I think it's fun to step on ants. So what?

The Breaker said:
I don't understand the hate in this thread. Most preach letting people speak their opinions, but if their opinion conflicts with our own, they are told not to speak. You compare killing ants to killing humans, but this is not the same.
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If you want to understand why there is 'hate' in this thread, study the OP.

The Breaker said:
Ants do not feel pain, they do not fear death.
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Do you have evidence that ants don't feel pain ?

The Breaker said:
Their brain is not developed in the same way as ours. Killing something which can feel pain, which does not want to die, now that is regrettable.
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Ants don't want to die anymore than you would.
If you think otherwise, please provide evidence.

The Breaker said:
It sounds to me that many of you are ready to throw him in jail simply because he enjoys killing ants.
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No, we just think he's a fucking asshole.
 
Enmos said:
Isn't it quite appropriate ? lol ;)
You used the search function and put in "ants".
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Oh right... woops :shy:

I can't see how that would work.. where do you draw the line ?
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Correct my if I'm wrong, but in earlier posts you have suggested that someone who knowingly kills an ant (for example) shows a certain lack of 'respect for life' in doing so. I then went on to say how, if I am totally honest, I don't care about the welfare of a solitary ant walking across my patio. In fact, if I have no socks on, I have rather a negative attitude towards it. So I might kill it.
Does that mean I am a sociopath with no regard for the natural world? Should I care more?
To answer your question I would draw the line at putting poison in the nest or causing larger scale destruction of my garden's mini-ecosystem in any way. Of course we'd all like to say that we treat every individual living creature around us with respect and attention, but it is only natural that we will pay more attention and regard to life forms closer to ourselves. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of animal charities around the world. Do any of these fight for an end to 'ant-cruelty'? Even entomologists kill insects to put in their collections.
What I'm trying to say is that A LOT of people share in this disregard for the humble red ant. It is difficult to care about something so inconsequential to our existences and world. And it is grossly unfair to suggest that all these people who wielded a magnifying glass or two in their youth respect life any less than you do.

A slightly different point, but what do you think about pest control?
 
Cellar_Door said:
Oh right... woops :shy:



Correct my if I'm wrong, but in earlier posts you have suggested that someone who knowingly kills an ant (for example) shows a certain lack of 'respect for life' in doing so. I then went on to say how, if I am totally honest, I don't care about the welfare of a solitary ant walking across my patio. In fact, if I have no socks on, I have rather a negative attitude towards it. So I might kill it.
Does that mean I am a sociopath with no regard for the natural world? Should I care more?
To answer your question I would draw the line at putting poison in the nest or causing larger scale destruction of my garden's mini-ecosystem in any way. Of course we'd all like to say that we treat every individual living creature around us with respect and attention, but it is only natural that we will pay more attention and regard to life forms closer to ourselves. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of animal charities around the world. Do any of these fight for an end to 'ant-cruelty'? Even entomologists kill insects to put in their collections.
What I'm trying to say is that A LOT of people share in this disregard for the humble red ant. It is difficult to care about something so inconsequential to our existences and world. And it is grossly unfair to suggest that all these people who wielded a magnifying glass or two in their youth respect life any less than you do.
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I'm not saying you should, perse, care about the welfare of an individual ant. I'm saying you should care about life. And that means you don't go around killing creatures for fun.
There is nothing wrong with walking in the street minding your own business and stepping on an ant. The point where things go wrong is when you start seeking them out to step on them.

Cellar_Door said:
A slightly different point, but what do you think about pest control?
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Personal or agricultural ?
 
Do you wash with soap that kills bacteria?

What about brushing teeth?

How big does something have to be to be recognised as having the right to life?
 
Nietzschefan and others who comment on his health are the first to come to some general consensus with threads questions IMO.
 
Ants to not have nociceptors, the receptor in the body responsible for the feeling of pain. Even if they did have nociceptors, they do not have a brain which designed to interpret and remember what pain feels like. An organism must be able to experience the emotional state of being in pain, not just have nociceptors. There has to be a place in the brain that gets the information from pain sensors and interprets it. Ants do not care if they die, they are hard-wired to care only about the survival of their colony. I am unable to post links, so you must do the research your self. Typing "Do invertebrates feel pain?" into google would be a good place to start.
 
Discussing the ethics of why one should consider stepping on ants seems like a bit of a silly fantasy.
 
ThBroken said:
It's not beside the point. Both bacteria and ants will react in order to avoid aversive stimuli, yet neither are generally regarded as being able to feel pain.
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You appear to be trying to scientifically justifying the stepping on ants. Absurd!
 
tnerb said:
Discussing the ethics of why one should consider stepping on ants seems like a bit of a silly fantasy.
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But that's what this thread has evolved into. Ants cannot feel agony, they cannot feel anxiety, they cannot feel fear, ants cannot feel any emotions. They do not have a sufficiently developed brain to do so.
 
tnerb said:
You appear to be trying to scientifically justifying the stepping on ants. Absurd!
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I'm not justifying it. I'm simply saying that it is not the equivalent of torturing cats or other small animals, let alone killing humans. To my knowledge, the OP never said that he had urges to harm small animals or other humans. I see no reason to berate him.

Would you argue that we should not harm bacteria? I'm not trying to side with anyone, I'm just trying to make a good debate and get people to question their beliefs.
 
ThBroken said:
I'm not justifying it. I'm simply saying that it is not the equivalent of torturing cats or other small animals, let alone killing humans. To my knowledge, the OP never said that he had urges to harm small animals or other humans. I see no reason to berate him.

Would you argue that we should not harm bacteria? I'm not trying to side with anyone, I'm just trying to make a good debate and get people to question their beliefs.
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What beliefs do you suspect they want to question?
 
tnerb said:
Correct. There is no reason to harm bacteria unless necessary.
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But yet you kill them everyday. Why should I make an effort to avoid killing them or ants for that matter?

I only want for people to question. I dislike when people accept things as facts just because it is what they believe.
 
The Breaker said:
But yet you kill them everyday. Why should I make an effort to avoid killing them or ants for that matter?

I only want for people to question. I dislike when people accept things as facts just because it is what they believe.
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You don't like it when someone thinks for themselves?

You are just as insane as the thread starter!!!:eek:
 
The Breaker said:
But that's what this thread has evolved into. Ants cannot feel agony, they cannot feel anxiety, they cannot feel fear, ants cannot feel any emotions. They do not have a sufficiently developed brain to do so.
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So when they writhe in a mangled frenzy that is nothing more than something like a spring that may fly out from the back of a watch, yes?

Dissection.jpg
 
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