Date: Mon, 12 Apr 99 17:15:37 EDT
From: "Brian J. Callahan" <Brian=J.=Callahan%MT%DFCI-AT-EYE.DFCI.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: re: a question about ants (their life, their death, their right


Marius muses:
>phase of life... and for these little insects did move before being attacked
>by human beings and quite looked like dead bugs afterwards (u know, we did
>increase our dissectional abilities with bugs, too, in school...), so, were
>this bugs little robots? animations? Or do insects not count as animals and
>therefore do not have any rights, like plants do not have any rights... does
>this mean ants and every other bug does not feel anything? (well, I've read
>once a fascinating story from this perry rodan thingy... ...).. or is it
>just because these animals are that small and do not remind us of ourselves
>that we can't take them for serious and so on do our terrible ant-pogroms
>with 'em?

Well, I, for one, have recently started a pogrom against ants.  Somehow, 
these big carpenter ants were getting into my bathroom. I squashed several 
and sprayed some RAID around.  When I got home last Thursday night, they were 
all over the bathroom...even going up and down the shower curtain.   I went 
to the store and bought every kind of ant/bug killing chemical I could find.  
I saturated that bathroom --floors, walls, ceiling, window frame...I think I 
killed a number of brain cells--I don't remember 1982-985 anymore, but they 
were Reagan years anyway--but I got the little buggers.  Haven't seen one 
since.  All in all, a successful insectoid cleansing.   I don't care if it 
hurt the little ants.  Were they able to plot revenge, I might have 
reconsidered.