Alex Neason

But Kevin is one of the creatures that led me to this deep question.

The question the book was asking.

What is it that makes us hate animals?

Yeah.

I could sort of feel it elevating me out of my murder, murder, murder, kill, kill, kill lizard brain to this idea that I could really get behind.

Every time an animal has succeeded really well at living near us, we hate them.

If we can't take it in, tame it, and put it in a little doggy sweater, we do not want it.

That word pest takes an animal that is like a living, breathing creature that lives here on this planet with us and turns it into an object.

We're saying that that animal...

has no value.

We are saying that anything we need to do to get rid of that animal is worthwhile.

which is exactly how I feel about roaches.

And she sort of proposes that we should do away with the category of pest altogether.

Wait, that's fascinating.

And, you know, the wheels in my head just like start spinning.

And I just kept thinking like, huh, this is how I want to be in the world.

What I want my politic to be.

Like I'm going to make a t-shirt that says abolish pests and let people ask me about it.

Like I'm down.

And I really want to not hate the roach.