Quote:
Originally Posted by idril
I don't like particularly spiders, I'll take them outside and let them free as often as I can if I find them in the house, but I think a lot of fears about spiders are valid. Not saying that it's okay to smash them and rip their legs off and whatnot, I just think it's normal and perfectly acceptable to dislike their presence, JMO of course  |
Why would it be "normal" and "perfectly acceptable" to dislike the presence of something that could not hurt you? Would it be normal to dislike the presence of a bunny rabbit, or a butterfly? Bunnies can hurt you worse than most spiders can, take it from me. Out of some 34,000 known species of spider, only 12, worldwide, pose any threat to humans in terms of having venom that is medically significant to us. That's not a lot, not really a justification for disliking them, nor enough to validate fear of spiders in general. Spiders devour 60 times more insects that all other insect-eating animals combined, which is significant considering how many insect species compete with US for food resources, or carry diseases that can sicken and kill us, and that benefit far, far outweighs any threat that a tiny minority of spiders actually pose to humans. Far from disliking their presence, I encourage and enjoy the presence of anything that will eat mosquitoes, flies and Fire Ants, without posing any threat to me at all. I do have to admit, though, that I can better accept people who run screaming like Eduardo from things that scare them, rather than feeling compelled to kill everything that scares them to try to prove they're not scared, and then boast about it later as though they've saved the world, or worse yet, post pics of the dead animal they just bravely vanquished on the internet, as though seeking a reward.
pitbulllady