In many ways, I’m a cynic. Cynicism  is defined as someone who believes that people are motivated purely by self-interest rather than acting for honorable or unselfish reasons.

When I saw this page advertising both a product to kill insects and a product to grow insects, my cynical self flared. “Experts agree that the most effective way to keep bugs from becoming an indoor problem is to get them while they are still outdoors”. Get them? Part of the product name is insect killer for lawns and is reported to “effectively take care of 100-plus insects”. Take care of?

Right beside the 100-plus insect killer product is the advertisement for a Swiss Alps bee house with the tag line “Perhaps you have heard that honeybees are in peril.” This feel good product goes on to state that “each egg is separated by a wall of mud.”

So the cynic in me is wondering how spreading insect killer in one’s lawn and placing a bee house that needs mud from the lawn to “separate the mason bee eggs” is a good plan. Could it be that using a product to kill insects by the 100s makes some people hesitant but adding a mason bee house to the area gives the person a good organic feeling after having used a product that kills a 100 plus insects? Might it just be a good sales pitch for corporate self-interest?

Motivated purely by self interest? I think so. Now what should one do about all those dandelions? Should I kill them or leave them to produce “pollen to provide food for the newly hatched larva.”

I’m a cynic for good reasons. One can’t have it both ways.