Do you think stepping on bugs is wrong - why or why not?

[Nietzsche]

I don't go out of my way to kill animals of any kind that don't make themselves a problem. I don't support killing animals for sport alone, though if you're going to eat it or use it for something, have at it.

 

[Jumi]

Quite the snappy comeback.

It wasn't a comeback, you just made some wrong and boring assumptions. I don't think we have anything further to discuss.

 

[YmirGF]

It wasn't a comeback, you just made some wrong and boring assumptions. I don't think we have anything further to discuss.

Okie dokie, Pokie.

 

[JRMcC]

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.

Touche on that first point sir.
I don't think there's anaything wrong with playing the morality card because this is clearly a moral issue. 'Is it wrong to step on bugs?'

I don't think there's a significant disconnect between assigned value and respect. All things deserve respect period. Even some non-living things get respect! Who likes it when do smash a full bottle of nice whiskey? So when I talk about the continuum I mean that the destruction of a living being is more or less tragic depending on how high its state of consciousness is.
So yes, I agree that bugs are less "valuable" because they don't know what it's like to witness their child's 5th birthday party or enjoy sitting in front of a fire place with their loving human family and chew on a bone. But I would never assign any living thing 0. Maybe plants I would assign 1.

 

[Quintessence]

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.

Seeing intrinsic value in all things and treating all things with respect is exactly the opposite of being full of oneself.

 

[Jainarayan]

Perhaps you should consider joining P.E.T.A.?

I donate to the ASPCA regularly and to the Humane Society of the United States when I can. I support PETA in their animal welfare work; I'm think their animal rights positions go a little too far.

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.

No, it has to do now with coming dangerously close to trolling. Just sayin'.

 

[YmirGF]

Seeing intrinsic value in all things and treating all things with respect is exactly the opposite of being full of oneself.

OK. We have fundamentally different views about reality. I respect that.

 

[YmirGF]

I don't go out of my way to kill animals of any kind that don't make themselves a problem. I don't support killing animals for sport alone, though if you're going to eat it or use it for something, have at it.

I'll one up you here. I've never killed any animals, although I did drop a puppy when I was 5 and felt terrible about it. I am totally against "Trophy Hunting" in general, but have no issues with people feeding their friends and family, though I'd be more impressed if they used a bow and arrow rather than a high powered rifle.

 

[The Hammer]

I prefer not to kill bugs if I don't have to. In fact I have been known to scoot them off of sidewalks and things, into grass. Granted yes, I kill bugs, it's inevitable, but if there is another solution to my problem, I don't.

Do I get upset if I kill a bug, no. Are they sentient? I have no idea. But I respect all forms of life regardless of their origins. I cannot avoid destroying/killing bacteria, and such, but I can avoid smooshing a spider just because it's in my house.

 

[YmirGF]

I also have no problem with culls. For example, in the nearby city they have a distinct rabbit problem. When I was up at the univeristy for a course, I saw several of them hippety-hopping about. The local city mandarins proposed a cull which got the animal rights wack jobs all in a titter. The result was that due to the "outcry" the rabbits are still happy taking over the city. Eventually, something will have to be done about those pesky wabbits.

 

[YmirGF]

I prefer not to kill bugs if I don't have to. In fact I have been known to scoot them off of sidewalks and things, into grass. Granted yes, I kill bugs, it's inevitable, but if there is another solution to my problem, I don't.

Do I get upset if I kill a bug, no. Are they sentient? I have no idea. But I respect all forms of life regardless of their origins. I cannot avoid destroying/killing bacteria, and such, but I can avoid smooshing a spider just because it's in my house.

I rarely kill spiders. They are very useful little beasties and make the most wonderful webs, in which they trap all kinds of nefarious, dastardly insects.

 

[Quintessence]

OK. We have fundamentally different views about reality. I respect that.

In what reality does a refusal to put yourself or your species on a pedestal equate to being full of oneself? How on earth does a proclamation of universal respectfulness ever become egocentric? I'm confused.

 

[YmirGF]

In what reality does a refusal to put yourself or your species on a pedestal equate to being full of oneself? How on earth does a proclamation of universal respectfulness ever become egocentric? I'm confused.

In theory, when folks use it to lay claim to some moral high ground.

 

[The Hammer]

I rarely kill spiders. They are very useful little beasties and make the most wonderful webs, in which they trap all kinds of nefarious, dastardly insects.

I rarely kill any insect unless it is intrinsically dangerous to me. Like the time I found a Mukade in my apartment. That thing needed to die, I wasn't going near it. I feel bad about killing. But there was no way to remove it either. Picture attached for emphasis.

 

[The Hammer]

In theory, when folks use it to lay claim to some moral high ground.

I see no moral high ground with assuming all life has value.

 

[YmirGF]

I rarely kill any insect unless it is intrinsically dangerous to me. Like the time I found a Mukade in my apartment. That thing needed to die, I wasn't going near it. I feel bad about killing. But there was no way to remove it either. Picture attached for emphasis.

Yikes... I'd probably need a flame thrower for that puppy.

 

[YmirGF]

I see no moral high ground with assuming all life has value.

I hear you, but in those stark terms does any life have any lasting "value"? In the grand scheme of things we are utterly insignificant.

 

[The Hammer]

I hear you, but in those stark terms does any life have any lasting "value"? In the grand scheme of things we are utterly insignificant.

Agreed in the grand scheme of things there may be no "lasting value". But why is lasting value important? if you are important for that singular moment you are alive. Who cares if you are important a millennia later. If it lives, I show it respect. If it presents a danger, I defend myself or others.

 

[Jainarayan]

I rarely kill any insect unless it is intrinsically dangerous to me. Like the time I found a Mukade in my apartment. That thing needed to die, I wasn't going near it. I feel bad about killing. But there was no way to remove it either. Picture attached for emphasis.

Good Gods! Where do you live, the Amazon Rain Forest!? You could put a saddle on that thing and run it at Monmouth Park Racetrack.

 

[The Hammer]

Good Gods! Where do you live, the Amazon Rain Forest!? You could put a saddle on that thing and run it at Monmouth Park Racetrack.

This was from when I lived in Japan. They are a common pest. Mukade Centipede. Very poisonous and painful bite.