Poll: Where do you draw the line, when snuffing out a life?

What will you easily kill, and feel no moral bite?

  • Insects and bugs

    Votes: 15 88.2%
  • Fish

    Votes: 10 58.8%
  • Rodents, small birds, rabbits?

    Votes: 8 47.1%
  • Chickens, ducks, var. fowl

    Votes: 4 23.5%
  • Cats, pet dogs

    Votes: 4 23.5%
  • Various small game, small monkeys?

    Votes: 4 23.5%
  • Pigs, goats, farm animals, large dogs

    Votes: 3 17.6%
  • Large game*

    Votes: 3 17.6%

  • Total voters
    17

zegh8578

Keeper of the trout
Orderite
We all swat a fly, a mosquito at least. Some of us get very Dr. Doolittle-y, and personally, I've let a gnat or two drink its fill, before I start killing again.
My grandpa once shouted at me for smashing ants, when I was a lil kid, but we also went fishing together, while he always emphasized a swift and merciful kill, often with a knife, or - in case of bigger fish, a big-ass club, swung with deliberation.
I hated it one time, when my uncles and cousins, ocean fishing, didn't bother to properly kill the fish, and dismissed my complaints, telling me the fish were merely spasming, when I knew the difference.

I've never hunted, but my best friend does, and does so with the expected decorum associated. Swift kills, whenever possible.
I've seen footage of more stunty, lazy hunting in Spain, where frustrated hunters may shoot their dogs or fling them off cliffs, and then there was a news piece recently about some local dude smashing gull eggs and killing gull chicks, being investigated by the police - it's illegal, obviously, to do this. This man, most probably, thought he was doing some sort of civic duty, since gulls can be a suisance in the city, especially when defending their chicks, that are brooded and hatched on city rooftops.

I spotted a dead gull chick in the street the other day, with a live one right nearby it, a sad little sight, with two adult gulls above half-heartedly divebombing random shoppers. All the shoppers would veer around the little bird, obviously - you never really see normal people try to kick or stomp birds, that would be insane - or would it? See dude under investigation.

Some cultures, you kick dogs, cus they're all over the place, and might bite your leg, and you don't wanna get a tetanus shot instead of getting to work in time. Many people will tell about grandmas smashing mice with a broom, splattering them all over the place. That, to me, would be a very hard task to just go and do.
Then you get some dad taking kittens in a bag, and smashing them against a tree. Job done!

So! Where do you draw the line, personally? What do you consider easy swatting, with no scar on your conciousness?

Poll options listed according to size first and foremost, and thus also likeliest effort required/resistance offered
Poll is multiple choice

*effort/resistance often reduced due to technological advantage

Oh and human murder is *not* factoring in the decisionmaking! Human murder is *not* counted here!
 
Once i almost got myself tripping over my motorcycle because i refuse to crush a sewer rat under my wheels. Stupid of me, but just by thinking of it you can feel the impact. Maybe shooting with guns and closing my eyes would feel different, since it is more indirect. Mammals and birds are very easy to empathize since we share same physiology with them. And being hot blooded as well.

And don't get me started about seeing sick pets of someone.

Although i still support the right of human fully taking use of animals for their own purpose, just with temperance. Like many thing else.
 
Where do you draw the line
I don't. then again this thread is vague as all fuck and I'm not gonna be out there throttling the neighborhood pets but if a fucking Pitger is mauling something it's getting dealt with.
 
Insects because they are often easy to kill and quick to die. Mostly a smash spells instant death.

Insects are also the most alien of earth creatures as most other life forms resemble us humans like 2 arms/legs and 2hand/feet combo. Head, neck, body. 2 eyes one nose and mouth.

Insects are also really fucking dumb and many, for some reason, try to bum rush you or get in your face. Not very smart to charge a titan.
 
Insects are also really fucking dumb and many, for some reason, try to bum rush you or get in your face. Not very smart to charge a titan.

You know, there's a long legged two winged fly here, looks like a large mosquito, it's actually related - you notice it cus it bumbles aimlessly around, to the point of rolling right into my mouth. I looked them up. They don't do anything. They can't fly in any intended direction, they just bumble about - they are disinterested in seeking sustenance, some of them can die of age having never ate or drunk anything, they may mate within that time, so, boom, on they continue.
 
Although i still support the right of human fully taking use of animals for their own purpose, just with temperance.
This I would never support. It is one of the sickest aspects of humanity's hubris. Humans are but one animal amoung many, and they are the most destructive of all; they constantly ruin the world for everything else.

Agent Smith was right.
 
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According to our best science, and it's modern zeitgeist, suffering is just an electrical signal, there is no free will, people are animals and animals are random chemical reactions. Everything exists by random chance for awhile until it doesn't forever. The difference between killing and pouring water into a flask of acid are equally neutral in the end. Whether you're a Christ, or a Hitler it's all just random chemical reactions that will be swept away forever with no reason, memory, or impact at all. Anything telling you otherwise is a chemical reaction trying to propagate itself as this surely isn't the path to continuing on the random chemical free for all.

I will admit that I very very much hate this strain of thought, but I am not able to refute it currently (or possibly ever) and so, I continue to be plagued by it from time to time.

I will often not kill insects in the house, especially spiders as I had to rake leaves in my family's backyard as a teen. I was afraid of them most of the way through, but seeing them frantically trying to run from my raking made me feel bad, so I empathized. I will often let fish go when out fishing. I still eat fish though and sometimes kill bugs despite that. Moral bite can come from anything for me. It just depends.

I can't even kill rabbits in videogames as I grew up with Watership Down and they're something I associate with my dad.
 
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As for that, I probably should have said - but in the poll, I naturally exclude all of self defense. In self defense, you can kill humans, so, obv. you can kill anything you consider "lesser", if the same applies.
 
Satan oscillate my metallic sonatas.

To get back in topic, I personally don’t feel there is much of a difference when it comes to killing life. What really bothers me is suffering. So I’ll feel less bad about squashing a bug because I know that the death is relatively instant/painless, whereas the larger the animal, the more likely you can’t kill it in one blow.
 
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I heard of two (?) schoolgirls killed because they swerved to save a rabbit/hare from death.

I will not hesitate to hit any animal stupid enough to get in front of my vehicle for this reason. I will not go out of my way to hit/kill them. But I will kill them to prevent injury to myself and the car if necessary.

If they are too dumb, fuck em, they dont deserve to live.
 
This gets me thinking:
Do you consider mentally handicapped people to be worthy of moral consideration like other people? Like people who can't speak or do anything for themselves, but are still aware of their environment and have reactions to people and activities?
 
This gets me thinking:
Do you consider mentally handicapped people to be worthy of moral consideration like other people? Like people who can't speak or do anything for themselves, but are still aware of their environment and have reactions to people and activities?
Why not? Steven Hawking was literally a sentient watermelon that had to talk through a computer for years. But he was a smarty and was relatively famous.

Also, people who are in catatonic states or deep comas for years are cared for in special facilities. They are even read to and given stimulation because it is believed that their brain is not wholly lost.

There is a movie called Awakenings (a true story) where a scientist gives a large group of subjects L-DOPA as an experiment. They ALL woke up after many years of being shut down. It was then discovered that "certain stimuli will reach beyond the patients' respective catatonic states; actions such as catching a ball, hearing familiar music, being called by their name, and enjoying human touch, all have unique effects on particular patients and offer a glimpse into their worlds."

So yeah, unless their brain is certifiably a melting pot of mush, they deserve to be cared for.
 
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