Killing Bugs (Blog)

[kpollock]

I have never killed insects - barring the occasional mosquito, because i am SO allergic to them than one tiy bite swells me up in 6" weeping lumps! I hate to do it but i do. I've never been vegan or veggie, but I have always been this way. Never kill anything unecessarily.

I don't agree that humans are naturally veggie or vegan. We have the teeth of an omnivore - and they eat pretty much anything going that they can kill or scavenge. Animals eat other animals all the time, and that is perfectly natural - why should we be any different?

Did you ever wonder if it's the extra nutrients in the increased amount fruit+veggies (especially raw) that are giving you this extra clarity/health etc - and that they would do that anyway if the same amount were eaten *in addition* to meat/fish etc.

I would love to see you try this. No (or vanishingly little) grains, of course - that's one thing I really don't think we are made to cope with very much of....

How about it??? or would your expectations/feelings bias such an experiment too much?

[Claradonna]

For mosquitoes, use natural citronella spray.

For other bugs, definitely use a natural repellant or pest control in your house.

From a moral/philosophical standpoint, if you had to choose between a bug and your health, your health saved is more valuable to the world as a whole, as more has been invested into your life and can come of your life than the bug's.

I know one prominent vegan author who told me said he'd rather save a dog than a human from an oncoming train, but I think this is a little extreme. But that works for his worldview. Sometimes extremes of perspective or actions balance out that of humanity as a whole right now?

For any other bugs, get your housekeeper to capture them and put them outside (the Buddhist way!)

[ian]

Steve, when you mentioned allowing the spider to continue "without fear of violence" I thought for sure you would address the idea of the violence the spider will perpetrate on other bugs. The spider you let live will go on to kill many other bugs, so by not killing one spider you've sealed the fate of multiple other bugs. If you're worried about bug violence in your house, shouldn't you have killed the spider to reduce the total amount of violence?

Or consider the cockroaches your wife has an aversion to. It sounds as though she would be happy to kill any cockroaches she sees, or at least have someone do it for her. Knowing that a cockroach killer lives in your house, if you're truly concerned about reducing cockroach violence, shouldn't you be going to greater lengths to remove or secure any food sources for the cockroaches in order to reduce their rate of procreation which would then reduce the odds that Erin would see one and kill it?

Your post seems to be trying to make a point about oneness, but I'm not really getting it. If you're feeling oneness with the spider, aren't you turning your back on the bugs it will kill? Or if you're talking about oneness with nature, aren't you ignoring the fact that animals are constantly killing other animals and you killing a cockroach isn't really a big deal especially if it makes your wife feel better? Or maybe you're just pointing out that eating raw heightens your sensitivity to living creatures, even bugs? If so, great, but maybe mentioning not killing cockroaches was going too far and pushed more people away, thereby lessening your influence and ability to raise readers' levels of consciousness? Sorry, just confused by this post.

[Rose of Cairo]

Originally Posted by Wilfred

What people are now laughing about (Steve's stance towards living creatures) may very well be the standard in another 100 years. The liberation of suppressed groups has so far been a constant throughout (Western) history and the value of life has increased. People are no longer burned at the stake. Slavery has been abandoned. Women have got the same rights as men.

Animals may be next.

I totally agree

I always feel about how we treat animals the same way as about slavery. It was normal and accepted not that long ago, and now it's illegal. Enslaving and killing animals is normal and accepted now but I'm sure some day it will be illegal too.

Peace.

[fellowtraveler]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

If unnecessary violence is considered normal, I'll settle for abnormal.

The key is the difference between necessary and unnecessary.

[fellowtraveler]

Originally Posted by Rose of Cairo

I totally agree

I always feel about how we treat animals the same way as about slavery. It was normal and accepted not that long ago, and now it's illegal. Enslaving and killing animals is normal and accepted now but I'm sure some day it will be illegal too.

Peace.

That's a lovely thought, but I don't know how practical it will be unless the animals learn birth control and how not to spread their diseases to humans. That's one problem I have with radical Earth-Firsters..they value animal life over human life.

[Angela]

Bugs! If they try to eat my flesh or blood, they must be SQUASHED! Whether they are fleas or mosquitos or Secretaries of the Treasury, I am putting my well-being above theirs! !!Viva La Revolucion!!

That bee the other day? Yes, my armpit was sore for three days, but I survived, and he did not! Down with the oppressors! I will no longer passively be eaten!!!!

[rjani]

"Improvement is always possible; perfection is not." - best sentence in the article

[Laura Bruno]

Apparently, Steve's post and my one on ants have really "bugged" some people. In case anyone's interested, I posted a follow-up article that covers conscious bugs, telepathy, the deaf/cochlear implant controversy, and Twitter, among other things: Why Telepathy Makes People Mad « Laura Bruno’s Blog

Peace!
Laura

[Hunter Nuttall]

Originally Posted by RobinBEING

Just wait until you start feeling for those carrots you rip from the earth and eat raw! Cruelty to vegetables, I tell you

"I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants." - A. Whitney Brown

But Steve has a good point about eating less plants by eating them directly instead of indirectly.

[Bliss Sage]

Originally Posted by Angela

That bee the other day? Yes, my armpit was sore for three days, but I survived, and he did not! Down with the oppressors! I will no longer passively be eaten!!!!

Bee? Bees are not naturally aggressive or out to eat or sting in my experience. People just freak out like frenzied maniacs as soon as they see a bee or a wasp and then they get stung. I have only been stung twice, to my memory, and both times it was because I was unaware of the bee's/wasp's presence in a small place, like the fold of a baseball cap, and I went to pick it up and got stung. But when they are flying around, they seem to think I'm a flower or something, because they sometimes land on me, on my hand, or fly around right in my face (I think I've even had one land on my face). If you are just still the entire time and let them walk around on you if they want, they will eventually fly away when they realize you are not a flower .

What you really have to watch out for in the sort of situation I described above, are idiots who start trying to swat at the bee as it's flying around you, because that idiot will be the reason for your getting stung.

[Rose of Cairo]

Originally Posted by Bliss Sage

Bees are not naturally aggressive or out to eat or sting in my experience. People just freak out like frenzied maniacs as soon as they see a bee or a wasp and then they get stung.

I very much agree with you, Bliss. In my experience bees and wasps aren't aggressive. They sting only when they feel their life or their home is seriously in danger. If you're not a death threat for them, they are very peaceful and don't do anything to you.

Of course if an enormous monster is screaming incredibly loud and waving about frantically, or even trying to catch or kill you while you're flying, then you might feel the need to defend yourself.

I sit still and observe them when they walk on me and got stung only once in my life, when I was a child. I drank some orange juice directly from the bottle without noticing that a bunch of bees and wasps were drowning in it! They were dying, in panic and several of them stung me inside my mouth. Ouch. But I can understand them.

[roxyruby]

Originally Posted by Angela

Bugs! If they try to eat my flesh or blood, they must be SQUASHED! Whether they are fleas or mosquitos or Secretaries of the Treasury, I am putting my well-being above theirs! !!Viva La Revolucion!!

That bee the other day? Yes, my armpit was sore for three days, but I survived, and he did not! Down with the oppressors! I will no longer passively be eaten!!!!

lol! funny

[Angela]

Bliss and Rose, you have not met a bee like my bee. I was sitting at my table inside my apartment, minding my own business, eating a sandwich, when a bee stung me on the tender area of flesh right behind where my arm meets my body. I was an innocent sandwich eater. This Super-Alien-Bee stung me for no good reason that I could see, other than that he was a son-of-a-bitch. There was no arm flailing. There was no screaming or freaking out. Just unilateral violence.

I felt only coldness as I watched him lay dying, wretching and rolling around on the floor, coughing and moaning like the miserable motherf***er he was.

Don't come crying to me if his cousins seek revenge on your armpits, Bliss and Rose. I will show you no more compassion than you have shown me, you cold, cold, icy-hearted wenches.

[wulph]

Wow, Angela has a "side" I've never seen before :P

[Angela]

Originally Posted by wulph

Wow, Angela has a "side" I've never seen before :P

Yes, I have another way of bee-ing.

[Andrew Brunelle]

It's easy not to kill bugs when there aren't that many. Recently, my laptop was infested with ants. I must have killed 500 of them. I don't know how they got there, but I read that when a laptop battery goes bad, they become attracted to it. Lately, the infestation is much less than before and it is only because I killed the ants. Otherwise, my whole room would be filled to the brim with those little bugs. Is it better to have a house full of bugs or to kill them all?

[lasti]

Originally Posted by Angela

I felt only coldness as I watched him lay dying, wretching and rolling around on the floor, coughing and moaning like the miserable motherf***er he was.

You're turning me on.

[lasti]

Originally Posted by Andrew Brunelle

Is it better to have a house full of bugs or to kill them all?

For you or for the bugs?

[Angela]

Originally Posted by lasti

You're turning me on.

It was a sexy moment. There I was in my bright red skin-tight leather jumpsuit, standing arms akimbo on my lithe hips, glaring down at the sorry insect as he gasped for air and begged for mercy. My eyes narrowed as I glared at his little broken-off stub -- the other end already releasing its foul toxin into my system, slowly poisoning me -- my laugh cold and hard in the air, my sandwich languishing uneaten in this atmosphere clouded with the pain of woman and bee.

Or at least that's how the moment will be portrayed in the upcoming film version: Buzzkill.

[fellowtraveler]

Originally Posted by Bliss Sage

Bee? Bees are not naturally aggressive or out to eat or sting in my experience. People just freak out like frenzied maniacs as soon as they see a bee or a wasp and then they get stung. I have only been stung twice, to my memory, and both times it was because I was unaware of the bee's/wasp's presence in a small place, like the fold of a baseball cap, and I went to pick it up and got stung. But when they are flying around, they seem to think I'm a flower or something, because they sometimes land on me, on my hand, or fly around right in my face (I think I've even had one land on my face). If you are just still the entire time and let them walk around on you if they want, they will eventually fly away when they realize you are not a flower .

What you really have to watch out for in the sort of situation I described above, are idiots who start trying to swat at the bee as it's flying around you, because that idiot will be the reason for your getting stung.

Ever have a yellowjacket fly into your soda can unnoticed? Ow.

[fellowtraveler]

Originally Posted by Angela

It was a sexy moment. There I was in my bright red skin-tight leather jumpsuit, standing arms akimbo on my lithe hips, glaring down at the sorry insect as he gasped for air and begged for mercy. My eyes narrowed as I glared at his little broken-off stub -- the other end already releasing its foul toxin into my system, slowly poisoning me -- my laugh cold and hard in the air, my sandwich languishing uneaten in this atmosphere clouded with the pain of woman and bee.

Or at least that's how the moment will be portrayed in the upcoming film version: Buzzkill.

Go for a comic book thing...Wonder Woman-style. Gal from Mayberry R.F.D. gets fed up with having her picnics ruined...after a week locked in her room sewing, she emerges, Flit gun and flyswatter in hand, as the awesome Ant Bee...

[lasti]

Originally Posted by Angela

It was a sexy moment. There I was in my bright red skin-tight leather jumpsuit, standing arms akimbo on my lithe hips, glaring down at the sorry insect as he gasped for air and begged for mercy. My eyes narrowed as I glared at his little broken-off stub -- the other end already releasing its foul toxin into my system, slowly poisoning me -- my laugh cold and hard in the air, my sandwich languishing uneaten in this atmosphere clouded with the pain of woman and bee.

Or at least that's how the moment will be portrayed in the upcoming film version: Buzzkill.

Rrrr...I want to play the bee!

[Rose of Cairo]

Originally Posted by Angela

I felt only coldness as I watched him lay dying, wretching and rolling around on the floor, coughing and moaning like the miserable motherf***er he was.

Bees are female

Stinging for no reason? Looks like this one must have been a psychopath...

And what's she mirroring about you??

[Angela]

Well, I would think it's mother issues, except that my mom was a social butterfly.

[jawillie]

Can I join the ranks as also having been a "highly sensitive child?" I remember fishing and just feeling soooo bad for the fish and the minnows and the worms.

I also remember one very distinct time when I was the beach with my family and another family. We all boated there. We all had dogs. Their white poodle was SOAKED and shivering. I was five then. Anyway, he was soaked and shivering and I felt so bad for him. I put a towel over him and everyone started laughing at me.... I felt like crying for the dog, and they were all laughing at me. Just one of those moments that stick out in my mind forever.

I have killed my share of bugs, but I always say "thank you" for their life. Does that help?? LOL I kill less and less though. I am also looking at my eating habits big time, ready to start giving up meat. I saw a blimp on the news once of a cow being run down by a forklift... that image has not left my mind. I have eaten WAY less red meat since then, but I think I am ready to give it all up now.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by lasti

Rrrr...I want to play the bee!

..to bee or not to bee.. That is the question

[Bliss Sage]

Originally Posted by jawillie

Can I join the ranks as also having been a "highly sensitive child?" I remember fishing and just feeling soooo bad for the fish and the minnows and the worms.

Me too! Once when I was little and fishing at this pond with my brother, I think I had caught a sunfish and I sat watching it trying to breath...finally I just put it back in the water.

[PresNevins]

I always try to escort insects out of my house when possible, even when my wife rolls her eyes at me for not squooshing them.

In Japan there's one species of big ol' spider (like 8-10cm) that we've nicknamed Kumonga, that somehow gets in our house from time to time, but they're so easy to manipulate... Just open a window and blow a little puff of air near it so it hits them from behind and off they go scuttling in the desired direction, eventually right out the window. They freak you out when you first see them, but they're darlings. Totally harmless.

There are also little <1cm bouncy spiders that I allow to wander about in the house, as they don't make webs or do much of anything except bounce.

However ants that I find in the house I slaughter indiscriminately. I actually didn't notice this until my wife of all people pointed out how it didn't seem to match my behavior toward other insects... I'll have to go check out your blog, Laura!

Willi, the Snapy looks like it might come in handy!

[seeker5]

And I'm curious, especially with Steve, how would you feel if you're sleeping and a roach is walking on your skin? Or you're taking a shower, and you suddenly see a big ugly roach is there staring at you mid-waist (happened to me a few days ago....!)

Ugh. The mere thought of it makes me shudder.

Other then that, I enjoyed your post. The part about your emotions getting louder when you went raw made me wonder about my own diet and emotions this summer. I didn't go completely raw, but I went close to it - much much closer to it then I ever have in my life. Looking back, it was amazing how my emotions were flowing so much as well. I've since gone back to eating a lot more cooked and processed stuff and after reading your post I noticed my emotions don't run as cleanly, as sharp, or as deep as they did back then. Hmmmm.