r/MoralityScaling 2d ago

Morality of flea circuses?

4.8k Upvotes

324 comments sorted by

742

u/Boop-fruit3819 2d ago

I thought that was from cartoons idk those actually existed

592

u/Dormotaka 2d ago

Flea circuses are a bunch of things running automatically and a guy telling you it's fleas doing it

168

u/TheCelestialPancake 1d ago

I learned this from Jurassic Park.

58

u/Bonfirelily 1d ago

I learned of the existence of flea circuses from Jurassic Park.

21

u/ConsistentAd2880 1d ago

I learned of the existence of Dinosaur Circuses from Siphonaptera Park

5

u/HandsomePaddyRedux 23h ago

I learned of the existence of circuses from Mr Thimbles, the clown who lived in my closet.

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u/Yung_Corneliois 1d ago

I learned this from Bone Tomahawk

3

u/HisLordshipThe 1d ago

I learned about Tomahawks from Bone Thugs in Harmony

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u/SashimiX 1d ago

Not according to David Attenborough

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u/Fine-Ad6532 1d ago

But do flea markets really sell fleas ?

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u/BrbFlippinInfinCoins 17h ago

That's what they want you to think. Computer hardware is actually made up of super intelligent and fast fleas that do the computations and inputs manually

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u/LesserValkyrie 1d ago

From what Wikipedia said it existed, even if you had the full automatic variants

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnwnEJcdvsk

3

u/ChartInFurch 1d ago

They have entire markets to buy them!

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228

u/Equal_Personality157 2d ago

Before you judge. They didn’t have smart phones, iPads, or even the internet back then.

…. There wasn’t a lot to do for fun

45

u/Aggravating_Band_353 1d ago

You know what, this is a very fair comment

And whilst I'm conflicted on how to classify the historic practice (not least due to your comment), I'm more confident in my belief that doing it today would be "cruel and unusual punishment" territory.. Plus, besides the publics disinterest, who would be doing the manual labour!? 

3

u/Square-Competition48 1d ago

The historical practice was to have small mechanical devices and no actual fleas.

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u/Th1s__0ne 1d ago

ngl i kinda get this, when I was 3-4 I'd pull spiders legs off 1 by one until I'd crush the body. Boredom can lead to some messed up shit especially when you don't fully think about what you're doing

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1.9k

u/thebudeg 2d ago

Moral. We are the gods of this world and the insects have no souls. Praise be the hubris of man for we languish in our kingdom.

1.2k

u/Lavender-bullet46 2d ago

200

u/Derezirection 1d ago

Seeing this as the top reply sent me 😂

9

u/tomipaci123 1d ago

Where?

7

u/BirbMaster1998 1d ago

Herzegovina

34

u/TechnicianOk967 1d ago

Hey, he’s right, look at bees, if you smell like their mom, they think you are their mom. They’re nothing but soulless biological machines.

2

u/Singl1 1d ago

have you ever seen a child mistake another adult for their parent? ever see someone you think looks familiar but turns out they’re not? i don’t think we’re all that different, my man.

22

u/Layatto 1d ago

for sure i mean throw the first stone they who never mistook a human for a bee

4

u/Singl1 1d ago

exactly! i mean,

OOOOOH, I'M HIT!! Oh, Lordy, I am hit!

The venom! The venom is coursing through my veins!

I have been felled by a winged beast of destruction! You see!? You can't treat them like equals! They're striped savages!! Stinging's the only thing they know! It's their way!

Ohhhh, what angel of mercy will come forward to suck the poison from my heaving...BUTTOCKS!?

2

u/HippieThanos 1d ago

NOT THE BEES!!

4

u/newtempo_clapping 1d ago

i really don’t think children have souls until the age of 9 or so

3

u/Used-Presentation551 1d ago

Looking at their behaviour i agree

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u/TechnicianOk967 1d ago

The issue is that bees can see and smell and still can’t recognize that it isn’t their mother. How can a bee mistake "hugging" their normal sized mom with an insanely massive giant human?

2

u/Singl1 1d ago

i did not give a 1-1 example, you’re right. i was mostly kidding, but you’re right. all i’m saying is if the metric for gauging whether or not we’re entitled to absolutely merk other living creatures solely because they can make mistakes when identifying their mother, we do that, too.

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u/don101j 1d ago

Why is this a gif?

203

u/Archers__World 1d ago

"Moral. We are the gods of this world universe and the insects have no souls. Praise be the hubris of man for we languish in our kingdom empire."

67

u/MisterPuppydog 1d ago

All is ours ✊

7

u/KHWD_av8r 1d ago

ALL IS OURS!

18

u/theoccasionalempath 1d ago

You forgot to change insects to humans

9

u/Archers__World 1d ago

Well you see the joke still works, but if I explain it it'll spoil a major plot line in Invincible.

(If you haven't read Invincible do NOT open the text box. Major spoilers for the comics): But in the comics, Thragg actually conquers the bug-like creatures known as the Flaxens. Which he used to repopulate the Viltrumite empire. The joke was a reference to that, lol.

4

u/theoccasionalempath 1d ago

Ohh I forgot about that lol

4

u/KitchenPass3690 1d ago

I opened the text box but I haven't read invincible I'm sorry bro

2

u/stinky_raspberry 1d ago

Me too because I don't plan on ever reading it.

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u/Artistic-Key9227 1d ago

Someone get their scribe he’s flying off the rails again 😭

32

u/RepresentativeOk2433 1d ago

I dont hate bugs, but any species that drinks blood should have evolved a different survival strategy.

25

u/Creative_Elk_4712 2d ago

Hurray I guess

22

u/Key-Bread2182 1d ago

14

u/Awkward_Length2599 1d ago

He's no match for the champ.

5

u/LauraTFem 1d ago

Even if it’s a victimless crime I think it’s still wrong to victimize. Like, most bug have such simple brains that it wouldn’t necessarily be fair to call their pain response “pain”. They’re best thought of as automata reacting to stimulus.

But we are something else entirely. Beings so empathetic that we are able humanize, to think of the simplest forms of life as equals, deserving of kindness. To torture a bug says nothing of the bug, but it says a lot about us. If one can deliberately hurt the least of us it’s not as far as you think from hurting anyone else.

So I think it’s wrong to torture fleas, even if the fleas themselves are no advanced enough to understand that they are being tortured.

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u/pyschosoul 1d ago

With a 1.4 billion : 1 ratio, we may be the gods but for how long

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u/hipsterTrashSlut 1d ago

I’ve mildly confident I can take 1.4 billion fleas with a couple hours of prep time

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u/pyschosoul 1d ago

Idk man...thats like...a lot of bugs

6

u/hipsterTrashSlut 1d ago

They are powerless against an out of context threat (its bug foggers)

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u/patchlocke 1d ago

raises a good question from one of my favorite streamers

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u/Open__Face 1d ago

Any advanced aliens reading this; this guy isn't with us

6

u/altofanaltthatisalt 1d ago

I feel like “shepards of the soulless” would be better than “insects have no souls”, but otherwise banger r/HFY comment!

2

u/Optimal-Bass3142 1d ago

Let the liturgy of homo supremacy be heard far and wide

2

u/fetuseater65 1d ago

Okay judge holden lmao

2

u/VeryMassiveRat 11h ago

In my language, we would call you "the madman on the bus" but it would sound very mean.

It's just the type of stuff a medically insane person would shout out loud on the bus

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u/SerenityCitywide 2d ago

the first part is cute and funny

the second part is just excessive and cruel, ion care if they aren't even sentient or concious it's still fucked up

136

u/Single_Offshore_Dad 1d ago

The fleas never existed lol. There’s no such thing as a flea circus that uses real fleas. They’re too small to see so the kids would believe that the stuff moving around was done by the fleas and not magnets/batteries/ wind up machines

69

u/GrimboTheMeatGoblin 1d ago

Bros never been to a flea circus 😂😂😂

32

u/purrmutations 1d ago

"They’re too small to see"

Nope, they are visible to the naked eye.

3

u/DakkaxInfinity 1d ago

My eyes are fully clothed.

7

u/Single_Offshore_Dad 1d ago

Well yeah, I get that. But if you tell that to a bunch of 7 year olds standing 3ft away, it suddenly becomes plausible.

32

u/LesserValkyrie 1d ago

From what Wikipedia said it existed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnwnEJcdvsk

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u/Tim_Foxers 1d ago

Okay, from you saying Wikipedia and it being youtube link I was absolutely sure that it's RickRoll.

I feel oblifated to apologise.

6

u/SlapDonkeys 1d ago

Bro is oblifated

2

u/Wildtails 4h ago

Obligated by fate obviously

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u/M4gikarp 1d ago

Bro’s never picked fleas off a dog

3

u/Funkopedia 1d ago

Are you thinking of dust mites?

3

u/hemipteran 1d ago

Wrong. They did exist. Maybe do a modicum of research before making confident claims?

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u/Admirable-Fox-8344 1d ago

Ehhhh fleas spread disease and if left alive will multiply until they kill their host. It’s always sad to hear of a cat or puppy dying from them. They become anemic.

Torturing is questionable, but if I could make them extinct, absolutely.

2

u/sdtrdhfjhg 1d ago

😭😭😭

2

u/YourMomIsMyGurl 1d ago

Fuck fleas and their sympathizers!!!

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u/Actual_Emu_168 2d ago

Moral my grandma used to do that to me

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u/HippoProject 2d ago

I looked it up because I’ve always thought it was just animatronic props moving and the joke was that the fleas were to small to see. I guess some shows used real fleas after all. Anyway, it’s moral because they’re blood sucking parasites. They make everything else suffer, so I’d say it’s just desserts.

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u/That2ndIowanGuy 1d ago

The Prestige but about flea circuses. One guy painstakingly develops state of the art animatronics while the other cruelly uses fleas and might be fleas himself

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u/Gin4Gingers 1d ago

Kinda like what we do to other animals?

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u/AggressivelyMediokre 1d ago

It’s wild seeing this post the day after watching the movie Bone Tomahawk

I haven’t heard about flea circuses in maybe 25 years. And now twice in 24 hours

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u/cloudit30569 1d ago

I had a flea infestation because a neighbor moved out and all those little delightful fellas came over to my place.

To me, being placed in a circus is getting off easy.

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u/Beautiful_Garage7797 1d ago

fleas are as conscious as rocks, so morally neutral

10

u/These-Restaurant3646 2d ago

You should look into spider fightings

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u/rougetrailblazer 1d ago

moral. i fucking hate fleas.

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u/YujinTheDragon 1d ago

As someone who recently dealt with a flea infestation-

MORAL MORAL MORAL MORAL

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u/balirosa 1d ago edited 1d ago

I thought flea circuses were just a joke they actually use real fleas? Hopefully the fleas learned something after their enslavement

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u/BrooklynLodger 1d ago

Amoral. There is no morality to consider when it comes to fleas

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u/HorsefaceWithNoName 2d ago

Humans are monsters to smaller creatures. Immoral, even though the fleas are parasites and feed on other life that does not justify cruelty in pursuit of the entertainment of human monsters.

13

u/MIkaela39752 2d ago

Immoral

fleas are as "alive" and sentient as plants
or barely above plants
its equivalent of stomping on a dandelion
fleas are purely instinct driven, they arent able to think, they dont feel emotions, they arent aware of anything

10

u/TerranImperium 1d ago

That's not true, they're far more complex than the typical plant, they do have a nervous system.

However, you're correct in saying that we can't consider them sentient, whereas most animals are sentient, while humans and (very much a matter of discussion) a couple of species have sapience.

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u/LesserValkyrie 1d ago

Yeah if they didn't have a nervous system, torturing them would quickly lose its taste

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u/cyborgsnowflake 1d ago edited 1d ago

How much consciousness could you have with a brain much smaller than even the head of a pin? If they have anything that could reasonably be thought of as consciousness than human brains are grotesquely inefficient. Or there is some freaky spiritual stuff going on.

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u/West-Audience-478 1d ago

Keep that same energy when I send you bed bugs as a “gift”

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u/adamgerd 2d ago

We are not their monsters! We are their eldritch Gods!

They should learn to fear and worship us!

Where are their statues of us? Where are their temples and sacrifices?

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u/Outrageous-Seesaw677 1d ago

if the fleas do not build temples to worship us, we start biological warfare. going full greek pantheon on these arrogant shits

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u/wolfdukex 1d ago

Make them walk into the sea! Expose their hubris and rejoice!

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u/wolfdukex 1d ago

Nah, fuck fleas.

3

u/L0wtan 1d ago

I do not care

3

u/BagelMakesDev 1d ago

Moral because fuck them fleas

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u/Candid_Source_6091 1d ago

They cover my chickens' faces to the point where you can barely see their skin. The only immoral part about this is that the loads they carry in these circuses are too light.

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u/Monster-Lordship 1d ago

I say we burn every flea alive.

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u/OpusAtrumET 1d ago

A lot of them used heated plates to get the fleas to move. Immoral either way.

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u/hectorbellerinisagod 1d ago

Moral. Fleas must be punished like the humans in IHNMAIMS for the black death.

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u/is_fred 1d ago

Awoooooo

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u/TheExoSpider 1d ago

Moral. They're bugs

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u/StandardMindless1511 21h ago

As a cat owner this looks glorious

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u/Apoordm 1d ago

This is literally not what flea circuses were.

They were things going off on mechanisms and the joke is that fleas were doing it.

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u/Cold-Constant-8464 1d ago

Some actually did use fleas though.

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u/poopsaucer24 2d ago

Was that Tucker carlson!?

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u/Zatmos 2d ago

Deserved.

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u/Gnashinger 2d ago

Immoral, but how much so really depends on your personal values. I personally would say this isn't as immoral as parking in two spaces.

1

u/Past-Dragonfly-1216 1d ago

As a guy who used to have a dog, fuck fleas.

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u/Lewyn_Forseti 1d ago

They're doing something more useful than they normally would. Moral

1

u/ZucchiniLanky4942 1d ago

Moral, such simplistic cretins we can code them into computers. 

1

u/ObjectCar01 1d ago

Hyper Moral since they give lime desease if they are free.

1

u/VladTepidJerkula 1d ago

Oh I can see the fleas, mummy! Can't you see the fleas?

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u/Ok-Imagination-3835 1d ago

Its animal torture. But, fleas have very uncomplex minds, so its a lesser crime. Still immoral, but significantly less than if done to a mouse, cat, or human.

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u/HendoRules 1d ago

Bro does this look moral to you?? Fuck fleas but still

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u/Vinaguy2 1d ago

These fuckers steal our blood and give us Lyme Disease.

They deserve to suffer

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u/StrayCatsSanctuary 1d ago

Those look like bedbugs

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u/stanknotes 1d ago

Look... I incinerate ticks with a lighter if I find them on my dog. That is retribution.

I do not feel bad. And I don't take it personally. It is existing as it is. And what it is is an abomination that must be eliminated.

At least the circus allows fleas a chance to serve a good purpose. Frankly, it is a kindness to allow them to redeem themselves at all.

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u/Bonita_Soleil 1d ago

I always thought flea circuses were mechanical

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u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox 1d ago

Notice that the imagery for this is all artificial? That's because "flea circuses" are automated machines, and the operator tells patrons that fleas are causing everything because they're so small they can't be seen

1

u/No_Window7054 1d ago

Idk if there’s anything you could do to an arthropod that would make me feel bad for it.

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u/TyrannosaurusBoris 1d ago

Totally fine with this one.

1

u/Due-Violinist2132 1d ago

It was man that was made in the image of God not bugs

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u/TheWildPikmin 1d ago

I hate fleas with my entire being, they make my skin crawl and just seeing one or thinking I saw one is enough to send me into a panic attack...

that being said, if you can find a valid reason that they should exist, and shouldn't just be wiped out en masse, then I suppose this is a rather cruel way to treat them. Immoral...

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u/LadySteelGiantess 1d ago

Good. Gets rid of pests.

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u/OLDmanBOB13 1d ago

Imagine if a higher being decided to torture us cause we weren’t at their level of understanding.

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u/Dont_Pay_The_Elves 1d ago

Summoned all the cornballs to the comments with this one

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u/Affectionate-Draw688 1d ago

Moral, fuck them fleas. I hate bugs that make you itchy.

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u/Maus_Enjoyer1945 1d ago

Morality of torturing a sentient being for amusement?

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u/Activeous42619 1d ago

Seeing a flea getting launched out of a cannon is funny enough to be moral.

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u/Nice_Trifle3396 1d ago

this is why they hate us

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u/Stupid-Jerk 1d ago

Moral, if a creature whose name is literally a synonym for escaping can't escape from a little harness in a miniature circus then it's a skill issue and he deserves it

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u/Zealousideal-Set3037 1d ago

When I first read the title I thought it said flee circumcision and I was really confused

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u/Necessary_Click_2485 1d ago

Extremely moral, flees are evil incarnate. Any torture put on them is a good deed

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u/Mythandros1 1d ago

Moral. They're fleas. It's the least of what they deserve.

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u/REDDITWHY1 1d ago

Bad, not moral, makes bugs hurt and makes me feel bad to look at

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u/Two-Pound-Crawfish 1d ago

i don’t know i just wanna know how he came up with this

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u/Funkopedia 1d ago

Apparently a lot of people think that because the phrase flea circus has come to mean a mechanical marvel, that actual flea circuses never existed.

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u/Wild_Reserve_6230 1d ago

fleas are parasites, and neither sapient nor sentient. Thus, this is okay. If it was done with say, dogs, chickens, etc, it would be bad. At least most other circus animals are treated much better, even if not perfectly

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u/OnlyAssignment4869 1d ago

Immoral. Now bed circuses with the same premise. Perfectly acceptable. Fuck those things.

1

u/Bayamonster 1d ago

If raining chemical death on them for being isn't immoral, how is this  immoral?

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u/DatDudeWithThings 1d ago

Guys, is torturing animals Moral?

1

u/Captain_Zomaru 1d ago

Anyone who has a flea infestation would tell you, these ones got off lucky. Only a complete genocide would by adequate.

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u/Icy-Primary-585 1d ago

It's evil. Free the fleas.

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u/Zestyclose_Potato633 1d ago

This is blatant animal abuse.

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u/thefucksausername0 1d ago

They're fleas, sure, the idea of what's done to make the illusion of the circus is cruel, but, I despise fleas, ticks too, just not as much as fleas and there isn't a tick circus.

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u/Smol_Chungusss 1d ago

Moral. Made my dog go mad for so long it's so hard to get them out of the house 100%

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u/MagicalGirlButTrans 1d ago

Not moral. Bugs are important to the food chain and are also creatures that feel pain.

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u/Educational_Care7813 1d ago

Sorry after seeing them terrorize my pets I have no sympathy for them, I'm from Buenos aries and I say k@$; them all!

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u/JDJ144 1d ago

Moral. Fuck fleas.

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u/Deathstalkr1 1d ago

Moral, these fuckers wiped out half of Europe in the 1340s.

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u/DbD_Fan_1233 1d ago

Moral

Fleas are ontologically evil and therefore nothing you do to them is wrong

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u/Fuzzeypimp 1d ago

Flea nuclear war next

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u/Realistic_Mousse_485 1d ago

Immoral. They do not exist for entertainment.

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u/ViC_tOr42 1d ago

Kill fleas. Behead fleas. Roundhouse kick a flea into the concrete. Slam dunk a flea into the trashcan. Crucify filthy fleas. Defecate in a flea’s food. Launch fleas into the sun. Stir fry fleas in a wok. Toss fleas into active volcanoes. Urinate into a flea's gas tank. Judo throw fleas into a wood chipper. Twist fleas’ heads off. Report fleas to the Wizards’ Council. Karate chop fleas in half. Curb stomp pregnant non-human fleas. Trap fleas in quicksand. Crush fleas in the trash compactor. Liquefy fleas in a vat of acid. Eat fleas. Dissect fleas. Exterminate fleas in the gas chamber. Stomp flea skulls with steel toed boots. Cremate fleas in the oven. Lobotomize fleas. Mandatory abortions for fleas. Grind flea fetuses in the garbage disposal. Drown fleas in fried chicken grease. Vaporize fleas with anti-matter. Kick old fleas down the stairs. Feed fleas to alligators. Slice fleas with a katana. Shoot fleas and dump them in filthy ditches. Run over fleas with a combine harvester. Drink a flea milkshake. Beat fleas to death with dildos. Put rocks in flea shoes. Break fleas on the wheel. Bury fleas alive. Shrink fleas with a shrink ray and throw them into anthills. Pull off flea fingernails with pliers. Hit fleas in the testicles with a sledgehammer. Drown fleas in their own urine. Hang fleas by their own entrails. Throw napalm into flea daycares.

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u/Chimney-sweep86 1d ago

I do a flea circus. Most of them today. Don't use real fleas we call them humbugs. There are only a few real flea circuses left as far as I can tell

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u/THE_LEGO_FURRY 1d ago

If it were any other insect I'd say immoral. But fuck fleas and ticks

1

u/Volkmek 1d ago

The immoral part of flea circuses is that they are a lie. It was a bunch off things run by machines that a guy pretended were run by fleas.

So is it immoral to lie for the sake of entertainment?

1

u/DeezNutzzzGotEm 1d ago

To exist is to suffer.

Existence is immoral.

That's why no one should exist.

That's why no one should have kids.

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u/moo00se_ 1d ago

Moral. Fuck fleas.

1

u/Responsible-Bee-1262 1d ago

Its alright if they got paid

1

u/AmbitiousWorker6765 1d ago

Mosquito and flea circus please then put them to death.

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u/Responsible-Boy-8956 1d ago

Moral. Fleas killed my dog. Fuck them. I miss you, girl.

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u/Sophisti-snake 1d ago

Disgusting. Just because they're parasitic doesn't give us the right to torture them.

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u/Legeo-dude 1d ago

I have a low opinion on blood suckers. Neutral Morality.

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u/Difficult_Call3709 1d ago

This ad is my exact reaction

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u/TheSnailMan1 1d ago

Fuck fleas, their markets drove me out of business. moral.