SF creates naval gazing.

[taleya]

Sometimes I think stupid free in it just to be a pack of arseholes.

I don't really care how scared you are of [spiders]. If you were deathly afraid of Jewish people, would you be fine with killing them?

Meh, it's something I agree with. If the phrase "Jewish people" is too hot trigger, then replace it with puppies. Or kittens. It comes down to the same thing - are you fine with taking a life just because you dislike it? The only difference is how pretty you find them. Evidently I'm a tree hugging hippie for this pov.

No, I don't go around sobbing for the dead spiders. But come on. The human race does not live in a vacuum. We live in a biosphere with other animals. Shove over and make some goddamn room you self-indulgent twats.

I see a lot of sadly similar crap all about the place. A good example would be some reactions I get when making hammocks for the rats. But they're rats! Why do that? You're mad! these are a few I've gotten.

So? They're living, breathing beings. And as anyone who has rats, or has seen them with a hammock can tell you - they fucking love them. They jump on them, burrow in them, chew peep holes and make faces at each other, curl about and generally enjoy the hell out of them. So what's so odd about making some for them? Should they not have any comforts or enjoyments whatsoever? why the hell not? Is it because I'm expending effort? It's mine to spend, after all. Feeding the ducks in the park is a fine and dandy activity, but making do without the toilet light on for a bit because the switch is wired into the exhaust fan and there's an occupied bird nest in the eaves over it makes you peculiar. W.T.F.

It's just as easy to shoo a bug out the door or ignore it as it is to crush it. Same with any other creature. Why make killing something your default action?

The human race could do with a little less "stepping on ants" mentality methinks.


(And why yes, I do eat meat! But when it comes down to it, humans are omnivores. Reality vs absent cruelty)

Comments

[ryttu3k.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to disagree, I'm afraid. When I see a spider (which I can't even actually say out loud, I have to call it an S-word), I end up hyperventilating, crying, and shaking. Full-on panic attack. I even start shaking if I see EVIDENCE of a spider, like a web in my room where there wasn't a web before. I canNOT cope with it. If I know there's one in my room, then I refuse to go in there. If there's one OUT of my room, I lock myself in and seal around the cracks in the door. Normally I'd get someone to remove it, but if it's late at night, and half a can of Gaseous Bug Death is all that stands between me and a decent night's sleep, then you better BELIEVE that fucker is dying!

If you're not arachnophobic (and remember that phobias, by their very definition, are irrational, uncontrollable fears), then you're lucky, but if you've ever being terrified to the point of being unable to function within close proximity to one, then you'd probably see it differently.

[taleya.livejournal.com]

See, that's the thing - with me, it's a certain breed of dog. And yes, I lock up. Completely. I don't make a move to kill it, scare it off or what have becuase I'm too fucking terrified to. I can barely fucking move!

[ryttu3k.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can barely move, too. The only ones I can kill without hyperventilating are the tiny, TINY ones about the size of a pencil lead, and even then I shake. Bigger ones? NO WAY. (The only larger one was small but lethal-looking, and I mostly just kept my eyes squeezed shut and held down on the bug kill until it was empty. I used three quarters of a can, but I got it! ...Then ended up in foetal position crying, but I still got it. It was 3 AM. I had no other options.)

Just an example - a few months ago, a classmate bought a funnel web in a jar in to maths class. The second I registered its presence, I started shaking and hyperventilating and crying, I immediately left the room and ended up curled up UNDER a table in the hall outside, and my teacher eventually ended up letting me in to the ILC and making me some very sweet tea. I couldn't go back to the classroom or stop shaking for HALF AN HOUR, and only went back when I got a guarantee that it had been removed. I had to close my eyes every time I passed the Spiders Of Australia poster in one of the halls (and once walked in to a wall because of it). It's not just a dislike, it's a full-on terror. I don't lock up, but my brain goes PANIC PANIC DANGER RUN AWAY RUN AWAY and I usually end up on the other side of the house (or, a few times, out on the street) without actually being conscious of moving there. The occasions where I've actually been in control enough to do something about it are maybe one in thirty.

[gdtle1.livejournal.com]

The idea of that is something I definitely agree with, but in reality it doesn't work and humans still freely kill spiders. If they were anymore like humans, I doubt people would still squash them.

It's not a very good comparison though. With spiders, they're unavoidable. If they come into our houses, usually we'll kill them or move them to the garden. Because they're in OUR homes and don't want them crawling around. In the bush whenever I see bull ants or spiders, I move away. There's no point killing them at all since we don't even need to stay in that same place. You can avoid other humans though so killing them is totally unnecessary and there are so many other ways of getting away from them. So people don't have any excuse to kill other humans.

[taleya.livejournal.com]

I't snot unavoidable in the slightest. torasin and I don't kill them. They're gathered up and moved outside. Spider,s ants, earwigs, the only time something doesn't get migrated outside is if the rats find it first, and in that case it's snacky times.

We don't want them crawling around (ok, so actually we don't care in our case) in our home but that doesn't mean we get to kill them because it's more convenient.

[the-10thdoctor.livejournal.com]

I sort of made an agreement with my house spiders a while ago. The walls and ceilings are theirs. They can chill in the pantry and gorge on the summer moths, I don't care.

But if they get into my bed, my clothes or decide to sit on my head, they're fucking toast.

I don't get the people who think animals don't appreciate kindness, or comfort, or friendship - the people who think "oh, a singing bird in a cage will totally go with my house" and then throw it on Craigslist when it gets depressed and stops singing. It's a living being, not furniture.

My parrot is my little green buddy. He gets cooked food sometimes, why the hell not? He also loves his fleecy hammock and the sound of conversation. If I talk on the phone, he'll say "ok, ok, ok" like he's filling in the other half of the conversation. He has specific sounds he makes for specific reasons, and once he bonds to a person, he treats them like they're just another very big bird. He has a personality and emotions, so I'm responsible for that aspect of his well-being too, not just the basic food/water/picture of Sarah Palin to crap on stuff.

[aerilon.livejournal.com]

In my case, I live in the US in a state where there are actually several deadly spiders which are relatively common all over this state. And then there's the Brown Recluse - a spider which, while it is not necessarily going to kill with its venom - is exceptionally dangerous due to the kind of damage it's poison can cause.

If I see a spider in my home or vehicle and I don't know what kind of spider it is, I kill it. Why? Because I'm not going to take the risk of it being a deadly or otherwise dangerous spider. If I happen to know, however, that it is not a deadly or dangerous spider then I will move it outside of my home or vehicle without harming it.

Had a spider pop up in my truck the other day. We killed it - it turned out to be a hobo spider. Not one that's typically dangerous to humans - as it usually delivers a dry bite when it does bite and its venom rarely results in significant or serious damage - but how was I to know that at the time? Combined with the fact that I'm pretty much always with my girlfriend now I wasn't going to leave it there. Better safe than sorry.

*hysterical laughter*

[taleya.livejournal.com]

You are aware I live in Australia, yes? Where 99% of the local fauna (and flora) is designed to kill things...

...WITH THEIR BRAAAINSSSSSS