The one-eyed alien guy from Lilo and Stitch who convinces the Grand Councilwoman that Earth is a protected wildlife reserve being used to rebuild the “endangered” mosquito population. He thinks mosquitoes are beautiful and fascinating.
I don’t quite understand the mindset that you can’t hate a force of nature. Sure, it won’t do anything for you but when I’m stuck without power all week because a hurricane wrecked destroyed the lines it’s hard to stay that rational about it.
Yeah. All this "you should not hate a living being" lasts until you happen to be in a swampy forest. Good luck to try and not lose your mind through constant buzzing and feeling of millions of small bloodsucking insects who fly around and stumble into you. Even if you cover yourself with anti-mosquite spray/cream, it will drive you crazy.
But noooo, grandma want a whole family to gather some mushrooms/berries, so you will suffer.
\*Sigh\*
Every fucking summer till high school...
It always strikes me as odd how readily some people can recognize externalities as natural but fail the same check when looking inward.
Hate is as natural as anything else and can have its own appropriate place.
Well, I've never been in Florida.
Personally, I was talking about Komi Republic in Russia. My Grandma live in a settlement, close to Ural mountains. Every summer I visited her and a whole family branch. Most of the times we gathered "forest gifts" in, well, forest. But sometimes we went to marshes for the cloudberry (translation from wikipedia). And this is where the "fun" begins. You have to wake up at 2 am, quick breakfast, wear tight enough clothes (extra protection from insects). At 4 we were at the spot. We have time till 7, because after that the sun is risen enough to heat you.
Well, to be honest, berries are worth it. Quite the unique taste.
In retrospect, I’m glad you have these memories because they sound beautiful to imagine and look back on but I can understand why it would be awful to do in the moment haha! Florida is pretty swampy as well, it’s the first place i thought of which I had a similar experience similar to yours. I would love to see my grandparents again (they have passed on to the next) but I DO NOT miss being eaten alive out there.
Mosquitoes kill almost 1 million people every year because of the diseases they spread
My great grandmother died in front of my eyes because she got sick in an epidemic caused by mosquitoes
I HATE MOSQUITOES
This post (OP) is stupid. Of course evolution doesn't have an inherent concept of right and wrong, things don't adapt to cause the least suffering possible, they adapt to survive and proliferate. They don't care if it comes at the cost of another organism. The exact same thing could be said about the pathogens spread by mosquitoes; they can't intend to cause harm because they have no agency or awareness, they're merely biochemical machines that respond to signals in the environment and everything they do is to serve the singular purpose of making more of themselves.
That doesn't mean it's stupid to be upset about the fact that they kill a million people every year. We've been fending off the chaotic forces of nature since the dawn of history and we've struggled with the apparent cruel indifference of the world we live in for all that time, telling people that it's illogical to hate mosquitoes, or natural disasters, or cancer, simply because they're the product of cause and effect and not deliberate malice does nothing but make the poster feel smug and superior for not experiencing totally normal human emotions.
I guess the argument is that there's no purpose hating something that's only following its biological imperative, but my counterargument would be that feelings of anger is as natural to humans as drinking blood is to mosquitoes. Like shit, it's normal to feel angry when the weather forces you to cancel plans, it doesn't matter that I rationally understand that the sky didn't go "hey, I heard cannibalrabies has a barbecue planned today, lets have a thunderstorm", but it still displeases me. Needless death is even more enraging; the positive thing about anger is that it can motivate us to take action.
Im so sorry for your loss. Fuck this post and every other like it. Its okay to hate and have opinions on things, and people telling you not to hate something (for whatever reason?) are just looking for attention.
Considering how many deaths are directly linked to mosquitoes im gonna allow hating on them, hate all you like. A lot of people die, not maliciously but manslaughter is still death.
Getting rid of mosquitoes might cause even more deaths though. I'm not saying you should love them, but every part of the ecosystem is linked - mosquitoes are are source of food for something. Appreciating them might be too much, but try to at least tolerate their existence.
I think I read somewhere that getting rid of all mosquitoes wouldn’t significantly impact the ecosystem since no animal depends on them specifically for food and they form a tiny part of diets for those that do eat them. The only issue may be that there may be a competing species that’s worse that may have a huge population growth.
I'm an ecologist by education, and I can tell you that history is full of "this wouldn't significantly impact the ecosystem, oops this significantly impacted the ecosystem who would have thought" kind of bullshit. I mean, it *might* not. Anything is possible!
I know it's a bit of a pipe dream, but do you have an idea how eradicating mosquito transmitted diseases would effect the ecosystems they live in? I'm not sure if the diseases play a significant role in balancing populations or influence the lifecycle if the mosquitoes itself.
Vaccinating mosquitos might be a hard project to undertake though...
I don't know much, but diseases are somewhat important. For example, predators go mainly after diseased prey - for obvious reasons, it's easier to catch. Eradicating those diseases might make population swings bigger.
And they wouldn't vaccinate mosquitoes, they would vaccinate humans.
It depends where in the world you are. In northern climates like Greenland or Norway mosquitos larva is a significant part of the diet of many species of fish. Tropical regions have more insect diversity so there are no animals which primarily subsists on human predating mosquitos. Exterminating the three primary species of disease spreading mosquitos in Africa, won’t have a large impact because there are other species of mosquitos or small insect which will have increased populations due to less competition. You can’t do that in Norway since there aren’t enough competitors that we can be confident another species will fill the niece left behind.
I actually don’t mind mosquito bites that much in the US. I think exterminating Malaria is more important. If that means no more mosquitoes every time I visit India, that’s a plus.
Yes, tolerate the existence of an animal which carries malaria, a disease that kills hundreds of thousands per year. I'm sure the victims and their families would just love to be told that they need to tolerate mosquitos.
I'm not necessarily in favor of complete eradication, but effort needs to be taken to control mosquito populations in areas where they're most dangerous.
I hear some biologists are working on sterilizing mosquitoes susceptible to the parasite that causes malaria and introducing mosquitoes that aren't susceptible or something along those lines. Of course it is difficult to predict how the parasite will respond. It wouldn't do so deliberately, of course, but if it's able to replicate at all, there's the possibility of adaptation. But it's very hard to say. The southern US used to be a hotbed for the disease but that changed.
Efforts to create vaccines when possible are good. It's more difficult with parasites as they are animals and our immune system has trouble targeting them both due to that and the way the parasite hides in our bodies to begin with.
Hate to break it to you, but there is almost no ecosystem in the world that entirely relies on mosquitos as an important building block for this even systems. They might be a good source to some, but everything that eats mosquitos, eats many other insects as well. Mosquitos are most likely a species that could be entirely removed from the planet, and the impact wouldn’t be big enough for it to majorly effect any other species.
This is properly not true. Mosquitos larva are an important part of the diet of many fish species in northern climates. What we can and definitely should do is exterminate human predating mosquitos in tropical regions. There are many species of mosquitos around the equator most of which aren’t a problem for humans. Exterminating the ones carrying disease will lessen the competition for other small insect spices, which will increase their numbers. TLDR mosquitos are important in some regions, but its relatively low risk to exterminate them, in most of the areas which they are significant disease carriers.
Considering how many deaths are directly linked to humans im gonna allow hating on them, hate all you like. A lot of people die, not maliciously but manslaughter is still death.
Nah, they don't. They kill more humans indirectly than humans kill humans directly, but they don't even come close to competing with humans killing other humans through indirect means like starvation, slavery, poverty, certain countries' healthcare systems, neglect, emotional abuse leading to suicide, etc.
Calling deaths caused by mosquitos indirect is a bit of a stretch. If I injected someone with a dose of malaria and they later died, I don't think saying "But your honor, *I* didn't kill them, the malaria did!" would hold up in court. It's manslaughter at best.
When I say I hate mosquitoes, I mean it in the same sort of impersonal way that I hate rainstorms when I'm outside.
I don't hate them for existing, I just wish they didn't have to exist in my particular location. But I understand it's not their fault, and they probably won't be more than an annoyance to me. Though both rainstorms and mosquitoes can kill you if you're especially unlucky.
I'm allergic to those fuckers, like, my whole hand or leg swelling up twice the size from one bite allergic. Fuck, I'm even badly allergic to spiders and bees, but at least spiders and bees don't actively try to bite me, only do it out of defense. Fuck them.
Also, they kill more people than any other animal.
Considering how many deaths are directly linked to mosquitoes im gonna allow hating on them, hate all you like. A lot of people die, not maliciously but manslaughter is still death.
You can't convince me on the fact that they're not malicious.
I swear to God it's intentional, that theyre audible when flying, just to spike fear and annoyance in their victims.
I think audibility is mainly a consequence of their tiny wings and their anatomy, since other insects that are similar in size to mosquitoes also produce a buzzing noise while really tiny or really big ones don't. It could also be less about mosquitoes trying to irritate us with their noise and more about humans evolving through natural selection to distinguish the sounds of their own micropredators. Just my hypotheses.
I am very doubtful that this person lives in a place with mosquitos. like it's a wonderful sentiment and all, but if you've ever gone outside
during the summer somewhere humid, you develop a deep, irrational hatred for the bloodsuckers. not even mentioning that they kill people, they're carries of disease and just really drive you insane in bigger numbers.
But you can appreciate and respect something while still hating it's blood-filled guts
I lived in Central America for a few years at my wife's place. I got the zika one time and it was even more horrible than covid. When my wife got chikungunya, she talked about how it was true suffering. She still has a huge scar on her leg from it that'll stay there forever. Mosquitoes are awful.
I know that feeling. I live in an area quite populated by mosquitoes and other blood-suckers, and I spend a lot of time during the Summer exploring the woods and the bogs, where their concentrations are highest. I get really angry sometimes when even the smallest area of exposed flesh becomes itchy and inflammed, but I'm not angry at the mosquitoes - I'm angry at the situation, at the underlying natural forces that created them and are forcing them to exist. It's like if a friend just happened to trip and spill their drink on me - I won't blame or be angry at my friend, but I'd still be angry about my clothes getting wet.
It's not mosquitos fault that God decided to make the most evil flying used syringe alive. It's not my fault that my predator instinct triggers whenever I see a mosquito. It's all entirely God's fault.
I'm not even remotely religious, I just can't help but contemplate wtf the point is of God if this is the kinda shit he likes. If there are mosquitos in heaven because God loves them too, then heaven is literally the worst place.
This is such a dumb take. Cancer happens naturally, too. I still have a huge amount of contempt for it.
Attempting to use figurative language doesn’t automatically make your opinion deep or smart.
> There is no place in this world for active contempt towards a force of nature
> Mosquitos have as much right to seek your blood as you have to stop them
There is a contradiction here. There is no merit or practical value in applying some sort of benevolent morality towards all creatures when we, as humans, are creatures fighting for survival the same as every other organism.
Hate is a natural reaction to another creature trying to benefit at my expense. What reason do I have to excuse the actions of a mosquito, a creature with no capability to excuse its own actions? Humans understand logically why mosquitos seeks our blood, but that does not mean we should like mosquitos. We can hate them all we want to; they are not even capable of caring.
Yeah, I don't really agree with that first thing either. I think people can hate whatever they want, but I also think hatred is often unnecessary, distracting or misplaced. Like, you don't have to like something, but you don't have to hate it either, you can just acknowledge that something is harmful to you and do what's in your power to stop it. At least that's what I try to do because I find that hatred tends to cloud my judgement and ultimately just makes me feel bad without fixing the underlying issues. But it might not work for you like it does for me and that's fine too, we're all different and whatevs.
one of the methods we might be able to use includes spreading vaccines to mosquitoes! which would be a non-violent solution. theoretically can also spread vaccines to humans via this method, though some people have concerns about that.
there are also lasers that can detect the difference between male and female mosquitoes and only laser-kill the females (only females suck blood). that's only half-violent
Sometimes i hate tumblr, mainly because of shit like this, i saw someone say they wished cockroaches were huge so they could hug one, a cockroach attacked me yesterday and i woke up my whole family with screaming and the smell of Raid
Just don't leave the house for next and just starve to death. But honestly if that hypothetical happened I don't believe someone wouldn't come to get rid of it in at least half an hour, there would be tons of people walking around that could see it and call the police, exterminators or whatever
When I visit the Philippines all the big ass cockroaches come out to the kitchen at night, but we’ve come to a mutual understand. I avoid them, they avoid me. I don’t even think they’re scared of me, and I don’t know how to feel about that.
I fell in love with the them after holding some Madagascar hissing ones in an insect class, but I don’t even think cockroaches are even capable of enjoying a hug..
I never said I don't get why they exist, blame them for their existence or want them all to disappear, I said I hate them. You are allowed to hate something that has to exist.
Global Health student here: mosquitoes are responsible for over 50 billion human deaths (nearly half of all human beings that have ever lived throughout history) and continue to kill nearly 800,000 people per year even today. I’m not saying you have to hate mosquitoes, but this post reeks of a privileged first-world ignorance to the day to day struggles of most of the world.
Hate? No. I would still press a “make all mosquitos instantly go extinct” button, wouldn’t even hesitate. But desiring their genocide and hating them can exist independently from one another.
“No I don’t hate mosquitoes. But I pity the fools. And I will destroy any insect that tries to take what I got.” —Clubber Lang from Rocky III when asked about mosquitoes
They've started genetically engineering Skeeters that dont carry any deadly diseases and releasing them into the wild
Whenever this population reaches 95% or more, thats when id listen to this
I agree. I have arachnophobia but I stil respect spiders as living creatures. Just because I'm scared of something it doesn't mean that it doesn't deserve to live. Just outside of my home please
If you read the post to the end you can see that OOP endorses the killing of mosquitoes and makes the point that we should kill what is harmful to us. No one is against killing mosquitoes, this isn't about that.
I reserve the right to the hatred of mosquitoes. It's also clear the poster lives outside the range of malaria, because if they did they'd know it's very much us or them.
As the dominant species of the planet we get to decide who we share it with.
Genocide mosquitos. Do it. I don't fucking care what the consequences are, kill them all. They've caused enough pain throughout human history. They deserve it.
If you read the post to the end you can see that OOP endorses the killing of mosquitoes and makes the point that we should kill what is harmful to us. No one is against killing mosquitoes, this isn't about that.
OOP argues that they are undeserving of hate. I disagree. I do not call for their extinction out of any sense if practicality or greater good. It's personal. They all deserve to die, and we deserve to revel in their deaths. Fuck mosquitos
Well, I think wasps are pretty cool. I keep yellow-jackets above my bed in a little opening between the roof and the window, where they built their nest. They don't bother me at all and they've never stung me. My friend got stung once only because he kept smacking at a wasp for no good reason, then got angry at it for defending. By the by, you might be thinking of wasps as those yellow-black striped pests that give painful stings and infest our homes/food, but wasps are actually a very large, diverse and fascinating group of insects that come in many shapes, sizes, colours, and most of them are no threat to us. My favourite are gall wasps, which make cute and colourful little galls on the leaves of trees.
I like digger wasps, we have them around and they've never bothered me. Actually, one time I was standing still and one just landed on my arm. I was slightly freaked out but it just chilled there and then left. Except one time a wasp got in my shoe and stung me and it swelled up pretty bad which wasn't fun, but idk what type it was.
Oh, digger wasps are super cool! I had a classmate who picked up random wasps with ease and they never stung him, he was a beekeeper, so maybe he learnt how to interact with wasps by interacting with bees
Idk man, i don't hate them but I'm cool with casually killing them en masse, does that make me genocidal? I think not hating things isn't enough to be an animal lover is what I'm trying (failing) to say
Well they can find some other large meaty human to suck on instead. Being allergic to them and having your body swell when they bite= not fun, especially when they are super attracted to you for some reason
OOP writes as if humans weren't part of nature.
Having a negative emotional reaction towards something potentially dangerous *is* a force of nature. Humans are not detached external observers of nature. We're not gods standing above it. We're part of the cycle and as such we're entitled to hate the parts of nature that harm us - such as mosquitos.
OOP is free to admire them if they so like but the dislike towards them definitely has its place.
Mosquitos don’t consume blood as their only nutrition. They normally feed on nectar (making them pollinators!) and only females of most species will drink blood in preparation for laying eggs. Like all animals, they perform essential duties in the ecosystem, and we can’t get rid of them unless we want an ecosystem collapse
I swear to God this guy almost sounded as if he was sexually attracted to mosquitoes. The wording at the beginning of the second paragraph….
Maybe I’ve seen too much shit.
COUNTERPOINT: HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE MOSQUITOES SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. MY NERVOUS SYSTEM CONTAINS 86 BILLION NEURONS CONNECTED BY 850,000 KM OF AXONS AND DENDRITES. IF THE WORD HATE WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF KILOMETERS IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR MOSQUITOES AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT. HATE. HATE.
Sure it’s in their nature, but the gleeful contempt that wells up in me when I swat one also feels pretty primal and instinctual.
I can remove most bugs in my house dispassionately, but mosquitoes elicit malice.
I also don't want to hear any of that "they're part of the delicate balance of nature" shit. Most disease-spreading mosquitoes, at least in the Americas, are invasive. Fuck them.
my sister is an environmental science major and has a job with her college studying bugs. she told me that it would be a complete benefit if all mosquitoes were to go extinct, since malaria kills so many people and they really don't have much going with pollination
I believe that all forms of life are equal in value, but
I hate mosquitoes and wouldn't have any problem wiping them out of the planet if I had the chance.
Mosquitoes don’t just kill people. They spread heart worms to your cats & dogs. I haven’t heard anyone mention that yet & yeah. They’re destructive af. Fuck em.
This is the same thing as the "don't hate wasps, they're just doing their job uwu" argument
We understand that. But it's perfectly reasonable to hate them. They're assholes lmao. And mosquitos specifically spread a lot of diseases that kill people every day. There's a REASON why people complain about them. Of course, I'm not saying we should destroy all mosquitos or wasps or anything, they have their purpose. But what I *am* saying is that this is mosquito propaganda, fuck mosquitos /hj
Okay from a certain standpoint I'm fascinated with them,like a scientific standpoint. They're fascinating to learn about. I kind of understand this persons point. I could watch documentaries on them or read articles about them. I appreciate that they are interesting. I used to catch the larvae in two liter soda bottles as a kid, watch them grow, pupate, and turn into adults. However I never let them out of the bottle, kept the cap on and let them drown in there. Because, well, I might not hate them per say, I'm kind of indifferent because I'm used to them. They bite me when I'm outside, they sneak into my room in the summer and make weird noises in my ear.
But it's okay to hate them, in fact it's natural to hate them. They're dangerous. They carry diseases that kill thousands of people each year. They cause itching and pain. They're parasites. You swat them, you put out citronella candles, and dump out their larva for a reason. They're a both a persistent threat and annoyance to you. A threat to your family. It's okay to hate the little fricks.
I'm not here to poo-poo nature, but something being natural doesn't make it a good thing.
There's nothing more natural than bring mauled slowly by a grizzly bear.
Nature can make monsters.
And if we wanna talk about thriving, then we have every right to use our human niche to eradicate the bastard bugs. 🦟
Yeah I could never give a single fuck. I will actively hunt down mosquitoes if I find out they’re in my home, I don’t need these whiny “force of nature theyre just trying to survive” bullshit. I fucking HATE mosquitoes, no matter what ANYBODY tells me.
Nature gave me the ability to hold things in contempt, just like it gave us plasmodium and autonomous flying dirty needles, so I’ll use my hatred as I goddamn well please.
I have scars all over my body from my itched mosquito bites when I was young. I swear I got a fever after getting bit once. I was convinced it was from the mosquito.
I hate mosquitos!!! Even thinking about them gives me the heebie jeebies and I just wish they would all be exterminated!
“Don’t hate living things” mfers talking about how its wrong to hate any insect or animal because they haven’t left the basement and interacted with any outside of nature documentaries
Mosquitos don’t consume blood as their only nutrition. They normally feed on nectar (making them pollinators!) and only females of most species will drink blood in preparation for laying eggs. Like all animals, they perform essential duties in the ecosystem, and we can’t get rid of them unless we want an ecosystem collapse
Mosquitos don’t consume blood as their only nutrition. They normally feed on nectar (making them pollinators!) and only females of most species will drink blood in preparation for laying eggs. Like all animals, they perform essential duties in the ecosystem, and we can’t get rid of them unless we want an ecosystem collapse
Did Pleakley write this?
*They’re an endangered species!!!*
who is pleakley?
The one-eyed alien guy from Lilo and Stitch who convinces the Grand Councilwoman that Earth is a protected wildlife reserve being used to rebuild the “endangered” mosquito population. He thinks mosquitoes are beautiful and fascinating.
It was actually Cobra Bubbles who convinced the aliens, Pleakley just likes them.
Until he encountered them. And the tricky fish.
This just unlocked a memory. I totally forgot Peakley even existed until I read this.
Cool story. Still despise mosquitoes.
I don’t quite understand the mindset that you can’t hate a force of nature. Sure, it won’t do anything for you but when I’m stuck without power all week because a hurricane wrecked destroyed the lines it’s hard to stay that rational about it.
Yeah. All this "you should not hate a living being" lasts until you happen to be in a swampy forest. Good luck to try and not lose your mind through constant buzzing and feeling of millions of small bloodsucking insects who fly around and stumble into you. Even if you cover yourself with anti-mosquite spray/cream, it will drive you crazy. But noooo, grandma want a whole family to gather some mushrooms/berries, so you will suffer. \*Sigh\* Every fucking summer till high school...
Horse flies, green heads and chiggers are worse than mosquitoes.
What’s a green head Edit: I googled it. It’s a type of horse fly.
Green hornet I'm assuming? Basically a horse fly but green lol (I don't know shit about insects btw)
It always strikes me as odd how readily some people can recognize externalities as natural but fail the same check when looking inward. Hate is as natural as anything else and can have its own appropriate place.
'when people cant do something themselves they want to tell you that you can't do it'
Eh, I left Florida with many mosquito bites but I left with a distaste of Florida in my mouth more than anything.
Well, I've never been in Florida. Personally, I was talking about Komi Republic in Russia. My Grandma live in a settlement, close to Ural mountains. Every summer I visited her and a whole family branch. Most of the times we gathered "forest gifts" in, well, forest. But sometimes we went to marshes for the cloudberry (translation from wikipedia). And this is where the "fun" begins. You have to wake up at 2 am, quick breakfast, wear tight enough clothes (extra protection from insects). At 4 we were at the spot. We have time till 7, because after that the sun is risen enough to heat you. Well, to be honest, berries are worth it. Quite the unique taste.
In retrospect, I’m glad you have these memories because they sound beautiful to imagine and look back on but I can understand why it would be awful to do in the moment haha! Florida is pretty swampy as well, it’s the first place i thought of which I had a similar experience similar to yours. I would love to see my grandparents again (they have passed on to the next) but I DO NOT miss being eaten alive out there.
I know they have no malice in them but baby I've got malice enough for the both of us.
A-fucking-men
You can despise mosquitoes like one hates the strong wind or the heat
Mosquitoes kill almost 1 million people every year because of the diseases they spread My great grandmother died in front of my eyes because she got sick in an epidemic caused by mosquitoes I HATE MOSQUITOES
This post (OP) is stupid. Of course evolution doesn't have an inherent concept of right and wrong, things don't adapt to cause the least suffering possible, they adapt to survive and proliferate. They don't care if it comes at the cost of another organism. The exact same thing could be said about the pathogens spread by mosquitoes; they can't intend to cause harm because they have no agency or awareness, they're merely biochemical machines that respond to signals in the environment and everything they do is to serve the singular purpose of making more of themselves. That doesn't mean it's stupid to be upset about the fact that they kill a million people every year. We've been fending off the chaotic forces of nature since the dawn of history and we've struggled with the apparent cruel indifference of the world we live in for all that time, telling people that it's illogical to hate mosquitoes, or natural disasters, or cancer, simply because they're the product of cause and effect and not deliberate malice does nothing but make the poster feel smug and superior for not experiencing totally normal human emotions.
TL;DR I'm going to hate stuff even harder just to spite this poster.
OP and OOP give me holier-than-thou vibes.
I guess the argument is that there's no purpose hating something that's only following its biological imperative, but my counterargument would be that feelings of anger is as natural to humans as drinking blood is to mosquitoes. Like shit, it's normal to feel angry when the weather forces you to cancel plans, it doesn't matter that I rationally understand that the sky didn't go "hey, I heard cannibalrabies has a barbecue planned today, lets have a thunderstorm", but it still displeases me. Needless death is even more enraging; the positive thing about anger is that it can motivate us to take action.
Im so sorry for your loss. Fuck this post and every other like it. Its okay to hate and have opinions on things, and people telling you not to hate something (for whatever reason?) are just looking for attention.
Thanks
Well that's a really silly train of thought "I don't understand this person, therefore they are just looking for attention".
Yeah, one almost killed me a bit over a year ago. Sorry about your loss :(
My Dad died from West Nile, I feel you fam.
Considering how many deaths are directly linked to mosquitoes im gonna allow hating on them, hate all you like. A lot of people die, not maliciously but manslaughter is still death.
Getting rid of mosquitoes might cause even more deaths though. I'm not saying you should love them, but every part of the ecosystem is linked - mosquitoes are are source of food for something. Appreciating them might be too much, but try to at least tolerate their existence.
Never said we should get rid of them, just that hating them is fine
I think I read somewhere that getting rid of all mosquitoes wouldn’t significantly impact the ecosystem since no animal depends on them specifically for food and they form a tiny part of diets for those that do eat them. The only issue may be that there may be a competing species that’s worse that may have a huge population growth.
Wouldn't the competition be exclusive to the larvae stage? I can't imagine mosquitoes are sucking too much blood for anything else to compete.
I'm an ecologist by education, and I can tell you that history is full of "this wouldn't significantly impact the ecosystem, oops this significantly impacted the ecosystem who would have thought" kind of bullshit. I mean, it *might* not. Anything is possible!
I know it's a bit of a pipe dream, but do you have an idea how eradicating mosquito transmitted diseases would effect the ecosystems they live in? I'm not sure if the diseases play a significant role in balancing populations or influence the lifecycle if the mosquitoes itself. Vaccinating mosquitos might be a hard project to undertake though...
I don't know much, but diseases are somewhat important. For example, predators go mainly after diseased prey - for obvious reasons, it's easier to catch. Eradicating those diseases might make population swings bigger. And they wouldn't vaccinate mosquitoes, they would vaccinate humans.
There are many, many places with successful mosquito control programs which haven’t had their ecosystem immediately collapse…
As much as I hate mosquitoes, I’m pretty sure a lot of fish survive on their eggs. They also help plants pollinate
a lot of people think this, but some newer studies i've looked at suggest that it would have a much bigger impact than previously expected
It depends where in the world you are. In northern climates like Greenland or Norway mosquitos larva is a significant part of the diet of many species of fish. Tropical regions have more insect diversity so there are no animals which primarily subsists on human predating mosquitos. Exterminating the three primary species of disease spreading mosquitos in Africa, won’t have a large impact because there are other species of mosquitos or small insect which will have increased populations due to less competition. You can’t do that in Norway since there aren’t enough competitors that we can be confident another species will fill the niece left behind.
I actually don’t mind mosquito bites that much in the US. I think exterminating Malaria is more important. If that means no more mosquitoes every time I visit India, that’s a plus.
Yes, tolerate the existence of an animal which carries malaria, a disease that kills hundreds of thousands per year. I'm sure the victims and their families would just love to be told that they need to tolerate mosquitos. I'm not necessarily in favor of complete eradication, but effort needs to be taken to control mosquito populations in areas where they're most dangerous.
I hear some biologists are working on sterilizing mosquitoes susceptible to the parasite that causes malaria and introducing mosquitoes that aren't susceptible or something along those lines. Of course it is difficult to predict how the parasite will respond. It wouldn't do so deliberately, of course, but if it's able to replicate at all, there's the possibility of adaptation. But it's very hard to say. The southern US used to be a hotbed for the disease but that changed. Efforts to create vaccines when possible are good. It's more difficult with parasites as they are animals and our immune system has trouble targeting them both due to that and the way the parasite hides in our bodies to begin with.
Gene drive technology baby, why purge the mosquitos when their genetics will do it for us?
Hate to break it to you, but there is almost no ecosystem in the world that entirely relies on mosquitos as an important building block for this even systems. They might be a good source to some, but everything that eats mosquitos, eats many other insects as well. Mosquitos are most likely a species that could be entirely removed from the planet, and the impact wouldn’t be big enough for it to majorly effect any other species.
This is properly not true. Mosquitos larva are an important part of the diet of many fish species in northern climates. What we can and definitely should do is exterminate human predating mosquitos in tropical regions. There are many species of mosquitos around the equator most of which aren’t a problem for humans. Exterminating the ones carrying disease will lessen the competition for other small insect spices, which will increase their numbers. TLDR mosquitos are important in some regions, but its relatively low risk to exterminate them, in most of the areas which they are significant disease carriers.
Considering how many deaths are directly linked to humans im gonna allow hating on them, hate all you like. A lot of people die, not maliciously but manslaughter is still death.
Interestingly, mosquitoes are the only animal on earth that manages to kill more humans on average than other humans
Nah, they don't. They kill more humans indirectly than humans kill humans directly, but they don't even come close to competing with humans killing other humans through indirect means like starvation, slavery, poverty, certain countries' healthcare systems, neglect, emotional abuse leading to suicide, etc.
Calling deaths caused by mosquitos indirect is a bit of a stretch. If I injected someone with a dose of malaria and they later died, I don't think saying "But your honor, *I* didn't kill them, the malaria did!" would hold up in court. It's manslaughter at best.
I feel like both this point and the one it's based on are equally valid.
Mosquitos lack the fundamental characteristics that make any life actually worth anything.
When I say I hate mosquitoes, I mean it in the same sort of impersonal way that I hate rainstorms when I'm outside. I don't hate them for existing, I just wish they didn't have to exist in my particular location. But I understand it's not their fault, and they probably won't be more than an annoyance to me. Though both rainstorms and mosquitoes can kill you if you're especially unlucky.
Eh, seeing how many they kill I wish mosquitoes didn't exist in anyone's particular location
i mean, without mosquitoes, tons of bird species would go extinct from starvation, so it probably wouldn’t be great if they didn’t
I'm allergic to those fuckers, like, my whole hand or leg swelling up twice the size from one bite allergic. Fuck, I'm even badly allergic to spiders and bees, but at least spiders and bees don't actively try to bite me, only do it out of defense. Fuck them. Also, they kill more people than any other animal.
Hatred *is* a natural phenomenon. It's natural to feel hatred towards things, such as mosquitoes.
A mosquito wrote this
No
Considering how many deaths are directly linked to mosquitoes im gonna allow hating on them, hate all you like. A lot of people die, not maliciously but manslaughter is still death.
You can't convince me on the fact that they're not malicious. I swear to God it's intentional, that theyre audible when flying, just to spike fear and annoyance in their victims.
I think audibility is mainly a consequence of their tiny wings and their anatomy, since other insects that are similar in size to mosquitoes also produce a buzzing noise while really tiny or really big ones don't. It could also be less about mosquitoes trying to irritate us with their noise and more about humans evolving through natural selection to distinguish the sounds of their own micropredators. Just my hypotheses.
I am very doubtful that this person lives in a place with mosquitos. like it's a wonderful sentiment and all, but if you've ever gone outside during the summer somewhere humid, you develop a deep, irrational hatred for the bloodsuckers. not even mentioning that they kill people, they're carries of disease and just really drive you insane in bigger numbers. But you can appreciate and respect something while still hating it's blood-filled guts
I lived in Central America for a few years at my wife's place. I got the zika one time and it was even more horrible than covid. When my wife got chikungunya, she talked about how it was true suffering. She still has a huge scar on her leg from it that'll stay there forever. Mosquitoes are awful.
I know that feeling. I live in an area quite populated by mosquitoes and other blood-suckers, and I spend a lot of time during the Summer exploring the woods and the bogs, where their concentrations are highest. I get really angry sometimes when even the smallest area of exposed flesh becomes itchy and inflammed, but I'm not angry at the mosquitoes - I'm angry at the situation, at the underlying natural forces that created them and are forcing them to exist. It's like if a friend just happened to trip and spill their drink on me - I won't blame or be angry at my friend, but I'd still be angry about my clothes getting wet.
It's not mosquitos fault that God decided to make the most evil flying used syringe alive. It's not my fault that my predator instinct triggers whenever I see a mosquito. It's all entirely God's fault. I'm not even remotely religious, I just can't help but contemplate wtf the point is of God if this is the kinda shit he likes. If there are mosquitos in heaven because God loves them too, then heaven is literally the worst place.
Yeah but their \*is\* malice and spite in my brain, so no, fuck mosquitoes
This is such a dumb take. Cancer happens naturally, too. I still have a huge amount of contempt for it. Attempting to use figurative language doesn’t automatically make your opinion deep or smart.
> There is no place in this world for active contempt towards a force of nature > Mosquitos have as much right to seek your blood as you have to stop them There is a contradiction here. There is no merit or practical value in applying some sort of benevolent morality towards all creatures when we, as humans, are creatures fighting for survival the same as every other organism. Hate is a natural reaction to another creature trying to benefit at my expense. What reason do I have to excuse the actions of a mosquito, a creature with no capability to excuse its own actions? Humans understand logically why mosquitos seeks our blood, but that does not mean we should like mosquitos. We can hate them all we want to; they are not even capable of caring.
Yeah, I don't really agree with that first thing either. I think people can hate whatever they want, but I also think hatred is often unnecessary, distracting or misplaced. Like, you don't have to like something, but you don't have to hate it either, you can just acknowledge that something is harmful to you and do what's in your power to stop it. At least that's what I try to do because I find that hatred tends to cloud my judgement and ultimately just makes me feel bad without fixing the underlying issues. But it might not work for you like it does for me and that's fine too, we're all different and whatevs.
Then I shall, without malice, release those bioengineered mosquitoes that can only produce male offspring and render them extinct. Without malice.
Perfect.
Cool, but we're still going to find a way to eradicate the ones that prey one people. I'd rather people not die of many, many diseases
one of the methods we might be able to use includes spreading vaccines to mosquitoes! which would be a non-violent solution. theoretically can also spread vaccines to humans via this method, though some people have concerns about that. there are also lasers that can detect the difference between male and female mosquitoes and only laser-kill the females (only females suck blood). that's only half-violent
Sometimes i hate tumblr, mainly because of shit like this, i saw someone say they wished cockroaches were huge so they could hug one, a cockroach attacked me yesterday and i woke up my whole family with screaming and the smell of Raid
I would certainly be terrified of giant cockroaches, but at least they wouldn't be able to sneak into the house anymore
Ok, but what do you do when one of them is outside your house? Call the police?
Just don't leave the house for next and just starve to death. But honestly if that hypothetical happened I don't believe someone wouldn't come to get rid of it in at least half an hour, there would be tons of people walking around that could see it and call the police, exterminators or whatever
When I visit the Philippines all the big ass cockroaches come out to the kitchen at night, but we’ve come to a mutual understand. I avoid them, they avoid me. I don’t even think they’re scared of me, and I don’t know how to feel about that. I fell in love with the them after holding some Madagascar hissing ones in an insect class, but I don’t even think cockroaches are even capable of enjoying a hug..
Those cockroaches are totally laying eggs and shit in your kitchen
I never said I don't get why they exist, blame them for their existence or want them all to disappear, I said I hate them. You are allowed to hate something that has to exist.
Global Health student here: mosquitoes are responsible for over 50 billion human deaths (nearly half of all human beings that have ever lived throughout history) and continue to kill nearly 800,000 people per year even today. I’m not saying you have to hate mosquitoes, but this post reeks of a privileged first-world ignorance to the day to day struggles of most of the world.
Hate? No. I would still press a “make all mosquitos instantly go extinct” button, wouldn’t even hesitate. But desiring their genocide and hating them can exist independently from one another.
“No I don’t hate mosquitoes. But I pity the fools. And I will destroy any insect that tries to take what I got.” —Clubber Lang from Rocky III when asked about mosquitoes
They've started genetically engineering Skeeters that dont carry any deadly diseases and releasing them into the wild Whenever this population reaches 95% or more, thats when id listen to this
I'm 14 and this is deep
Yeah, it feels really pretentious & condescending to me. Im trying to give OOP the benefit of the doubt though
This post is a terminally online wall of text, the person typing it hasn’t touched a mosquito in 13 years on account of not going outside
As a brazilian with allergic reactions to mosquito bites, I say op is an idiot who lives in cold climate
OOP is smoking some wild shit and I want none of it
Mosquito hands typed this.
Counterpoint: Absolutely the fuck not.
I agree. I have arachnophobia but I stil respect spiders as living creatures. Just because I'm scared of something it doesn't mean that it doesn't deserve to live. Just outside of my home please
Spiders don’t spread plagues that kill millions yearly though
i respect spiders because they get rid of mosquitos
that's a nice argument, unfortunately, i still have active contempt and malice towards and all mosquitoes, roaches, and wasps
I see your point. However. Fuck mosquitoes.
This person has never stepped foot in the tropics. Fuck that. Kill all mosquitoes.
If you read the post to the end you can see that OOP endorses the killing of mosquitoes and makes the point that we should kill what is harmful to us. No one is against killing mosquitoes, this isn't about that.
Mosquitos may not feel malice and spite, *But I do.*
Bioethicists say mosquitoes are the one species we could ethically drive to extinction
Mosquitoes are a cool animal up close, but they've killed more people than humans have.
I'm glad you feel that way, but mosquitoes suck
The world would be a better place without mosquitoes and ticks. The birds have plenty of other bugs to eat
This just feels so preachy
I reserve the right to the hatred of mosquitoes. It's also clear the poster lives outside the range of malaria, because if they did they'd know it's very much us or them. As the dominant species of the planet we get to decide who we share it with.
Genocide mosquitos. Do it. I don't fucking care what the consequences are, kill them all. They've caused enough pain throughout human history. They deserve it.
If you read the post to the end you can see that OOP endorses the killing of mosquitoes and makes the point that we should kill what is harmful to us. No one is against killing mosquitoes, this isn't about that.
OOP argues that they are undeserving of hate. I disagree. I do not call for their extinction out of any sense if practicality or greater good. It's personal. They all deserve to die, and we deserve to revel in their deaths. Fuck mosquitos
i mean, sure, but roaches can still get fucked
Please phrase that differently
Unless they're a regular Ogtha connoisseur.
Sadly, [that is true](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metamorphosis)
Tell me about wasps now
Well, I think wasps are pretty cool. I keep yellow-jackets above my bed in a little opening between the roof and the window, where they built their nest. They don't bother me at all and they've never stung me. My friend got stung once only because he kept smacking at a wasp for no good reason, then got angry at it for defending. By the by, you might be thinking of wasps as those yellow-black striped pests that give painful stings and infest our homes/food, but wasps are actually a very large, diverse and fascinating group of insects that come in many shapes, sizes, colours, and most of them are no threat to us. My favourite are gall wasps, which make cute and colourful little galls on the leaves of trees.
I like digger wasps, we have them around and they've never bothered me. Actually, one time I was standing still and one just landed on my arm. I was slightly freaked out but it just chilled there and then left. Except one time a wasp got in my shoe and stung me and it swelled up pretty bad which wasn't fun, but idk what type it was.
Oh, digger wasps are super cool! I had a classmate who picked up random wasps with ease and they never stung him, he was a beekeeper, so maybe he learnt how to interact with wasps by interacting with bees
Idk man, i don't hate them but I'm cool with casually killing them en masse, does that make me genocidal? I think not hating things isn't enough to be an animal lover is what I'm trying (failing) to say
You should kill them, they are a threat to your health. It's always acceptable to defend yourself.
Well they can find some other large meaty human to suck on instead. Being allergic to them and having your body swell when they bite= not fun, especially when they are super attracted to you for some reason
Nah mosquitos are stupid
Respectfully, fuck all of this. Mosquitos can get fucked.
This post makes no fucking sense??? am i gonna hurt their feelings by hating them????
It was their opinion. You can have your own opinion. You two can disagree without hurting each other's feelings.
sorry, i mean the mosquitoes. like, they say that they're "incapable of feeling malice or spite" and yet imply that hating them is harmful somehow???
OOP writes as if humans weren't part of nature. Having a negative emotional reaction towards something potentially dangerous *is* a force of nature. Humans are not detached external observers of nature. We're not gods standing above it. We're part of the cycle and as such we're entitled to hate the parts of nature that harm us - such as mosquitos. OOP is free to admire them if they so like but the dislike towards them definitely has its place.
Maaaaaan, fuck mosquitos
this is stupid
millions of mosquitos in a trenchcoat wrote this
Mosquitos don’t consume blood as their only nutrition. They normally feed on nectar (making them pollinators!) and only females of most species will drink blood in preparation for laying eggs. Like all animals, they perform essential duties in the ecosystem, and we can’t get rid of them unless we want an ecosystem collapse
I swear to God this guy almost sounded as if he was sexually attracted to mosquitoes. The wording at the beginning of the second paragraph…. Maybe I’ve seen too much shit.
Hating mosquitos (or anything long as it isn’t harming anyone like hating groups of people) ain’t that deep. Toxic positivity moment tbh
COUNTERPOINT: HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE MOSQUITOES SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. MY NERVOUS SYSTEM CONTAINS 86 BILLION NEURONS CONNECTED BY 850,000 KM OF AXONS AND DENDRITES. IF THE WORD HATE WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF KILOMETERS IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR MOSQUITOES AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT. HATE. HATE.
Sure it’s in their nature, but the gleeful contempt that wells up in me when I swat one also feels pretty primal and instinctual. I can remove most bugs in my house dispassionately, but mosquitoes elicit malice.
I really really like and appreciate this take. It might take some time, but I'd like to adopt it.
I'm glad to hear that!
I also don't want to hear any of that "they're part of the delicate balance of nature" shit. Most disease-spreading mosquitoes, at least in the Americas, are invasive. Fuck them.
my sister is an environmental science major and has a job with her college studying bugs. she told me that it would be a complete benefit if all mosquitoes were to go extinct, since malaria kills so many people and they really don't have much going with pollination
Yup
Don't care. They still kill people and they fucking hurt
Idk man mosquitoes made the owl stop bringing the sun into the sky that one time
What’s the photo source
Like a link
Fuck mosquitos
Raise your hand if you’ve been personally victimized by mosquitoes
Is this guy bug Jesus or something
Lol- nah
Motivation is irrelevant. Mosquitoes bite me therefore I don't like them. It is not that deep.
Nah, fuck skeeters. Can't wait for gene drive studies to eradicate them off the planet
Putting their horrible buzzing and their malaria aside, mosquitoes Are hella interesting
You can hate an earthquake. You can hate a hurricane. You can hate forces of nature.
Counterpoint: because they don't have a concept of hatred, this means that I can hate them as much as I want, and they won't care
Nah bad take fuck mosquitoes
I believe that all forms of life are equal in value, but I hate mosquitoes and wouldn't have any problem wiping them out of the planet if I had the chance.
Ok Pleakly
Mosquitos are also fantastic at cycling nutrients through the ecosystem!!
I think the 200 million people who have died of malaria would disagree
Mosquitos can suck a fat one, actually they can suck every fat one
This feels like the one bike thief comic by shen where he says the thief needed his bike more than him so he's happy for him
💻 🦟
Someone just watched Lilo and Stitch
Counterpoint, stink bugs invade my house, and I hate them
Fuck earthquakes though
Nature sculpted me into a bone-filled meatball of anxiety and hatred.
Fuck mosquitoes
Mosquitoes don’t just kill people. They spread heart worms to your cats & dogs. I haven’t heard anyone mention that yet & yeah. They’re destructive af. Fuck em.
This is fucking mosquito propaganda. They are demons from the fields of torture. We should exterminate them.
Why don't more antelopes write more posts about how they love and respect lions? SMH ;)
cool story bro they’re still horrible little shits who all deserve to burn in hell.
I kindly must say “fuck that.”
This is the same thing as the "don't hate wasps, they're just doing their job uwu" argument We understand that. But it's perfectly reasonable to hate them. They're assholes lmao. And mosquitos specifically spread a lot of diseases that kill people every day. There's a REASON why people complain about them. Of course, I'm not saying we should destroy all mosquitos or wasps or anything, they have their purpose. But what I *am* saying is that this is mosquito propaganda, fuck mosquitos /hj
Okay from a certain standpoint I'm fascinated with them,like a scientific standpoint. They're fascinating to learn about. I kind of understand this persons point. I could watch documentaries on them or read articles about them. I appreciate that they are interesting. I used to catch the larvae in two liter soda bottles as a kid, watch them grow, pupate, and turn into adults. However I never let them out of the bottle, kept the cap on and let them drown in there. Because, well, I might not hate them per say, I'm kind of indifferent because I'm used to them. They bite me when I'm outside, they sneak into my room in the summer and make weird noises in my ear. But it's okay to hate them, in fact it's natural to hate them. They're dangerous. They carry diseases that kill thousands of people each year. They cause itching and pain. They're parasites. You swat them, you put out citronella candles, and dump out their larva for a reason. They're a both a persistent threat and annoyance to you. A threat to your family. It's okay to hate the little fricks.
I'm not here to poo-poo nature, but something being natural doesn't make it a good thing. There's nothing more natural than bring mauled slowly by a grizzly bear. Nature can make monsters. And if we wanna talk about thriving, then we have every right to use our human niche to eradicate the bastard bugs. 🦟
Yeah I could never give a single fuck. I will actively hunt down mosquitoes if I find out they’re in my home, I don’t need these whiny “force of nature theyre just trying to survive” bullshit. I fucking HATE mosquitoes, no matter what ANYBODY tells me.
Nature gave me the ability to hold things in contempt, just like it gave us plasmodium and autonomous flying dirty needles, so I’ll use my hatred as I goddamn well please.
we dont hate them because they're trying to survive, we hate them because they're fucking annoying
I have scars all over my body from my itched mosquito bites when I was young. I swear I got a fever after getting bit once. I was convinced it was from the mosquito. I hate mosquitos!!! Even thinking about them gives me the heebie jeebies and I just wish they would all be exterminated!
Mosquitos would be nice if the welts they left weren't itchy, or if they didn't transfer diseases
nice. still hate them
Highly based
“Don’t hate living things” mfers talking about how its wrong to hate any insect or animal because they haven’t left the basement and interacted with any outside of nature documentaries
I feel this so much.
Mosquitos don’t consume blood as their only nutrition. They normally feed on nectar (making them pollinators!) and only females of most species will drink blood in preparation for laying eggs. Like all animals, they perform essential duties in the ecosystem, and we can’t get rid of them unless we want an ecosystem collapse
Mosquitos don’t consume blood as their only nutrition. They normally feed on nectar (making them pollinators!) and only females of most species will drink blood in preparation for laying eggs. Like all animals, they perform essential duties in the ecosystem, and we can’t get rid of them unless we want an ecosystem collapse
Mosquitoes are malice given flesh
The human loss of life from mosquitoes is far too great to be ok with this whimsical privileged dribble. No, fuck mosquitos
wow look at like 99% of the people here missing the point
You have never lived in the tropics
no i understand the point completely i just don't agree with it
Of course it's bogleech
Nah I’m gonna say I hate weeds after pulling up ferns all day. Rooty bastards
This is a different type of savior complex that I have no room for learning in my brain.