HO HO WHAT?

[Chris J. Durden]

Anne,
    I think you have a rather healthy perspective. The whole monarch 
release flap is worthy only of a Gilbert & Sullivan production. Too many 
comfortable bureaucrats with too little to do. How do they feel in Britain 
and Ireland about release of Monarchs at events?
...............Chris Durden

At 12:48 PM 12/12/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>butrfly at epix.net wrote:
>
> > Stan Gorodenski wrote:
> >
> >> Finally, with respect to butterfly releases in general, I think the 
> practice is a hold over from man-woman-kind's primitive ancestry.  It
> >>seems to me that the one trait butterfly releasing (for weddings,
> >>birthdays, and other such events) has in common with satanism is that
> >>both use other life forms for ritualistic purposes and societal (group)
> >>events.  For this reason, I am totally against these kinds of releases,
> >>and do not support businesses that promote this activity.
> >>Stan
> >>
> >
> >
> > Dear Dr.Gorodenski
> > It seems that your feelings about releasing and a brother/sisterhood
> > with
> > satanism covers many religions.
>
>snip
>
> > Rick Mikula
> >
>
>True. And check out Leviticus to see what happens to those doves when an 
>*old-time* religion gets ahold of them. No, they don't go fluttering away 
>picturesquely. Not never no more.
>
>I think given that many of us are pretty carnivorous, we won't find any 
>moral high ground when it comes to how we treat "other life forms", with 
>or without companions. Why, I live in a country where we routinely 
>slaughter large birds and all celebrate at the resultant feast. And I'm 
>sure the bird had other plans.
>I would probably find solace and comfort dumping a virgin into a volcano, 
>any old time, but try to find one. ;-)
>My motto is "Good is better than evil, because it's nicer." It was good 
>for Mammy Yoakum and it's good enough for me.
>If you consider the big picture for these released butterflies, their life 
>is likely to be nasty, brutish and short ... but that's how it is for 
>butterflies, at the best of times. So are they, like cut flowers, just a 
>pretty thing to play with?
>Maybe yes. They're just bugs, after all, regardless of how we have 
>festooned them with meaning and hung them round with sentimentality.
>
>I don't think inconveniencing scientists is very important. Can't we tag 
>those released butterflies, or otherwise identify them so that scientists 
>are unmuddled?
>As for gene drift, the passage of strange diseases and so forth, that's 
>been kicked around for a long time, without much in the way of useful results.
>I think inventing some rare little plants that the Monarchs might eat is 
>far-fetched, ridiculous, nonsense ... but the response that first we 
>should show some harm, and then the butterfly releasers will cease and 
>desist ... that makes me scream and retch and look about for more virgins 
>to immolate.
>I wish this discussion did not keep rolling in the uncharted swamps. I 
>wish (we're just killing time until the next Ice Age anyway) we could try 
>to achieve a position of enlightened self-interest, and figure out whether 
>it is better for a world ecosystem, to have kids releasing butterflies (at 
>random? under severe regulation?) or not. And why aren't they raising them 
>in their own gardens?
>Me, I think everybody should plant native plants where appropriate, 
>provide habitat for whatever critters are compatible with your lifestyle 
>(butterflies, yes; mosquitoes, in moderation; dragonflies, why certainly) 
>and enjoy life as much as God or Nature permits, in between the shitstorm 
>that is our existence.
>I think it would be more fun to release totally improbable butterflies, 
>such as the Zebra Longwing (in the North, of course), which will show up 
>and surprise people and vanish when it turns cold. Then, when somebody 
>reports one, you *know* it's a release.
>Yes, the bug will never experience the fulfillment of marriage and 
>children. I cry a single tear.
>Alternatively, we could take Palmetto bugs, gild them, cover them with 
>glitter and fling them into the air. Tell people it's lucky to have one 
>land on you, and watch the thrilled and happy looks on the faces of the 
>children ... naw, I guess not.
>I think if you apply to this problem the simple question, "What would 
>Jesus do?" you wind up with the simple answer "Get a life."
>Hope this helps.
>Anne Kilmer
>South Florida
>
>
>
>
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