On anti-commercial bias

[Anne Kilmer]

Ed Rooney wrote:
> 
> In article <19970925032000.XAA22120 at ladder02.news.aol.com>,
> timjcathym at aol.com (TIMJCATHYM) wrote:
> 
> > I find it strange, this bias against "commercialization" of the insect
> > business. (Big  Snip)    Amazingly this bias existed
> > 150 years ago.  Alfred Wallace was a poor scientist that supported his work
> > by selling specimens,  Darwin was a heir.  Look who got credit for the
> > discovery of natural selection.
> >
> > Tim McNary
> 
>      Tim, you have a very good point about the bias against
> commercialization, as if anything done for profit is automatically suspect
> and to be shunned.  (A bias I carry myself occasionally, I'll admit)
> snip 
>       Ed Rooney
> --
> 
> The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.

OK, guys, we have a problem here. And the problem is that Ed has 
innocently reposted a letter, truncated, that we haven't all  seen.
This has happened because they've changed the Leps list so that replies 
to postings go to the perpetrator; not to the list.
I hate to think how many messages we will get once people figure this 
out, particularly with the amount of acrimony floating around. 
 Under the old order, we'd all have seen Tim's letter, and we wouldn't 
care to see his arguments again. 
I'd like to address his points, because it's a subject that concerns me 
deeply.
Does commercialization of the butterfly mean enclosed rooms in which 
butterflies are artificially reared and then sold to release at weddings 
and funerals? Because I hate that. (Well, I wouldn't mind so much if 
they really did it at funerals. I made that up.)
Does it mean butterfly farms where outdoor plantings of native 
vegetation (or preserved jungle or meadow) produce many caterpillars of 
which some are matured in screenrooms, killed and sold as objets d'art? 
Yup, I think that's a great idea. fine, sustainable use of natural 
areas; man just another predator. 
I eat meat; I kill lots of bugs; many people kill bugs for a living; 
what's the big deal? And if bugs are worth something, maybe people will 
let them live.
Then there's a huge gray area in between, where nice people pass a few 
bugs to a friend who has the plants but not the bugs. the Atala 
butterfly (Eumaeus atala) is sustained in this manner. And must be, 
because, in the absence of natural predators, it eats its food plant to 
death. 
But should we be giving each other polydamas swallowtail, black 
swallowtail, white peacocks?  ... and what about a friend of mine who 
sees no reason why the pipevine swallowtail shouldn't exist in Palm 
Beach County ... any reason he shouldn't bring some down from North 
Florida (not needing any permits from the USDA) and try to establish 
them here?
I think it's wrong. But it's fun, it's pretty innocent, they're all nice 
people, what harm can it do ... 
I tried to touch up a photo with my nice photo program for the first 
time today. It's pretty bad, and every time I try to fix it, I make it 
worse. 
That's how I feel about our efforts to fix nature. 
I did save the original. 
Oh well.
Anne Kilmer
South Florida