RE: Insect Studies: Do Researchers Have an Obligation to Their Subjects?
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I'm speechless. I don't fail to recognize that we must protect our homes, but to think that all the insects we kill daily even without realizing it will no longer be the same after knowing they do feel pain--that roaches "rate high in the scale of pain sensitivity," OMG!--. The sensitivity to pain that insects "may" have is not an issue I haven't thought about, but I guess I'd rather not know, since I can't help but serve as an exterminator on a daily basis. We have a yard with plants and live near the beach in a tropical climate; you can figure out what the insect issue is like here. They're even a public health problem when there are outbreaks of dengue fever, for example. God, and cockroaches; I have always seen them as walking infection, and I'm particularly sensitive to them; I smell them from a distance and hear them moving around; it's very annoying, but as disgusting as it can be, I don't want anyone, including myself, to inflict pain on any creature.
I don't know if it's enough consolation for me that I've always been careful not to let insects suffer; I always try to give termites, cockroaches, mosquitoes and ants a quick death and with respect to other insects, if they allow me, I even help them to return to the yard, as it happens with grasshoppers, dragonflies, bees and even some garden cockroaches.
This is a very disheartening subject but, as usual, an amazing post. What a good read!
PS. Right now I'm thinking of that Fly in Blake's poem.
I love Blake's poem. New to me. Thank you!! As I wrote this, I was thinking of the Jainists, wearing masks over their mouths to avoid inadvertently inhaling insects.
What do we do? It just makes it harder to do what we feel we have to do. But, as you say, always with mercy.
As for cockroaches--ugh. When I first moved to NYC as a child, they infested our apartment. I could hear them at night. And, you're right, they have an odor. They are filthy, disease-carrying bugs. They have to go.
Thank you for your sincere, thoughtful, and even passionate comment. I have been upset about the ant saga, but, just like the cockroaches, they have to go.
Life is complicated the more we think, isn't it? And yet, we have to think.
Hope you a peaceful week and those foul cockroaches don't darken your doorstep.🌈
Glad you liked the poem. I love it.
I thought that Jainists sounded familiar, so I checked. Thank you for the link. I think I read something a long time ago or some teacher told me about them in my college days; we humans are very interesting and weird creatures. Right now I try think about all the things we're not seeing and immediately try to drop the idea because otherwise I won't sleep, haha.