Quote:
Originally Posted by pitbulllady
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
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Well, yeah, spiders could hurt you. Google spider bite (I would advise most of those people in the pictures to go to the doctor sooner buuut whatever). I think it's just normal human instinct to avoid spiders rather than gladly accept their presence, and that normal human instinct should not be mocked. My dogs will get spooked at toads and large beetles. They don't know if they can or can't hurt you, all they know is that they should stay away and they approach very cautiously. Are they just 'stupid dogs' for avoiding something that is pretty much harmless, according to statistics? Course not! Just like I think you mentioned in a post a long time ago, there were people from another country (I'll hazard a guess at Mexico or somewhere thereabouts but I'm not sure) who were afraid of spiders. That instinct and knowledge that spiders can be harmful is what keeps them and their kids safe and I sure as heck wouldn't tell them they're wrong for doing that.
I think it's a little silly to be afraid of something
only if it can cause a huge amount of damage or kill you. I'm not only cautious about horses because they can kill you, in fact they hurt people a lot more than they kill. They can still bruise you, break bones, crush you, break the skin...and I don't want that to happen. I also don't know much about horses, just like I don't know much about spiders so I would rather stay away with a little fear rather than learn all about all of them and which ones to fear and which ones are safe. There are a lot more concerns in my life, and I'm sure other peoples lives, than spiders, so a safe alternative would be just to avoid them alltogether. Like I said, I don't think it's right to smash them or torment them or kill them just for being in your house, I'll escort them outside with a handy dandy piece of paper and a cup or magazine, and bid them farewell and good luck finding a home or reuniting with the kids, but I don't think fear of spiders should be seen as an act of stupidity.
Spider bites suck, too. I get
nasty reactions to a lot of other bites of the crawly, 6+ legged variety.
ETA: I'm with you with the people posting pictures/videos of stuff like that, it's pretty disgusting and I really don't know what people do it for, such as the person throwing a puppy off of a cliff or videos of people tormenting snakes and using shovels to kill them, etc.
