"Pigeon Wars": Ethics and Personal Pleasure
In "Pigeon Wars" author Jon Mooallem examines the intersection between ethics and personal pleasure, and provides some interesting insight into both sides of the pigeon dilemma. Each of the players in this pigeon drama has their own preference about pigeons and their own ethics in dealing with the matter. Clearly, whether to clear an area of pigeons or not is a thorny issue, and the ethics are convoluted as well. Those who dislike the pigeons have several arguments, including disease and dirt, and those who love the pigeons have their own set of likes and issues. Who is right in the pigeon war? The issue is not really an issue of right or wrong, but more an issue of negotiation and debate. Most people seem to prefer removing the pigeons because they are a nuisance and can carry disease. However, many believe killing the animals is simply not a viable or ethical option. When dealing with live beings, any kind of control is an issue, even with pigeons, which seem to have few real fans or champions.Clearly, the issue of controlling vermin, disease, or a nuisance is not only an issue that concerns pigeons. It can concern anything from controlling a virus to controlling noise from a party on a Saturday night. However, since
Not only to they want to keep the pigeons from damaging or destroying property and continual breeding, they want to control them because they can carry diseases. It is clear from reading and re-reading this piece that the definition of ethics is not stable among those involved in this situation, nor is the definition stable throughout society. They feel the birds will starve if left to their own devices, even though they have existed for thousands of years in many parts of the world. The article actually makes both sides seem a bit eccentric and out of control. This shows that ethics is a moral choice, but ethics are also made up of ideas that have more than one acceptable solution or answer, as this problem clearly shows. Pigeon-related damage in America has been estimated to cost $1. Those who advocate feeding the pigeons see any attempts to control or remove them as inhumane and unethical. The wants of one group can take precedence over another when the affect is so large and encompassing. This is a monetary and building issue that affects thousands of areas throughout a city or neighborhood. To these people, the ethics are clear. This is more than just dislike or pleasing a person who is directly affected by the birds. They breed quickly, and some people just champion them. What is totally ethical to one person may seem entirely unethical to another. Humane control is the center of one group's argument, while the other simply wants to enjoy the birds in peace.
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