• rants_unnecessarily@piefed.social
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    12 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.

    • Artemis_Mystique@lemmy.ml
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      8 hours ago

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

      Butterflies are more associated with death, than pretty things in the east.

      Source

    • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      I avoid killing insects and other small bugs but you’re right, I only kill the ones that carry diseases like cockroaches and mosquitoes.

  • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

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

  • Obinice@lemmy.world
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    1 day 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.

    • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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      10 hours ago

      nope, its all moths, clothes moths, pantry moths are very hard to eradicate. notable mentions are drain moths, and pantry beetles. butterflies are specializes to mostly flowers, or sometimes carrion, since they are recently evolved from moths, moths are very ancient insects.

    • crapwittyname@feddit.uk
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      21 hours ago

      Yep. Spiders are top 10 ugliest creatures in history, but I would never kill one unless it was a lethally toxic variety. Because they keep the population of disease-carrying, filthy-egg-laying proboscidean-vomiting flying vermin down. Spiders are bros.

      • socsa@piefed.social
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        3 hours ago

        Spiders and centipedes won’t actually meaningfully decrease the population of other insects in your house. Both populations will simply grow together if the conditions are correct.

        • crapwittyname@feddit.uk
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          1 hour ago

          If I removed all of the spiders from my house, the fly population wouldn’t increase? I don’t remember my high school biology too clearly, but I seem to remember a definite link between predator and prey which would suggest rampant increase in an environment where predators are sparse.

          • socsa@piefed.social
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            45 minutes ago

            Predators and prey will always maintain some equilibrium, yes. But you can simply look outside and see that equilibrium typically includes a shit ton of other bugs (or birds, or mice, etc). You can also look at homes with serious infestations to see that this organic control alone doesn’t typically keep pest populations in check. Nobody has ever gotten rid of roaches by introducing spiders. Sometimes you do get infestations of spiders though, in which case the spiders are usually eating each other.

            Generally, inside your home there are other factors keeping pest populations in control. With a few very notable exceptions, most insects do not actively breed indoors because the climate conditions are not correct, or there is not access to food, or they don’t like the vibrations and noise. Most of what spiders in your home catch are bugs which get in by accident and would simply die in one way or another.

        • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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          8 hours ago

          yeah and they try to pretend they are your eyelashes, lull you into a sense of security and then bam they’re drinking your eye juice

          • bampop@lemmy.world
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            8 hours ago

            Imagine looking in the mirror in the morning thinking why are my eyelashes so tickly, and suddenly they start running around all over your face. This is why you should always keep a flamethrower in the bathroom

            • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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              8 hours ago

              you know funny you should mention that. one of the burners on our stove doesn’t light well so we had a good excuse to buy that novelty lightsaber blowtorch

      • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        really? Because the Prince of Proboscis was talking smack about you, and he has a schnoz like a bent candy cane. i know you two used to mash face puckers. And then there’s billy buzzbutt? the homeless blood addict who invented molotov cocktails? that motherfucker gave you leprosy. And menopause. and i don’t even know how that is supposed to be contagious. He was ugly as sin. Then there was Virginialetta. I should call her.

  • morto@piefed.social
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    24 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
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      23 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
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        23 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
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          22 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
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          22 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
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        23 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.

  • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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    23 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
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      16 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
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      16 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.

  • RebekahWSD@lemmy.world
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    22 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
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      12 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 :(

  • determinist@kbin.earth
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    23 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.

  • null@lemmy.org
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    23 hours ago

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

  • AceFuzzLord@lemmy.zip
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    15 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