system is superior to most of those here.
Clearly there is a continuum, and there is a certain value assigned to different living things. But isn't that also a matter of respect? Once a human is murdered, they're dead. therefore they can no longer feel pain or grieve for their own death. So how much harm is really done?
I don't know what to say to someone who doesn't respect life. That's really pathetic and sad.
I'm not familiar with thorbjorn's religious/spiritual views, but clearly his moral system is superior to most of those here.
I don't know where the thread went either. I believe responders are making way too much of not much of anything at all.
I don't want it to devolve into whether or not a bug deserves respect.
I do respect life. Even a bugs life I guess but it's not something heavy on my mind.
Most of my repsonses have been facetious, flippant, not meant to be taken so seriously.
It's about stepping on bugs, hardly criminal, or against religious dogma.
Somehow this got into "sport hunting". Never done that. I have killed rabbits, pheasant, deer, etc. for food. In my culture we were taught to never take an animals life for "fun". We ate it.
I even offer a prayer to the animals spirit and give thanks and regrets for killing it.
Sort of an ancient pagan ritual I suppose.
That said it hasn't a thing to do with the op orignal comments.
YmirGF
Bodhisattva in Recovery
Are you seeing the disconnect between these two statements? If it is absolutely a respect issue then it cannot be just for you, otherwise it could not be absolute.
Well, we don't get along with members of our own species, so being repulsed by other species should not exactly come as a news flash. Whether that reality is good or bad is value judgment and will vary from one human animal to the next.
A weird disconnect here too. You talk about a certain assigned value and then ask if it is matter of respect. Realistically speaking, that respect would be on a sliding scale based on the assigned value. Theoretically, some things would register as a zero, or 1, at the very least. That would translate to little to no respect warranted.
I'd guess that viewpoint is largely because you have an over-inflated sense of respect. I'm old-school in that my respect is earned. It is not something that is freely given. For example, some of my oldest foes on RF have EARNED my sometimes grudging respect. I still don't agree with them, but I have learned to hear them out, at the very least.
I've never been one to play the morality card. I see it more often as the fairly superficial back-patting of the like-minded.
Good post above!
OPs original question:
Do you think my actions were that egregious? I'll be honest; I've been stepping on bugs my whole life, often on purpose or for no real reason. If bugs are reincarnates of people, well... my thinking is better luck next time. Probably did the little guy a favor... maybe the reason uncle bob or grandma jane crawled up to a giant white sneaker was because they wanted me to crush them out of existence.
What are your thoughts? Is it wrong to step on bugs? Why or why not? Would I be considered a cruel god?
I doubt you are condemned for stepping on a spider. The world in general hasn't even noticed.
You are not a cruel god.
OPs original question:
Do you think my actions were that egregious? I'll be honest; I've been stepping on bugs my whole life, often on purpose or for no real reason. If bugs are reincarnates of people, well... my thinking is better luck next time. Probably did the little guy a favor... maybe the reason uncle bob or grandma jane crawled up to a giant white sneaker was because they wanted me to crush them out of existence.
What are your thoughts? Is it wrong to step on bugs? Why or why not? Would I be considered a cruel god?
I doubt you are condemned for stepping on a spider. The world in general hasn't even noticed.
You are not a cruel god.
Nice looking bait. I have many similar. Doubt I'd put it in my mouth nor do I feel horrible for taking fish with such.Cows are killed and celery is eaten for human sustenance, not "just because". You're still making red herrings in talking about saving drowning bugs.
Now removing from my mouth:
Perhaps you should consider joining P.E.T.A.?
Those folks seem to have a good time at fishing tourements harassing fishermen who catch bass, have them weighed, tagged and released alive to reproduce.
Were it not for hunters license fees and an 11% tax on anything related to sporting good deer in my state would still be extinct.
This if course hasn't a thing to do with bugs.