PETA miffed at President Obama's fly "execution"

[gooseboy]

So, just because you are more advanced than flies, and can ponder your own demise, that gives you superiority over an insect? Sorry, I disagree with you. I believe everything has a right to live, whether or not they have the mental capacity to ponder their own death.

What about plants?

[Existentialist1844]

So, just because you are more advanced than flies, and can ponder your own demise, that gives you superiority over an insect? Sorry, I disagree with you. I believe everything has a right to live, whether or not they have the mental capacity to ponder their own death.

What about plants?

Yes.

[ScholasticSpastic]

So, just because you are more advanced than flies, and can ponder your own demise, that gives you superiority over an insect? Sorry, I disagree with you. I believe everything has a right to live, whether or not they have the mental capacity to ponder their own death.

You're using a questionable term: superiority. What do you mean by it? I am the most important entity in my universe. This goes without saying. It's also true for you (which is to say that You are the most important entity in Your universe). You seem to be operating on the assumption that there might be an objective measure of importance, which would, of course, be bullshit.

Everything DOES NOT have a right to live, by the way. That's not the way the world works. If the world worked that way, it'd be the fuckin' garden of eden. Stuff eats. Other stuff dies. The end. Reality is inconsistent with your conception of "rights."

But I loves ya' anyway.

[angrychimp]

I believe everything has a right to live, whether or not they have the mental capacity to ponder their own death.

While I think I understand the laws of nature and survival, I kind of want to agree with you. The fact the fly exists is a tribute to the determination of life. Even if the fly isn't aware of it.

[gooseboy]

So, just because you are more advanced than flies, and can ponder your own demise, that gives you superiority over an insect? Sorry, I disagree with you. I believe everything has a right to live, whether or not they have the mental capacity to ponder their own death.

What about plants?

Yes.

So what do you eat? Is plucking fruit OK? Or eating some leaves without killing the whole plant?

[Existentialist1844]

So, just because you are more advanced than flies, and can ponder your own demise, that gives you superiority over an insect? Sorry, I disagree with you. I believe everything has a right to live, whether or not they have the mental capacity to ponder their own death.

You're using a questionable term: superiority. What do you mean by it? I am the most important entity in my universe. This goes without saying. It's also true for you (which is to say that You are the most important entity in Your universe). You seem to be operating on the assumption that there might be an objective measure of importance, which would, of course, be bullshit.

Everything DOES NOT have a right to live, by the way. That's not the way the world works. If the world worked that way, it'd be the fuckin' garden of eden. Stuff eats. Other stuff dies. The end. Reality is inconsistent with your conception of "rights."

But I loves ya' anyway.

To a certain degree there is an objective measure of importance. But that would all depend on what you view as important-that is, what the end should be.

Yes, everything DOES have a right to live.

Of course stuff dies. But there is a difference between something dying because of natural causes, or one animal killing another to stay alive, and the senseless killing of something without justification.

[Psi Wavefunction]

Hey Exi, so who the fuck are we to act as 'guardians' of life or whatever? PETA is the epitome of human arrogance and the 'ladder view' of evolution -- where we are so high up that we must now artifically 'respect' and 'liberate' and 'protect' the 'lower' life forms because we are so awesome and shit.

Any attempt to 'protect' other life, despite asserting they are equal to us, is intrinsically arrogant. The very debate over whether or not it's equal is arrogant, and, frankly, irrelevant. Life is. End of story. Evolution could care less about our attempts to rank and evaluate everything in terms of our weird abstractions. Evolution lacks the ability to care in the first place...

I avoid killing animals not because it's 'morally good' or because I view them as equals or whatever, but just because I'm accustomed to not killing things both by cultural indoctrination (using a negatively charged word just for kicks; in reality, culture shapes us whether for the good or for the worse... whether we like it or not; and usually a bit of both) and possibly a bit of instinct (it's generally 'better' to avoid wasting your energy on attacking various things around you -- some fight back). But groups like PETA reek of moral superiority and self-righteousness to rival that of many religious groups... and as I've doubtlessly mentioned before, that is probably my worst pet peeve, ever. I fucking HATE self-righteousness, regardless of context. It annoys me. A lot. Really. /rant

Yeah, I swat flies from time to time. I also kill lots of plants in the name of science. Sometimes I catch insects and they die in captivity. I don't really mind -- because we're equal and it's really irrelevant what any of us do. Killing needlessly generally doesn't harmonise well with our innate psychological features, so that's generally why it's a good idea to refrain from doing it. But there doesn't actually have to be any 'moral' justification for it.

Then again, I reject morality... so I'll stfu now

[AshtonBlack]

But, but flesh is soooooo tasty!

[Psi Wavefunction]

But, but flesh is soooooo tasty!

Agreed! I should donate to People Eating Tasty Animals

[Transgirlofnofaith]

I really can't bring myself to believe this. It's just a fucking fly. Its brain isn't much more than the equivalent of a piece of clockwork that enables it to fly, eat, mate, lay eggs, etc. The PETA people are just fucking insane in a completely literal sense. I wouldn't invite one of them into my house(if I had a house).

and as I've doubtlessly mentioned before, that is probably my worst pet peeve, ever. I fucking HATE self-righteousness, regardless of context. It annoys me. A lot. Really. /rant

So... It's bad to believe in something strongly?

Of course stuff dies. But there is a difference between something dying because of natural causes, or one animal killing another to stay alive, and the senseless killing of something without justification.

I wouldn't call meat "killing without justification". Why?

BACON!

Yummy yummy bacon!
Bacon!



BACON!

[Psi Wavefunction]

I really can't bring myself to believe this. It's just a fucking fly. Its brain isn't much more than the equivalent of a piece of clockwork that enables it to fly, eat, mate, lay eggs, etc. The PETA people are just fucking insane in a completely literal sense. I wouldn't invite one of them into my house(if I had a house).

and as I've doubtlessly mentioned before, that is probably my worst pet peeve, ever. I fucking HATE self-righteousness, regardless of context. It annoys me. A lot. Really. /rant

So... It's bad to believe in something strongly?

Of course stuff dies. But there is a difference between something dying because of natural causes, or one animal killing another to stay alive, and the senseless killing of something without justification.

I wouldn't call meat "killing without justification". Why?

BACON!

Yummy yummy bacon!
Bacon!



BACON!

Now you're just making me hungry. You're an asshole.


It is unadvisable to believe overly strongly in anything -- dogma is a dangerous thing. But if you're gonna believe strongly in something, your own business; thinking everyone else is inferior to you for not holding those same beliefs is self-righteousness. And that I don't like. PETA clearly tries to impose its crazy little dogmas on everyone else. Kinda like Islam and Christianity, actually

[charlou]

I hate swallowing flies.

[Psi Wavefunction]

I hate swallowing flies.

A bumblebee bounced right off my lips the other day... thus I began pondering how awful it'd be to actually swallow a bumblebee...

[charlou]

People have suffocated that way. Animals are dangerous. Kill them.

[Psi Wavefunction]

People have suffocated that way. Animals are dangerous. Kill them.

PETA - people for the ethical treatment BY animals :twisted: