• rants_unnecessarily@piefed.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    edit-2
    3 hours ago

    There are a lot of things that we as an animal like or don’t like due to evolutionary benefits.

    For example we don’t like the smell of excrement because those that didn’t, stayed further away from it and caught less diseases.
    Another good example is snake and spider phobias, those innately scared of venomous creatures survived more often than those that enjoyed their company.

    I’m 100% that roaches (and relatives) fall into this category as well. We find them slightly disgusting because those that did, killed them and lived with less diseases than those that thought that they were cute.

    Butterflies on the other hand posed no threat to us and remind us of flowers that were evolutionarily important to us (interest in agriculture).

    Killing cockroaches is self defence. Killing butterflies is murder.

  • pjwestin@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    111
    ·
    13 hours ago

    Roaches infest your home and spread diseases. Butterflies live outside and spread pollen.

  • Obinice@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    122
    ·
    15 hours ago

    Do butterflies infest homes and destroy property?

    I feel like it’s less what they look like, and more how they impact us. It’s still very human-centric, but ya know, not so much a beauty thing as one might think at first.

  • RebekahWSD@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    19
    ·
    12 hours ago

    I try to not kill any without asking my scientist friend if they’re invasive.

    She said I’m allowed to scrunch all the spotted lantern flies, and I think they’re very neat looking?

    • spicy pancake@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 hours ago

      lanternflies definitely defy this particular philosophical postulate

      for those of us who like the way they look anyway

      i stomped one nearby my toddler niece once and she looked a little too enthused by that, so I reminded her it’s important to be a little sad when a living thing dies, even you killed it to help protect the environment :(

  • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    24
    ·
    14 hours ago

    Idk man, all them spider bros prove this wrong.

    Sure ascetics are nice but it’s all about utility at the end of the day

    • PapaStevesy@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      6 hours ago

      I mean sure ascetics are nice, but with the whole straight-edge thing, they’re just not that fun to hang out with.

    • Gold_E_Lox@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      6 hours ago

      just because somethings take precidence over others sometimes doesnt prove this wrong. there is some form of aesthetic reasonings behind some moral choices made by human beings.

      utility can overcome aesthetics handedly in many cases though.

  • morto@piefed.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    30
    ·
    edit-2
    14 hours ago

    Recently, my sister wanted to kill a caterpillar and I said that when she sees a butterfly, she looks in awe, but when she sees a caterpillar, she wants to kill it, and that it explains a lot about our society. It was enough to save the poor hungry caterpillar

    By the way, I don’t kill cockroaches, I just shoo them away. They’re nice and usually don’t come back

    • Grass@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      30
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      14 hours ago

      I will 100% toss the green ones to the neighbour’s chickens. They fuck up my cabbages leaving just the veins and little poop dots then fly away as detestable white moths to fuck up everyone else’s shit. Sometimes I borrow a couple chickens and just let them go find all the yummy buggies themselves. They are so silly and make a fun show out of decimating my enemies.

      • morto@piefed.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        13 hours ago

        Don’t the borrowed chickens eat your plants as well? Along with everything in their path, and even you, if they were big enough?

        • SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          11
          ·
          edit-2
          13 hours ago

          If mine are any indication, they’ll go hunting for bugs before they start scratching at stuff or eating plants. Even when I give mine pulled weeds the first thing they do is look for bugs on them. Those are the real prize.

          They have an amazing eye for slight movement, and are quite good little hunters (they really like catching mice as well). If you don’t give them time to destroy everything, and keep your eyes on them.

          As a bonus they poop while they eradicate, and they do some mild scratching of the surface which is good for the soil.

        • Grass@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          13 hours ago

          I don’t leave them unattended. I let them do whatever they want with anything already destroyed, and they seem to have fun if I chase them around to distract them from other stuff seeing as they come to poke me then run away when I stop following them.

      • lumpenproletariat@quokk.au
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        13 hours ago

        Yeah fuck native fauna! Gotta protect our imported flora and don’t even think of using a greenhouse to keep the insects out.

  • determinist@kbin.earth
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    13 hours ago

    so … I don’t crush either. I’m just not into it and I think they all have the right to have a fair go. I’m pretty sure they have enough to deal with without me fucking up their shit.

  • AceFuzzLord@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    6 hours ago

    Call me a hater, but I consider anyone who kills any bug, arachnid, insect, whatever, a hero. Absolutely HATE them all, no matter how vital they are.

    Edit:

    Hater, not gated

  • null@lemmy.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    edit-2
    13 hours ago

    Pollinators are beneficial while pests are detrimental. It’s not a choice of aesthetics, but of self-interest.

  • yesman@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    14 hours ago

    In both instances, you’re the moral agent who gets to decide. And it’s not our advantage in intelligence or wisdom, it’s our advantage in mass.

    Morals have power dynamics, CMM.