Bee enslavement is immoral.

"Con was incorrect in his definition of self-aware and was associating self-awareness with the human ability of utilizing abstract thinking, complex reasoning, using tools etc." First, Con is having an identity crisis and has got Pro and Con confused. Pro is stupidape and Con is Sdio. Next, Con has rejected mainstream science's view on self-awareness. Con must now answer two questions. First, how do you define self-awareness? Second, are humans sentient? Pro has decided to stick to main stream science for this debate, and claims that both humans and bees are self-aware. "A large amount of animals are capable of learning. I don't believe that because they are capable of learning simple tasks that bee keeping is immoral." Con Pro contends this makes beekeeping immoral because there is no relevance differences between bees, human children, and humans who are severely mentally handicapped. It is well established that it is not okay to exploit children nor the mentally handicapped via sweat shops. Also, it is wrong to kill members of these groups to maximize productivity. "Realizing they are being cheated is a trait that can be attributed to complex thinking. Bees are not capable of realizing their honey is being used for commercial benefit." Con The latter sentence is correct. As for the former, I don't think it takes much cognition to realize when you have been scammed. "This is pure speculation. There is no way to determine what a bee would want." Con We can create a hypothesis and test the hypothesis via observation. "Furthermore, bees operate around the queen of the hive. If the queen leaves the hive, the bees will follow. How can you speculate that bees would prefer "freedom" when they blindly follow their absolute monarch anywhere she goes?" Con How about the queen bee's freedom then? Since the bees follow her blindly. Oh, wait she is trapped in a cell created by humans. She has a maximize lifespan of five years but never lives more than two because she is murdered to maximize productivity. "A queen honey bee's life lasts between a year and five years." [5]. "Queens can live for as long as five years but most commercial beekeepers replace them every two years" (Shimanuki & Sheppard, 181) (and often yearly). "Replace" is a euphemism for killing the old queen." [6]. "Bees are territorial, they attack out of instinct, not out of objection to captivity." Con Bees are smarter than you think. Animals are capable of communicating. It is possible that wild bees have learned to attack humans more aggressively from communicating with mistreated domestic bees. Crows for example can pass information about an oppressor to other crows. "Since the mob members also then indirectly learn about the threatening person, the findings demonstrate how just a single crow's bad experience with a particular human can spread information about this individual throughout entire crow communities. Given that crows have impressive memories, people who ruffle the feathers of these birds could experience years of retribution." [7]. Pro contends that its a reasonable hypothesis that bees are slightly more aggressive towards invading humans due to being mistreated in captivity. Summary, mainstream science supports that bees are sentient. There is no relevant differences between bees, children, and the mentally handicapped. Already there are laws in place to protect the last two groups. It is inconsistent to withhold such protections from the first group, bees. The only reason humans allow this practice to continue is enforcing the status quo and because humans think they are superior to animals. The status quo is not self justifying, some cultures perform human sacrifices, showing the danger of blindly following tradition. Humans cling to their superiority despite evidence that humans are just as mortal as animals. By what right do we have to play God with other sentient beings? To take total control by imprisoning the queen bee. By allowing this injustice to be legal we are paving the way for other atrocities. 5. http://animals.mom.me... 6. http://vegetus.org... 7. http://news.discovery.com...