[Fwd: NOT Collecting again....

[Chris Durden]

At 04:53 AM 1999:06:30 -0700, you wrote:
>
>
>Mary Prismon wrote:
>
>As far as collecting is concerned, perhaps I have mixed feelings
>regarding Mark's suggestion of "hypocrisy". Sure, as a non-collector,
>I'd object to wanton smashing of butterflies as compared with wanton
>smashing of cockroaches,  but be real!  Are the butterflies trying to
>take over my house, contaminating my food with microbes, or just going
>about the business of living?
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 wanton smashing of cockroaches has nothing to do with pest control, but is
a expression of fear and loathing stimulated by childhood conditioning - it
is an ignorant person's behavior - it is not a way to prevent cockroaches
from living in our habitat
-----------
>
>Personally, I escort most creepy-crawlies out the door, unharmed, but
>would likely take a swat at a roach, if it were the common variety - no
>fear of their imminent extinction !
>
>And I am not greatly put off by collectors, who limit themselves to
>taking  a sample of each species for their own personal satisfaction. 
>But, hey, lets admit what's going on here,  an
>indulgence of the human hunting instinct, right?, sometimes completely
>out of hand!  When one is snatching as many as possible of a rarity,
>often for sale, that is objectionable to me. The concept that, as
>insects, butterflies can lay thousands of eggs and are in no danger of
>extinction doesn't mean much if most of the available the egg layers are
>posted on pins in a box.
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  the greed of a game hog collector who decimates a colony of choice
butterfly is no different from the greed of an agressive  birder who
tramples choice habitat to add another score of species to his life list
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 No need to site horrible examples like the
>uncountable numbers of bison,
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   their habitat was grazed, fenced and they were slaughtered for their
tongues - they had few offspring per adult per year
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 Passenger Pigeons,
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   the oakwoods on which they depended were cleared for farming and their
flocking, following mast events of the oaks was exploited for thoughtless
massive harvest - they had few offspring per adult per year
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 plumed birds gone 
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   what species of plumed birds did we lose?
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from
>the hunting scene.  Avarice gets into the equation very easily. I don't
>think those of us who are happy to satisfy our hunting instinct with our
>binoculars are being too hypocritical. Yes,  the bugs may well claim the
>world for their very own, in the long run; but I find them most
>interesting to observe, flashing their wings in mating dances and
>playing out their life cycles by the Darwinian rules, alive not dead by
>human hands. Is this hypocrisy , Mark?.
>
>
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   Avarice renders watching just as harmful as collecting when it is done
in competition - to keep score.
   Reverence renders collecting just as harmless as watching when something
is understood and appreciated.
..............Chris Durden