Is it wrong to kill bugs?

[Future Raptor Ace]

I want you to really think about this, is it logical and morally right to kill bugs and insects that cause no harm to you?
You are not allowed to use religion in anyway to prove your point!

I will explain my point of view now
Who gives us humans the right to judge the significance of any living thing? Why should we have the right to kill and torture insects but not other humans? If we are allowed to kill insects then I think it should be ok to kill and torture dogs, cats and etc. In terms of significances we are clearly more significant than dogs and cats in the same way as we are towards insects! What is the difference then and why is it considered wrong with cats and dogs? Could it be one's appearance is better towards us than the other? Insects are disgusting and ugly; so that is a perfect reason to kill them over a cute little kitten. I say fine; then lets kill every ugly human out there, clearly we are better looking then them and their utter disgusting look antagonizes me so lets eliminate them just like we do with the disgusting bugs! If you were to agree with that you would sound more like Adolf Hitler than a moral human being. But who is to say the ugly despicable bugs aren't the beauties and we humans are the nastiest creatures ever to walk the planet..... beauty is in fact in the eye of the beholder so why should we be allowed to kill those poor innocent insects who just crawl around minding their own business? Is it because they are dirty and mess up your clean house? What about when you have a little kid or a pet that tracks mud and dirt and breaks things and messes up your house; should we kill them also? If you think it is just because of the sole fact that they are clearly inferior to humans then why not kill someone who is mentally handicapped; should we be allowed to kill them too because it is clearly obvious that their mental capability is nowhere near ours? The point is there is no excuse, they are living things and have the same right as us humans to live! I only hope if some creature evolves up the chain and over takes us as the dominate species on this planet that they would do the same for us and not exterminate us just because they feel they have the right to do so just because we are being considered inferior! If you kill bugs, I think you should be viewed the same way as a serial killer, you might as well just not discriminate and just kill anything and everything that you want just because you have the ability and the arrogant thought to do so!

[wasabi622]

well.. biologically speaking, a one fly really has no significance.

and comparing killing bugs to killing humans (aka Hitler style) is a huge stretch.

a human usually has a loving family, and is a functioning, beneficial member of society.
by killing said human, you cause great pain to their loved ones, friends, and could even impact the future of the human race (another big stretch.. but hey, what if this person could find the cure to cancer or something?)

you kill a bug... nothing happens. at least, nothing significant.
and its not just cuz they are "ugly" that they are killed. they are usually pests, and carry diseases and such. even dogs and cats considered a pest to society (too aggressive, over populated, etc) are also killed off. as are human "pests" such as murders, rapists, and the like.

and the mentally handicapped, that's what they are, handicapped, so its up to us capable people to assist them, and not kill them off.

[puffyrock2]

I don't kill insects if they don't pester me in my home. Anything crawling around my room gets eliminated. Summertime in the country means right now it's Cockroach city.

[Fish]

Insects are by and large mindless drones. Some of them can be quite malevolent and dangerous- wasps, yellowjackets, fire ants, mosquitoes. As wasabi pointed out, some can carry disease and cause harm to humans. We cannot reason with them, we cannot be separated from them, and it isn't genocide to not want ants, termites, flies, or much more harmful insects living in one's space.

Your comparison of somebody who kills insects to a genocidal maniac, a serial killer, arrogant, or even of a bug and a human of any kind presents a very weak argument. None of them are the same situation. Humans are creatures of reason. Animals are capable of feeling pain and also of learning. Insects are not.

If anyone has read Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead, it presents a good system of classifying species. 2 human species; those that are local to you (ie same country), those that are not (ie other countries); ramen, or non-similar species that are sentient (we haven't encountered anything like this, but 2 alien races demonstrate this in the book); and varelse, non-human non-sentient species. The first three should not be fought if it can be avoided for any reason other than survival, because agreements can be worked out rationally. Varelse, however, cannot be anything other than instinctual, and if that instinct cannot be coped with by us then the only option is to combat it.

Insects are simple organisms with set purposes whose individual species population is unfathomably large. If they pose a problem to a human, ridding one's self of that problem because it is the only option available is never equitable to genocide.

By the way, I'm curious if you're a vegan, as the arguments you pose wouldn't allow you to be anything but.

[Tiwaz]

The human species have become the biggest disease on this planet. We more or less destroy and pollute anything in our way. So the argument that some insects can be dangerous and carry diseases is ridiculous in comparison. As higer beings we should take care of this planet as good as we can and with the least harmfull impact on the ecosystem as possible.

you kill a bug... nothing happens. at least, nothing significant.

People die every second around the world, manily the third world, nothing happens. at least nothing significant.

Animals are capable of feeling pain and also of learning. Insects are not.

That's just daft, why wouldn't an insect feel pain and be able to learn something? Just look at bees and ants. Extraordinary creatures with a far more advanced civilization and than most contries in Africa for example.
Many insects are very important for the ecosystem, servings as food for birds, eating (decomposeing) dead animals, spreading seeds from flowers etc.

I try not to kill insects for moral reason and even try to help them out if they get in my room or something. But sometimes I have to get rid of them, especially moths, they are the spawn of satan and plain disgusting.

Most animals are horizontal, since
Their homeland is not other than this Earth;
But man’s essential stance is vertical;
Free will to choose Salvation proves his worth.

Nobility some animals possess:
The genius of their symbol lives in them.
They can be more than a corrupted man;
Only their possibilities are less.

Be humble when you meet creation, for
An animal may be a sacred door.
Do not despise a noble plant, a stone:
They bring a message from God’s blessèd Throne.
Frithjof Schuon

[jung_adore_ALIZEE]

is it wrong for a dog to kill a rabbit? Is it wrong for a lion to kill a zebra? Is it wrong for a horse to kill BUGS? Is it wrong for someone to protect his family from a wild predator on a hike? Is it wrong to eat meat? Is it wrong to eat plants? Is it wrong to use deadly force on someone who is wrongfully in your house and has the potential to have harmful intent?

I in all seriousness have no problem with any of those and I also have no problem killing insects that have the potential to kill me via a slow painful agonizing death

and please tell me this, do you eat meat? because surely if you find killing insects wrong then eating meat from any type of animal is surely wrong heck the same could apply to plants they are just growing there minding their own business too so the question could be, who are we to kill animals and even plants just so we can survive?

should one lose his primal instincts just because they live in an modern "advanced" society?

[deanej]

Let's see what Stephen Colbert has to say about the subject...

[wasabi622]

Originally Posted by deanej

Let's see what Stephen Colbert has to say about the subject...

hahahaa, i have to say, very quick hands on Obama's part.


to put simply, it is yes, because we can.
life is a fight for survival. the idea of everything living peacefully in harmony with rainbows is a pure human idea, that can never occur.
everything that lives, competes to remain so. everything.

besides, its not like we are committing bug genocide. when you consider the enormous number of bugs out there, killing off those that you come in contact with.. the impact is quite negligible.

and as for Tiwaz's point about people dying in third world countries, while it is tragic and true, i see no connection to the current debate about killing bugs.

as for us "higher beings".. its not possible to live anywhere in such a scale and style of us humans(cities, housing, cars, roads, etc) without impacting the environment. sure, we could try to minimize that as much as possible.. but i feel like we'll get too political about it. and then we all just start hating each other, when we should all be holding hands in a large circle singing praise songs about Alizee.

[Future Raptor Ace]

Perhaps this wasn't made clear, but incests aren't the only pests. You have some birds, some mammals and other various creatures. ( it was mice that contaminated the water and caused the black plague) Yet the pattern seems to be the more close their relation is to human up the chain the less they are exterminated like incests. Insects also are by far not the most dangerous animals when it comes to carrying diseases, mice, raccoons pigeons and even humans are dangerous and carry diseases but yet we don't kill infected humans do we? Also other animals such as dangerous and fierce animals in the wild like bears are also protected by various animal organizations. It just makes little sense to me to kill an ant or a fly who is doing nothing you to you just because you can! You are killing a living thing that can feel pain or experience fear. In terms of it just being a little bug that will have little to no impact on the world ok............. lets kill that little kitten too then, it also wont have a huge impact on the world either!

That's just daft, why wouldn't an insect feel pain and be able to learn something? Just look at bees and ants. Extraordinary creatures with a far more advanced civilization and than most contries in Africa for example.
Many insects are very important for the ecosystem, servings as food for birds, eating (decomposeing) dead animals, spreading seeds from flowers etc.

I try not to kill insects for moral reason and even try to help them out if they get in my room or something. But sometimes I have to get rid of them, especially moths, they are the spawn of satan and plain disgusting.

I agree, just look at army ants and how millions of them cooperate with each other!
As for bugs in my house I take a napkin and release them outside, simple as that.

and please tell me this, do you eat meat? because surely if you find killing insects wrong then eating meat from any type of animal is surely wrong heck the same could apply to plants they are just growing there minding their own business too so the question could be, who are we to kill animals and even plants just so we can survive?

the difference is I eat and use the meat, when you kill a bug you are just killing it out of your own stupidity! If you were to kill the bug for food, then i would have no problem with it.

[The Gate Keeper]

If its in my house I kill it that simple especially gnats I hate them.