Greetings MB community

[The Batlord]

Originally Posted by BadAnimal

"Man is a bad animal because he kills not only his own kind but any and all other animals, wantonly….Man is the only animal who destroys his own nest...No fish ever polluted the sea. No bird every polluted the air. No other animal ever takes slaves and wages war."

Many predators kill the young of a pack if another male takes over, beavers cause plenty of environmental damage with their dams, some ants keep aphids as farm animals for their sugary excretions, and chimpanzees are well known for "waging war" on each other for females and territory. Sorry, but the whole notion of mankind as somehow worse than any other animal species bugs me.

Welcome to the site BTW.

[PoorOldPo]

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Many predators kill the young of a pack if another male takes over, beavers cause plenty of environmental damage with their dams, some ants keep aphids as farm animals for their sugary excretions, and chimpanzees are well known for "waging war" on each other for females and territory. Sorry, but the whole notion of mankind as somehow worse than any other animal species bugs me.

Welcome to the site BTW.

Well.... There is that whole industrial revolution thing...

[BadAnimal]

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Many predators kill the young of a pack if another male takes over, beavers cause plenty of environmental damage with their dams, some ants keep aphids as farm animals for their sugary excretions, and chimpanzees are well known for "waging war" on each other for females and territory. Sorry, but the whole notion of mankind as somehow worse than any other animal species bugs me.

Welcome to the site BTW.

Thanks for the welcome Batlord. Of course there are other animals who kill their own kind and "wage war" over things like territory, but, like Gysin says, we kill not only our own kind, but "any and all other animals". I'm sure there are no other animals doing this. I agree that some animals can cause environmental damage; however, I believe the damage is minor in comparison to damage caused by humans; when do we ever hear of major, irreversible environmental damage caused by animals? We hear about it constantly as a result of industry (as PoorOldPo also pointed out). I would disagree with beaver dams causing any major problems. The problems caused by beaver dams seem to be predominantly human problems such as property damage due to floods; furthermore, benefits of the dams, such as increased biodiversity, greatly outweigh the problems they cause. I do not believe Gysin was taking a stab at the human race and plain out calling us "worse than any other animal species", I think the underlying point is that we understand the consequences of our actions and still refuse to change. To wrap things up I'll just say that I do not have strong environmental or anthropological views in case I came off as some raving pro-environment anti-human lunatic haha. I like to look at both sides of every coin and I'm glad you showed me the other side of this one, it's made for some good food for thought haha.

Originally Posted by PoorOldPo

Limerick man here. Whereabouts ye from chara?if ye want i could adopt you, it means i look out for you and stuff, and help you out.

Dia dhuit mo chara! I'm from Waterford, not too far from yourself. I don't mean to dismiss your offer, but I don't see how I would need to be looked after on a forum. The site seems pretty straightforward to me and I'm not one to neglect reading the rules of online communities, so I wouldn't need help in that regard. Maybe I'm missing something, I realise it's a way to get to know people on the forum but I'm sure we could manage that without the adoption. Is it a sacred MB initiation, will I be frowned upon and cast away for not partaking? haha

EDIT: Forgot to say I'm liking the Dylan Moran avatar, love his stand up and black books

[The Batlord]

Originally Posted by BadAnimal

Thanks for the welcome Batlord. Of course there are other animals who kill their own kind and "wage war" over things like territory, but, like Gysin says, we kill not only our own kind, but "any and all other animals". I'm sure there are no other animals doing this.

Of course animals kill other animals. They do it for territory, food, fun, and just about any other reason that humans do.

I agree that some animals can cause environmental damage; however, I believe the damage is minor in comparison to damage caused by humans; when do we ever hear of major, irreversible environmental damage caused by animals? We hear about it constantly as a result of industry (as PoorOldPo also pointed out).

Because they don't have the ability to do so. The whole reason we cause such destruction is because we have the resources that no other animal does and instincts honed over millions of years of constantly not having those resources. A little bit of sentience is no match for that much built up instinct at least as far as an entire species goes.

I do not believe Gysin was taking a stab at the human race and plain out calling us "worse than any other animal species", I think the underlying point is that we understand the consequences of our actions and still refuse to change.

And I think it's still lazy logic that is more about indulging in cynicism than making sense. Not that I want to get into some long drawn out internet conversation about something I don't particularly care about either.

[BadAnimal]

Originally Posted by The Batlord

And I think it's still lazy logic that is more about indulging in cynicism than making sense. Not that I want to get into some long drawn out internet conversation about something I don't particularly care about either.

Fair point, from the little I've read about his background it wouldn't be surprising for him to indulge in cynicism. Funny though, how picking a name I thought had a nice ring to it lead to us to having a conversation we were mutually uninterested in next time we should try for a mutual interest!