Vegan Moral Problem

[OnlyAGear]

I can't quite rationalize how i should act towards cockroaches and flies in a house. If all life is seen as equal because no one holds a greater claim on existence, I would not be justified in killing cockroaches in my house; But if I try to rationalize it by saying that it will prevent more having to be killed in the future, I am still putting more value in my personal preference than hundreds of sentient lives. I don't quite know where to rationally draw the line.

[Jebus]

I would never kill a cockroach. Our cleaning lady kills them and I have told her many times to stop. They don't bother me much and if they did I would do the old dip beer in bread- put bread in glass jar with slippery oil on the edges- carry the cockroach elsewhere. I don't have many flies where I live but I'm sure there is a vegan solution to that, too.

[brimstoneSalad]

I don't think (and I don't think anybody here thinks) that all life is equal.

There is a hierarchy of being, based on degree of sentience, which should be respected. Insects are very, very, very low on this hierarchy. It is far less wrong to kill them than a mouse or bird or cow, or pig, or other human.

Are you doing wrong by killing them? Well, maybe. That depends. But if you are doing wrong, it's also a small wrong,

Are you intentionally breeding and killing them by the billions for pleasure? Certainly not.
If we only killed chickens, cows, and pigs because they were pests that infested our homes, that would be a very different matter from intentionally breeding them, raising them in horrible conditions, and killing them for culinary pleasure at the expense of our health and environment.

Killing insects and animal agriculture just don't compare.

That said, back to the issue: Is it wrong to kill them?

Well, are you willing to live in a state of perpetual infestation? Is this a threat to your health and physical well being? How does it look if your house is full of roaches? These are important questions.

[brimstoneSalad]

I would never kill a cockroach. Our cleaning lady kills them and I have told her many times to stop. They don't bother me much and if they did I would do the old dip beer in bread- put bread in glass jar with slippery oil on the edges- carry the cockroach elsewhere. I don't have many flies where I live but I'm sure there is a vegan solution to that, too.

The solution to roaches is to keep the house very very clean, and leave no food out, and also deal with water issues so it's dry, and seal potential points of entry. They will go elsewhere. It can be an issue when they spill over from a neighbor's home though.

Your first line of defense is prevention in any case. Sometimes that's not practical. When it isn't, I suggest Boric acid (particularly if you don't have pets), which is relatively non-toxic to humans, but will help reduce or eliminate your roach problem.
Smashing them one by one is more likely to be sustainable -- and this is where sustainable is bad. Putting them outside may just make them somebody else's problem.

Insects ARE disease vectors when they're infesting living areas, and can also pose other problems, such as generating allergens in the home, and potentially even mold (when they die in a wet area and are not cannibalized quickly), which could be carcinogenic.

http://www.pestworld.org/news-and-views ... nd-health/

That's hardly an unbiased source, but the allergen issue is potentially serious. Poor respiratory health affects quality of life and health seriously.
Cockroaches are a problem mainly due to the sheer biomass they generate in a home, in the hundreds or thousands. Most other insects don't come close.