#this Is a whump prompt post but we encourage you to stop using bug zappers also btw

[secret-bug-pain-blog]

Bug thoughts night. Time to learn things about bugs, whether you like it or not.

Did you know that the reason bug zappers are so effective is because they cook bugs in their shells? They quite literally boil a bug's blood, and since a bug's got an open circulatory system, it boils the rest of their organs with it. With most models, it lures the bugs to itself with a UV bulb, then kills them on the spot with a mesh of electrified metal - quickly, painfully, and with little to no hope of survival.

Because most bug zappers use a fluorescent UV lightbulb, their main catch is almost never mosquitoes - even if it's one that lures with pheromones, it casts a wide net, and it goes after just about any bug in the area that will be caught in it. Moths are the obvious one, but the majority of bug zapper catches are things like water bugs and midges - harmless bugs, but electricity doesn't discriminate between harmless and not. What matters is what's caught in the net is undesirable, and because it can be killed by electricity, it will be.

It is acceptable, because they're bugs. There are plenty of them, they're fine to kill, the world is better off without a few gross little bugs anyways. They're uncharismatic. Ugly. They're an acceptable loss. Who likes bugs, anyways? Who wants dirty little bugs in their space? In their homes? In their neighborhoods?

If it kills them dead, then it's an acceptable loss.

Might be fun to think about when writing your next story.