Road Trip Morality

"Nobody gets mad at a dog for eating a rabbit."
"Rabbits don't build civilizations," said Scott, "Keep your hands on the wheel when you talk, man, you make me nervous."
"Seriously," added Natalie from behind them.
"No, but termites do," Jack answered.
"Termites don't build civilizations, they make colonies," said Scott.
"Well to a termite it's the same thing."
"You're anthropomorphizing the termites."
"You're anthropomorphizing the anteater," said Jack with his hands on the wheel.
"What?" asked Scott, "How?"
"Well you're saying it's okay for the anteater to eat termites because the termites don't build civilizations. But neither do anteaters, so why is it on higher moral ground?"
"It's not on higher moral ground, it just...anteaters just eat termites, it's instinct."
"It's instinct for termites to build colonies," Jack said. He waited.
"Right," prompted Scott, "And that's not anthropomorphizing the anteater, by the way."
"Well, whatever," Jack waved the point aside, "How can you say it's not instinct for humans to build civilizations?"
Scott paused, "...Okay."
Jack went on, "So if civilization is instinct, then termite colonies are just a small version of that."
"You're saying insect colonies are a scaled down version of human civilization because it's arguably instinctual on both counts."
"Yeah."
"Okay."
"And if you validify one animal's-"
"Validate."
"Thank you, if you validate one animal's way of living, then you have to validate the other one's."
"Which means the same set of moral standards applies to humans, if we accept that humans are animals, as defined by functioning on instinct, yes?"
"Uh. Yeah."
"So, again; You say that by legitimizing one animal's perspective, you necessarily legitimize the other's, due to their mutual dissimilarity to the human species."
"Right. Termites don't want to be eaten."
"And anteaters don't want to starve."
"Right."
"However," said Scott, "if your logic works one way, it also works the other. If you've proven that it's okay for anteaters to eat termites, you've also stated that anteaters destroy civilizations."
"Well, but you just unmade your own point, because if it works backwards, then it already works forwards."
"Ooh!" Scott convulsed with the impact of his defeat, "Fuck. That's true."
"So I still say it's fine," Jack concluded, and his hands came to triumphant rest on the steering wheel.
"You guys are arguing about the morality of killing people," said Natalie, breaking her silence.
"Yeah." Scott and Jack agreed.
"But...he kills people," said Natalie, gesturing to Scott. Jack and Scott looked puzzled at each other for a moment, then back at Natalie. Scott twisting round in his seat to look over his shoulder, Jack in the rear-view mirror above.
"Well," Natalie went on, "It's just kind of moot."
Scott tilted his head.
"Like. You kill people. He has to, that's not going to stop. You're arguing the morality of something that's not going to change, whatever you decide is right or not."
Scott made a mock-serious face. "We're not arguing. We're conversing."
"The debate is fun, irregardless," Jack added.
Scott turned to Jack, "Irregardless isn't a word."
"It actually is," said Natalie, "It's in the dictionary."
"What?" Scott demanded.
Natalie explained, "It's defined as a variation of 'regardless' that arose from frequent mispronunciation."
Jack frowned contemplatively. "So it's only a word because a bunch of people were wrong? That's stupid, I don't want to use it."
"That's the evolution of language," said Natalie, "That's pretty much how it's worked for every other word in history."
"Normally I'd agree with you," said Scott, sinking lower into the passenger seat to get a better view of the night sky, "But 'irregardless' just sounds dumb. It's an ugly word."
Natalie looked out at the trees whipping past.
"Yeah."
The following silence was only long for Natalie.
"It's creepy when you guys talk about...what Scott...does."
Scott turned in his seat to look Natalie sincerely in the eye. Jack spoke without looking in the mirror. "I don't think it should be creepy. I mean it's not creepy when a dog eats a rabbit--"
"Don't--" Scott tried to interrupt Jack, his eyes closed in frustration.
"It is if you're a rabbit!"
Scott looked at the seat next to Natalie. Natalie looked out her window. Jack drove.
"Right," said Scott. He faced forward and sank again in the passenger seat. After another pause, Jack and Natalie both apologized at once.
"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," said Jack.
"No," said Natalie, "I shouldn't lie to myself. I have to come to terms with the fact that he..."
"I don't know," said Scott, "Maybe you're right. It's obviously not natural. And it's pretty fucked up! Maybe you guys should be afraid of me."
Jack dismissed the thought with a gesture, "Well I'm not."
Natalie kept looking out the window.