Do you dislike people who step on bugs?

[Trollheart]

ALM man, ALM. What more can I say?

 

[Karpal Tunnel]

ALM man, ALM. What more can I say?

OP reminds me of the "evil kid" from a similar movie by Dreamworks:

That movie, Antz, was sort of chilling to watch when I was a kid. Especially the part where the guy with the shoes is trying to crush Zee and Bala disturbed me. I remember being quite stricken by the fact that he either didn't know or care what he was doing to those ants, or that he swatted a wasp that was sentient...that was basically a person, and he just killed it because it was a bug. Probably like the OP does. Even his shoes are eerily similar. Sounds like a story out of an old holy book, the superior being kills for their own amusement, or for no reason.

If people can't marvel at an ant, they lack imagination. Unfortunately, I think OP's behavior is typical in boorish males in early adulthood who think they are being funny by killing inoffensive creatures.

 

[Trollheart]

What he/she said.
To OP: it's not really an excuse to say "but I'm a good guy in all other ways". If you have a respect for life you don't just snuff it out, and while I can certainly not throw stones, being the one who swats at bluebottles with a vengeance and can take savage joy when I kill one, that is because they're flying around and annoying me, or dive-bombing my sister, or trying to land on her food, or buzzing right next to my ear, or a hundred other annoying things. And I almost always make it a point to try to first swat them out the window or door. I don't actually WANT to kill them, but hey, in the end it's them or me.

But I've seen insects on walls, sinks, ceilings doing me no harm and have left them alone. I don't kill them because I hate them, or because they're insects/bugs, or just because I can. If I kill something it's in retaliation or reaction to something they did - wasps excepted. Wasps will sting without any provocation so if I can kill one I will, though most times I just run, leaving nothing behind to mark my passing other than a brown streak.

I expect, OP, you kicked (sorry) this off expecting a sort of light-hearted banter, ah no I hate bugs too, but it's gone a little Pete Tong on you. No offence intended, not from me anyway, but the general consensus seems to be that you don't kill just because. I don't know if reading these replies, which show you're in a minority, will change your attitude to bugs (I don't even know if every reply has been serious or just an attempt to troll you - mine has been the former) but you should know that killing insects for fun doesn't mean you're a terrible person but it does mean you're a dick. I don't know: up to you, but I don't think you're going to find too many people here agreeing with your "they're bugs so they must die" or "I kill them because why not" attitude.

 

[Hobbit]

Quick reminder that calling other members rude names is not what we do at SFFWorld...

And whilst I wouldn't personally, I was reminded of this:

(From Starship Troopers).

 

[Jakeyjake]

What he/she said.
To OP: it's not really an excuse to say "but I'm a good guy in all other ways". If you have a respect for life you don't just snuff it out, and while I can certainly not throw stones, being the one who swats at bluebottles with a vengeance and can take savage joy when I kill one, that is because they're flying around and annoying me, or dive-bombing my sister, or trying to land on her food, or buzzing right next to my ear, or a hundred other annoying things. And I almost always make it a point to try to first swat them out the window or door. I don't actually WANT to kill them, but hey, in the end it's them or me.

But I've seen insects on walls, sinks, ceilings doing me no harm and have left them alone. I don't kill them because I hate them, or because they're insects/bugs, or just because I can. If I kill something it's in retaliation or reaction to something they did - wasps excepted. Wasps will sting without any provocation so if I can kill one I will, though most times I just run, leaving nothing behind to mark my passing other than a brown streak.

I expect, OP, you kicked (sorry) this off expecting a sort of light-hearted banter, ah no I hate bugs too, but it's gone a little Pete Tong on you. No offence intended, not from me anyway, but the general consensus seems to be that you don't kill just because. I don't know if reading these replies, which show you're in a minority, will change your attitude to bugs (I don't even know if every reply has been serious or just an attempt to troll you - mine has been the former) but you should know that killing insects for fun doesn't mean you're a terrible person but it does mean you're a dick. I don't know: up to you, but I don't think you're going to find too many people here agreeing with your "they're bugs so they must die" or "I kill them because why not" attitude.

Yes, I read all replies, and it is true I made this thread not expecting so much "moralizing." I know that word has a negative connotation, but that is not how I mean it: I just can't think of a more apt word right now. However, I am certainly willing to have my mind changed on why stepping on bugs is so egregious. And contrary to Karpal Tunnel's perception that I'm ignorant about ants, I actually know quite a bit. They're not the "inoffensive creatures" you might imagine. They are hard-wired to the core, practically genocidal, and if given the opportunity, they would kill your butt in a second. They war with and often annihilate rival colonies without regard for the individual lives of their own soldiers and sometimes even abduct larvae from the conquered in order to produce a generation of slaves for the colony. They are absolutely brutal, and I'm pretty sure they are incapable of suffering or distress. On an individual level, ants have no regard for even their own lives, and in sufficient numbers they will continue trying to gather food from a dangerous location even while being actively stepped on. I'd be at least one guy to know: I've stepped on a lot of ants.

but you should know that killing insects for fun doesn't mean you're a terrible person but it does mean you're a dick.

Remind me what the difference is, lol.

If people can't marvel at an ant, they lack imagination. Unfortunately, I think OP's behavior is typical in boorish males in early adulthood who think they are being funny by killing inoffensive creatures.

I respect your opinion, and on reflection, there may be something to what you are saying. Sometimes guys like to make a spectacle of "taking out" a bug.

But I have male friends who have no problem stepping on bugs and will do it without a second thought, and they are not bad guys. They are good guys who would help out anyone in a bind if possible. One of them even volunteers for a service that provides transportation to medical appointments for disabled/elderly have no transportation. He gets paid nothing. Surely he does not sound so repellant? But when we're horsing around in my back patio, he'll waste no time drawing my attention to a crowd of ants and then pour soda on them or something silly. It's what guys do, but maybe not the guys here. I guess this crowd is more thoughtful. Almost, most girls love it when I squash a bug for them.

The people I describe in my OP who disapprove of or dislike the behavior, or least who vocalize their disapproval, are in the scant minority in everyday life, IMHO.

That movie, Antz, was sort of chilling to watch when I was a kid. Especially the part where the guy with the shoes is trying to crush Zee and Bala disturbed me. I remember being quite stricken by the fact that he either didn't know or care what he was doing to those ants, or that he swatted a wasp that was sentient...that was basically a person, and he just killed it because it was a bug. Probably like the OP does.

Guilty.

 

[Hereford Eye]

You'll be happy to know there is at least one other guy in the universe.
I also use the various available sprays to keep my house and yard and our dog's pen free of insects. Look at it as protecting my little ecosystem.

 

[Trollheart]

That's different, HE. You don't (I assume) actively go out looking for insects to kill. If playing golf or football or Bajoran Boing-Tennis, you wouldn't be trying to find insects to step on. I spray ant killer in my house, fly killer too; nobody - despite all we've said here - wants their house (or their pets' baskets, kennels, cages, whatever) infested. Your home is your castle. But we're talking here, or we seem to be, about someone who kills insects outdoors for no other reason than "they're bugs, who cares?" I mean, I don't want ants in my house, but if I see them in the garden I won't kill them, why would I?

 

[Westy]

I had a swim in the pool this afternoon and the first thing I did was rescue a bee that was drowning.

 

[Jakeyjake]

That's different, HE. You don't (I assume) actively go out looking for insects to kill. If playing golf or football or Bajoran Boing-Tennis, you wouldn't be trying to find insects to step on. I spray ant killer in my house, fly killer too; nobody - despite all we've said here - wants their house (or their pets' baskets, kennels, cages, whatever) infested. Your home is your castle. But we're talking here, or we seem to be, about someone who kills insects outdoors for no other reason than "they're bugs, who cares?" I mean, I don't want ants in my house, but if I see them in the garden I won't kill them, why would I?

I don't go "looking for insects to kill." I don't leave my house going on some crazed bug hunt. See #post 25, just above yours, where I explain why I do what I do.

 

[Trollheart]

Quick reminder that calling other members rude names is not what we do at SFFWorld...

And whilst I wouldn't personally, I was reminded of this:

(From Starship Troopers).

Oh, isn't his name Richard? Silly me...

 

[Trollheart]

Yeah I guess that's unfair. Sorry. However you did mention bulldozing ant hills and (was it you) your mates pouring soda over them? Spider in a restaurant, I guess I can be down with that, cos who wants to see creepy-crawlies while eating? Of course, it's always possible that spider was just on his way to his table...

I think my point is kind of almost a "stand your ground" kind of thing: if they're in your house they're fair game (if they're causing trouble) but outside, which you don't own or rent, you have no call to go killing insects. I think most would agree with that as a general rule.

 

[Jakeyjake]

Yeah I guess that's unfair. Sorry. However you did mention bulldozing ant hills and (was it you) your mates pouring soda over them?

Who else?

Not done maliciously, though. I don't hate ants. But when they're right there at your feet.. how can you not want to cause a little chaos? Like I said, some of my friends would give you the shirt of their back if someone needed it, but they'll also demolish an antmound without a second thought. And as I said before, most girls like it when I squash a bug for them. Makes me feel like I'm doing my job! Otherwise I leave animals alone and even enjoy many of them. The biggest thing I ever stepped on was a baby frog.

 

[Trollheart]

Nah sorry mate. When you're outdoors you're in the insects' realm and you have no right to attack or kill anything that isn't bothering you. That's just common decency. Leave the damn bugs alone.

 

[Trollheart]

 

[Jakeyjake]

Nah sorry mate. When you're outdoors you're in the insects' realm and you have no right to attack or kill anything that isn't bothering you. That's just common decency. Leave the damn bugs alone.

I'm willing to have my mind changed, even though this thread was originally just lighthearted. "Common decency" is for people and other animals who can feel. Any being who can think or feel, I have respect and compassion for. Being unable to think nor feel as bugs are, I feel I can comfortably do whatever I want to them for any reason, or even better -- for no reason at all.

I would like it if you gave me reason why what I am doing is indecent besides platitudes. Do you imagine bugs experience suffering, pain, or distress? If you can tell me why I should stop (besides common decency unless you can say why it should apply), you would be saving a lot of future bugs that I come across from being purposely stepped on. Think of all the the good you would be doing!

 

[Trollheart]

Sure. You don't know they can't feel pain, don't have emotions or have plans for the future. Nor do I. They may not. But if, to return to a tried and trusted plot, massive aliens were to arrive, look at us and to their instruments we seemed nothing but dumb animals who couldn't feel pain, should they wipe us out? And even if all the above is false, and insects are completely unfeeling, does that give you a right to kill them? I don't know if you're a Christian (I'm not) but even I realise that just because you're bigger and consider yourself superior to other life forms much smaller than you doesn't mean you can just kill them at will. I guarantee, this nonsense about girls thinking you're a big man for killing insects: if you were to spare them and explain why, they'd think more of you. Most women are more receptive to a sensitive, gentle man than a boorish, rough one. So I'm told. Any ladies here want to weigh in on the subject, please do.

Look, I don't entertain any hope that I will change your mind. If this is how you feel then it's unlikely one wanker from Ireland moaning at you is going to make you think differently. But instead of asking why shouldn't I kill them, why not ask why should I? If you can come up with a plausible answer to that, other than "because I want to", fine.

But one day the insect population will rise up and destroy us, and on that day I'll show them this thread. We'll see who they spare.

 

[Karpal Tunnel]

I'd be at least one guy to know: I've stepped on a lot of ants.

I'm not trying to be mean, but there is something really grating about your unabashed callousness. You look like a male presumably in early adulthood: I guess the world must seem a lot less scary to a self-indulgent guy like you. You realize one day you'll be "stepped on" by sickness or some other issue. At that time maybe you'll think of the ants that you mindlessly stepped on and crushed just because you felt like swinging your dick around and show off your machismo every chance you get. Maybe you will feel as they did, wondering by what grave misfortune they had to be discovered by a guy like you, who thinks of little else than dominating and tripping on your own ego. You seem like a friendly, jocular guy to converse with, and I do believe that you may be a good and charitable guy -- to other people -- but you are so pleased at yourself for being crass, boorish, and dismissive of lifeforms that are not as significant as you see yourself as being, and that makes me viscerally repulsed, even sort of angry. I think trollheart agrees, but I can't speak for him.

 

[Hobbit]

Wow, that went dark pretty quickly.

Another reminder that we don't call Forumites names here at SFFWorld.

Some members like to throw ideas out there and see what others make of the idea - even when the idea is not entirely their own personal view. It's a case of seeing others take the idea and run with it.

At its best, this can work well at getting others to think about their own values and how they relate to other's views, at their worst they become troll posts, with the comments of the original poster having no other aim but to get a rise out of other members.

This thread could be either - but, regardless, insults to other members are not accepted and will be dealt with harshly in our benign dictatorship.

 

[Trollheart]

I agree with Karpal, though to be fair what she (I assume, from the tone, we're talking about a lady here) is saying is pretty much a retread (sorry) of what she already has done. I however don't feel necessarily angry, just sad. I feel it's like - sorry I don't mean this to be harsh but it's how I feel - talking to a child, trying to explain that they shouldn't do something and constantly getting the whiny question "but why?" Sometimes there's no answer. OP, I agree you seem a nice guy and take your self-declared credentials at face value. However I do find it hard to, I guess forgive you, this pretty destructive and wanton trait. I don't expect we'd ever be friends, though I wouldn't want to consider you an enemy.

In the end though, I doubt, as I said, anyone here will convince you that what you're doing is wrong: it's not funny, it's not big and it's not mature. So do as you will, but know that the vast majority of people here on this forum, a tiny corner of a huge universe but somewhat representative, I would hazard, of humanity, disagree with you and cannot see your reasoning.

Probably as well to put this to bed now. As OP said, it began as a light-hearted question, but I don't think he was prepared for the depth of feeling others have here for living creatures, especially defenceles - UGH! SPIDER! SPLAT! GOT YOU, You - uh, sorry, where was I?

Seriously, best to let it rest now would be my advice, before it turns nasty.

 

[Majickatt]

I never stomped on bugs, but I did used to tend toward smushing them if I found them in my house. Now, I re-locate them to outdoors. I don’t delude myself that such acts reduce the bug population in my home to Zero (how could it possibly?!?) but changing their venue seems far preferable to deciding that their very existence needs to end, by me, by my judgement, by my hand.

When I thought about it, I realized that bugs were likely more important to the functioning of the biosphere than I am, had been given life by Nature herself - who also gave me life, and that I was not in a position to decide whether another creature lived based simply on my unfounded revulsion toward them.

Perhaps it is I who repulse them?