by SinisterBlueCat » Fri 27 Jan 2006, 14:20:06
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'T')his story of the mice in my apartment has become what I thought it might become when I first posted this thread: a Morality Tale. I see, in all seriousnes, that some people are very solicitous of animals, rightfully so though it can become a matter of overzealous misplacement of moral feelings. Our PETA member may well put me on her ignore list now even though we had previously exchanged numerous friendly PMs. Others cautioned that wild mice are dangerous pests. I'm not obtuse and was considering it from all angles and thinking about these different aspects. When I went to the store to get the traps (as I figured I probably would from the start) I saw that the "humane" traps were ten times the price of a simple lethal trap. For what? to take them out into the alley and let them go to be eaten by the alley cats that live all around here? That seemed just soft-headed nonsense to me. My descriptions of the impressions given me by the trapped mice were accurate. It was unpleasant and I took no relish in it. I did what needed to be done. The fanciful and humorous aspects of the writing in this thread were just how I write and think, but killing the mice was a dirty job. That aside, we have serious problems that lie ahead. Many people are conditioned to think in ways that are sadly unrealistic. We have had it so easy for so long that hard-headed clear thinking may be impossible for too many. When I read William Catton's book Overshoot, I was profoundly shaken and disturbed by the ideas presented. I think the outcome of oil depletion is likely to be terrifying. Many of the ethical feelings of the age of plenty will not last long into the coming era.
PMS I will never put you on ignore, I enjoy the banter to much!
Seriously though, I do not have a problem with death, it is suffering that be my big complaint. I do not want mice sharing my abode, so I have a cat that dispatches them frequently and with amazing skill...as it should be.
no cat? Then the snap traps are the way to go..it is the sticking to the glue, unable to free itself for hours on end as it slowly dies is what I cannot accept.
I have worked with animals all of my life. big ones, little ones, two legs, four legs and the occasional tripod, and I have seen a lot of them die. When their time comes, I can cool with that. I eat meat. I am not opposed to proper hunting.
But I have seen animals suffer. I have had many people tell me that they are not really suffering, they do not understand suffering, I am only projecting my feelings onto the animal. To me, this is the apex of human arrogance, only 2nd to the notion that some god created us in his image and created all of the heavens and the earth for us...uh yeah right
the look in a horse's eye that goes from terror to agony as it's head is tied tight to side and one leg bound up tight is very real.
Call me a bleeding heart, but as I always say...if I am wrong an animals do not really understand suffering, the it is no harm no foul...but if animal abusers are wrong and they do...then that is a very terrible thing.
My feelings are not unrealistic...and I think it is because so many people do not have the same feelings is part and parcel with why we are finding ourselves in the mess we are in!
(see last post - mice are evil, they eat sewage and catch peoples houses on fire! calm down, overwraught sentimental sillyone - you been watching too many Disney movies)
