Why wasps aren't dicks

I'm sure you guys saw the post on the front page recently about somebody finding and catching a little wasp nest (http://imgur.com/gallery/4KUr1). Now I didn't think anything about it until I scrolled down and started reading some of the comments...

There was a lot of hate for this wasp! This was only about a dozen pictures after another front page post about animal abuse (all comments, of course, talking about how terrible any person is who would do something so heinous to a helpless animal). I was especially disappointed to see the number of downvotes on the comment I highlighted -- how dare somebody suggest sparing this creature's life!!

Just to be fair in my er... reporting... there were a couple other comments that weren't on board with this idea. Even if they weren't nearly as popular.

Fortunately OP was of a kinder nature than most his commenters. Hats off to you, @mmmat. Most replies to this weren't super supportive, but there was definitely more restraint in this thread than the one I screenshotted above.

People seem to think that wasps do absolutely no good at all...
They should be extict? Come on guys...

So this brings me to my point: Why wasps aren't dicks! Now, I didn't study biology in college, I'm not an entomologist or an ecologist. I don't want to pretend this is coming from a place of studied expertise, but I do understand how an ecosystem works.

All non-invasive species form a very delicate balance to make an ecosystem work. Just because wasps don't provide anything for humans doesn't mean they don't provide anything at all. They are predators and scavengers, this provides important population control as well as clean-up.

Wasps do kill bees, and we love bees now. They also kill some ickier insects too -- like cicadas (and those shouldn't be extinct either, but population control is important). Wasps are parasites, with some species killing the larvae of other insects to lay their own eggs inside. That isn't evil -- that's nature. Hell, some animals even kill their OWN young and we still love them.

I'm looking at you, adorable mother bear.

Wasps get a bad rep because they sting for seemingly no reason, but we're pretty terrifying. They're hyper-territorial, and practice a "the best defense is a good offense" sort of approach, but again they're not the only ones.

Bull sharks, wolverines, gorillas, hippos, baboons, lions, bears, rhinos, crocodiles... these are all species that will attack you for being too close to their territory. Animals don't have the ability to rationalize what is and isn't a threat to them, or to understand the consequences of their actions. Wasps hardly have the ability to realize that we only kill them because they sting us, nor can they see us and think to themselves "hmm, I wonder if that naked bear is going to knock my nest down or not..." They just want us away from it. So they get us away from it using the LITERAL ONLY TOOL THEY HAVE. THEY'RE ONE INCH LONG FOR CHRIST'S SAKE WE ARE NOT EXACTLY THE UNDERDOGS IN THIS FIGHT.

They might even be partially responsible for helping yeast survive in the wild, meaning we owe them our thanks for beer, for bread, for sweet rolls, for.. all sorts of yummy treats.

Now, I'm not saying you've gotta become best friends with wasps now. They ARE aggressive. You don't have to let one build a nest on your window. You can call an exterminator to spray your house and your shed and your mailbox to dissuade wasps from building nests there. That's all fine. They want you away from their homes, you're allowed to want them away from yours.

But don't advocate cruelty to them just because you're scared of them. Don't wish for them to become extict because you don't understand what they do for our ecosystem. If we lose them I promise we won't be celebrating.

With all the downvoting on anything pro-wasp I don't expect this to get too far, but that's okay. You, yes YOU, reading this right now -- you've seen it. Next time you see somebody saying we should kill all the wasps, maybe you'll comment that that isn't a good idea. That would be good enough for me.