Do you think its wrong to step on bugs - why or why not?

[jakeyjakey]

Is it wrong? Yes.
It's an unnecessary and intentional act of murder on another living being.

Does this stop me from doing it? No.
I'm afraid of spiders and my reaction to seeing one in my home is to kill. My reaction to a mosquito biting me is to kill it. I'll drive my car knowing full well that I'm killing many insects in doing so.

Will it build bad karma? I don't know but it should.
Just because it's not against the law and society as a whole doesn't frown upon killing insects doesn't make the act itself okay. Here's hoping that humanity is never seen as insects to an alien race

If I were a giant alien who found a race of tiny beings, I wouldn't wipe them out. I'd probably try to establish dominance over them. Just saying, being revered as a giant god sounds pretty sweet.

 

[Souther Thorn]

I'm 22 years old, was in class two days ago... saw a spider crawling under my desk. I was bored so before it got away I slid my foot over and quietly crunched the little guy.

I tilted my foot over to show the flattened spider to my buddy sitting across, and we sort of snickered when we saw that he was sticking to my muddy running shoe and half alive. As I was doing this from behind me a five foot tall kid behind me called me a bully because I step on bugs. I told him to bend down and kiss my stinking feet. I know, I know... not nice heh. I'm actually a pretty good guy.

Why do people get upset about stuff like this? I've been stepping on bugs my whole life. If bugs are reincarnates of people, well... my thinking is better luck next time. Probably did the little guy a favor... maybe uncle bob or grandma jane shouldn't crawl next to a giant white sneaker unless they want me to crush them.

What are your thoughts? Is it wrong to step on bugs? Why or why not? Will it build bad "karma?"

First, I don't know if this is poor trolling.
Second, if it's not you're a douchebag and no, you're not a 'pretty nice guy' if that's your reaction to someone calling you on an act of cruelty (the laughing at the half alive, not the stepping).
Third, see a therapist if crushing animals or bugs gets you your jollies, seriously.
Fourth, no I step on bugs all the time if they're in my way or I don't notice them. I have never gone out of my way to purposefully kill anything that hadn't taken a stab at me first however. Again, get some help.

 

[Aerosteam]

If you're scared of the bug and you crushed it as a form of self defence, then fair game.

Killing it for the sake of killing? Not cool.

 

[Augustine]

As far as we know, insects aren't sentient, so I can't see a moral reason why it'd be wrong to kill one. Personally though, I think bugs are pretty cool and so I won't set out to kill one unless it's something like a mosquito which intends to make me it's next meal.

Non-sentience absolving one from moral responsibility seems like a rationalization of those who wish to see themselves moral, yet know they need to kill to survive.No offence.

 

[Mister K]

Well, if it's just a bug, then I either walk by it (on the street) or try to get rid of it without killing it (at home).

If it is a bloodsucker or noize-maker, or bloodsucking noize-maker I will try to squash it with everything I got.

 

[Dagda Mor]

I don't think that going out of your way to crush small insects is too bad, but it is really... well, weird. Seeing larger bugs die is really gross and hard to watch, though. I'd rather just see them leave.

 

[JoJo]

As far as we know, insects aren't sentient, so I can't see a moral reason why it'd be wrong to kill one. Personally though, I think bugs are pretty cool and so I won't set out to kill one unless it's something like a mosquito which intends to make me it's next meal.

Non-sentience absolving one from moral responsibility seems like a rationalization of those who wish to see themselves moral, yet know they need to kill to survive.No offence.

So out of interest, do you feel moral responsibility to your laptop, or to a rock? Life is just a system of self-replicating molecules, without the 'ghost in the machine', i.e. sentience, there's no reason in my eyes to be moral to a non-sentient life-form. A jellyfish doesn't care whether it lives or dies, because it isn't capable of caring about anything at-all, so why should I care?

Though, for the record, I don't object to the killing of sentient non-human animals either, as long as they don't suffer too much in the process of dying.

 

[Harleykin]

i don't kill insects for fun or out of boredom but i might do it out of...hate?
basically i really got a "don't annoy me" rule going on and i don't care what it is...
everything can crawl and walk and what not unless it's not "near" my bed or on me.
if i have to scare away a fly or sth like 10 times i'll consider it war and kill that thing...other than that i don't mind.
but if try to kill it and it still wiggles i really get a bad feeling...i know they can't help it and i can't talk to them to go away so when i crush'em i actually want them do be dead and mostly painless...i don't even know if they can feel pain...but i don't care even if someone would tell me they don't feel anything i'd feel bad about torture

and i really alway try to go glas+paper method on anything without wings.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

To me, stepping on an anthill is like stepping on a tiny automated robot factory that will self-repair. Watching them scramble like all hell afterward is actually interesting.

Yeah, and Mengele was also very interested in his work.

Did.... did you really just compare a guy stepping on an anthill to the fucking atrocities committed by Mengele? Like... seriously?

No, I compared their emotional responses or lack thereof.

While the fact that he "sort of snickered when we saw that [the spider] was sticking to [his] muddy running shoe and half alive" is a bit... off, that's still a really extreme comparison.

Maybe but I can never condone killing anything "just because it's interesting".

To me, stepping on an anthill is like stepping on a tiny automated robot factory that will self-repair. Watching them scramble like all hell afterward is actually interesting.

Yeah, and Mengele was also very interested in his work.

Did.... did you really just compare a guy stepping on an anthill to the fucking atrocities committed by Mengele? Like... seriously?

No, I compared their emotional responses or lack thereof.

Do you think it's that unusual to have a lack of emotional response to some crushed ants?

Yes, see above.

 

[Risingblade]

Killing something then laughing at it then insulting someone who says killing is wrong, you sir are sick. .-.

I don't believe in killing spiders, they're our friends and kill mosquitoes and flies.

 

[Aramis Night]

I prefer not to squander my empathy by putting it to use in cruelty as a default. As humans we have the singular ability to minimize the suffering of those around us due to our capacity for superior understanding of cause and effect. It is one of the few evolutionary traits we possess that grants us superiority over the other creatures of the earth. I choose to behave as though I deserve such a distinction by not instead acting as a sadist unless a situation would benefit from my being one.

Besides, spiderbros have our backs.

 

[Flutterguy]

"If you're always worried about crushing the ants beneath you...you won't be able to walk."

I will throw them outside if I have the opportunity, and I don't go out of the way to kill or displace anything that isn't in my house.

 

[jpoon]

I don't kill bugs unless it's necessary. Any bug that attacks me or fucks with me repeated however has signed their own death warrant.
I typically like to save benign insects when I can, I find them to be amazing little critters so it can only help to spread a positive message to the rest of the universe and spare them from a crushing death.

 

[ultrabiome]

I generally avoid killing any non-dangerous predatory or helpful bugs in my house, so I will try to move any spiders or crickets or bees outside. Now sometimes that's not possible, so they die. Ants, roaches, wasps, flies and mosquitoes are immediately killed if they are in my house. Outside, I will avoid killing bugs that aren't attacking me.

Do I feel that bad... not really. There are so many bugs, so so many bugs, that humans killing them isn't causing their extinction. I mean, roaches will be around to eat shit until the end of the earth. If humans could exterminate mosquitoes we would. Flies are gross, ants are annoying, and wasps are just aggressive pains in the ass. At least spiders and crickets and mantises kill other annoying bugs and are generally not dangerous to humans (ok, spiders near my bed is a different story), and spiders usually won't go out of their way to attack us, like wasps will sometimes.

Ok, I would feel a little more bad about killing a bee. Bees are highly important to us because they pollinate our food, aren't aggressive unless provoked, and are in decline.

 

[Augustine]

As far as we know, insects aren't sentient, so I can't see a moral reason why it'd be wrong to kill one. Personally though, I think bugs are pretty cool and so I won't set out to kill one unless it's something like a mosquito which intends to make me it's next meal.

Non-sentience absolving one from moral responsibility seems like a rationalization of those who wish to see themselves moral, yet know they need to kill to survive.No offence.

So out of interest, do you feel moral responsibility to your laptop, or to a rock? Life is just a system of self-replicating molecules, without the 'ghost in the machine', i.e. sentience, there's no reason in my eyes to be moral to a non-sentient life-form. A jellyfish doesn't care whether it lives or dies, because it isn't capable of caring about anything at-all, so why should I care?

Though, for the record, I don't object to the killing of sentient non-human animals either, as long as they don't suffer too much in the process of dying.

I embrace this: in order to live you must devour lives of other living things. Plants, jellyfish, insects, bovines - all are equal, in my mind at least. Anything less, attempts to pick and choose, I see as various forms of coping with this reality of life.

 

[JoJo]

As far as we know, insects aren't sentient, so I can't see a moral reason why it'd be wrong to kill one. Personally though, I think bugs are pretty cool and so I won't set out to kill one unless it's something like a mosquito which intends to make me it's next meal.

Non-sentience absolving one from moral responsibility seems like a rationalization of those who wish to see themselves moral, yet know they need to kill to survive.No offence.

So out of interest, do you feel moral responsibility to your laptop, or to a rock? Life is just a system of self-replicating molecules, without the 'ghost in the machine', i.e. sentience, there's no reason in my eyes to be moral to a non-sentient life-form. A jellyfish doesn't care whether it lives or dies, because it isn't capable of caring about anything at-all, so why should I care?

Though, for the record, I don't object to the killing of sentient non-human animals either, as long as they don't suffer too much in the process of dying.

I embrace this: in order to live you must devour lives of other living things. Plants, jellyfish, insects, bovines - all are equal, in my mind at least. Anything less, attempts to pick and choose, I see as various forms of coping with this reality of life.

And humans? If you aren't picking and choosing between organisms, no reason to leave Homo sapiens off the menu

Arguably, treating a brainless jellyfish and a sentient pig as if they are equal is itself an attempt to cope with the reality of life, by justifying that you have to eat to live and so it doesn't matter what you eat. This line of thinking clearly doesn't make sense, for example lets say you are driving a train carrying hundreds of people. You find to your horror that on your present track there are five people trapped with no way to get out in time, and on the only alternative track you can take, one person is trapped. There is no time to stop and clearly choosing to steer your train off the tracks and killing hundreds is not an option. You must take someone's life to live but surely the moral choice is to choose the option that causes least harm: i.e. the track with just one person trapped? Does that make sense?

 

[Augustine]

And humans? If you aren't picking and choosing between organisms, no reason to leave Homo sapiens off the menu

Arguably, treating a brainless jellyfish and a sentient pig as if they are equal is itself an attempt to cope with the reality of life, by justifying that you have to eat to live and so it doesn't matter what you eat. This line of thinking clearly doesn't make sense, for example lets say you are driving a train carrying hundreds of people. You find to your horror that on your present track there are five people trapped with no way to get out in time, and on the only alternative track you can take, one person is trapped. There is no time to stop and clearly choosing to steer your train off the tracks and killing hundreds is not an option. You must take someone's life to live but surely the moral choice is to choose the option that causes least harm: i.e. the track with just one person trapped? Does that make sense?

We, as modern men, live in an incredibly privileged state, but when people find themselves under prolonged starvation this taboo will seem more and more flexible with each passing day. I need not testify for this - history does that better than I ever could.

Seeing all living things as one whole collective comes first - sentience is an imaginary line drawn to divide these living things, and is deeply secondary. Sentient beings, in effect, are given preferential treatment. And what a surprise that is, that we, humans, who created this divide, place ourselves squarely in this "superior" group. How fortuitous indeed! Strictly speaking,we should not be allowed to judge ourselves to be sentient, and thus reap benefits from it, for we have vested interest in saying so. Personally, I think that flesh-eating bacteria should have the honor of deciding who is OK to eat and who is not.

In your example, you've created a set of specific circumstances that guide me to a particular choice(though, if I were to take a truly purest ultramoralist stance, I would go for "none of the above" answer and absolve myself of choice by just flipping a coin, thus avoiding staining my hands entirely - I do delight in sophistry).
In every situation in the actual world it would have a set of circumstances that would affect my choices. So, situation when it TRULY doesn't matter what you eat, is a purely hypothetical construct and does not really exist in the real world. In the confines of the mind one ought to do whatever he/she pleases, question is how it all manifests itself - real world is the only place where this matters. In practical terms, there are always swaths of various circumstances that dictate this choice.
Having said that...
Principle is inviolable; it's manifestation is flexible due to considerations of practicality.

Also, my view of treating all things the as equal is more simple and streamlined, which is a mark of elegance. Elegance is beautiful. And I am nothing, if not a disciple of the Beautiful. :3

 

[jakeyjakey]

Killing something then laughing at it then insulting someone who says killing is wrong, you sir are sick. .-.

I don't believe in killing spiders, they're our friends and kill mosquitoes and flies.

Overreact much? Sick? They're just bugs.

 

[jakeyjakey]

I don't kill bugs unless it's necessary. Any bug that attacks me or fucks with me repeated however has signed their own death warrant.
I typically like to save benign insects when I can, I find them to be amazing little critters so it can only help to spread a positive message to the rest of the universe and spare them from a crushing death.

Hah, but giving them a crushing death is funny. People might say I treat lifeforms badly if they are less significant than me, but is that wrong? Compared to a spider, I'm a giant.

 

[jpoon]

I don't kill bugs unless it's necessary. Any bug that attacks me or fucks with me repeated however has signed their own death warrant.
I typically like to save benign insects when I can, I find them to be amazing little critters so it can only help to spread a positive message to the rest of the universe and spare them from a crushing death.

Hah, but giving them a crushing death is funny. People might say I treat lifeforms badly if they are less significant than me, but is that wrong? Compared to a spider, I'm a giant.

Karmically yes, if you are sending this negativity out you may attract negativity back to yourself. While you may not believe in this, I certainly do. Being a giant compared to an infinite universe is a bit silly, as "giant" as you are you are cosmically the stature of a sub-atomic particle. Particle Man!