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PETA: A lesson in staggering irrelevance
Let me start off by saying that I do not agree with or approve of any form of cruelty to animals. With that said . . . I believe that the people in charge of PETA may have inadvertently removed their brains from their skulls and flung them at people wearing fur.
Please don't get me wrong. PETA has achieved important breakthroughs that have aided the protection of animals and will undoubtedly continue to do so. However, they seem to be crossing the threshold from morally responsible to bat-shit-crazy more and more frequently.
If the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals organization were a person rallying a crowd for a protest, I believe the exchange would sound something like this:
PETA: And we will free all the tortured lab animals!
Crowd: YAY!
PETA: And we will save the dolphins from tuna nets!
Crowd: YAY!
PETA: And we will boycott maple syrup to save baby seals!
Crowd: Um . . . Yay!
PETA: And we will put human breast milk in ice cream to save the mommy and baby cows!
Crowd: Yay?
PETA: And we will all start calling fish “Sea Kittens!”
Crowd: . . . .
You might be saying “Oh, clever metaphor, writer-guy! But those are silly fictional examples, no one in their right mind would ever propose such things.” Sadly, reader-people, I am not making any of those examples up.
Saving dolphins from nets and lab animals from cruel testing is no laughing matter, but PETA is actually proposing that people boycott Canadian maple syrup to save seals. Apparently, it is their understanding that by financially crippling one major industry within Canada, which could cost thousands of people their jobs, a completely unrelated industry will be forced to change its sinister ways. I don't actually see how anyone that can tell the difference between a delicious breakfast and a brutally slaughtered baby animal could see logic in that. I understand that the idea is to put pressure on the Canadian government to change regulation but at what cost? The more likely outcome if this were to go as PETA has planned would be some maple syrup companies would go out of business, people would lose their jobs and homes, and baby seal-clubbers would keep on baby seal-clubbing.
In one of PETA's more recent marketing campaigns, they are attempting to re-brand fish as “sea kittens.” It is their perception that this will make children aware that fish can feel pain and fear. According to Ashley Byrne, PETA's sea kitten campaign coordinator, "Knowing that the fish sticks in the school cafeteria are really made out of tortured sea kittens makes most kids want to lose their lunch." Let’s try this, Ashley: You and your friends can call fish sea kittens if I can call anyone who actually says “sea kittens” a “land moron.”
Not only is PETA enjoying what some serial killers and politicians have called “the genuine freedom that insanity allows” but they are also broadening the scope of their talents to include massive, jaw-dropping hypocrisy. For an organization that preaches compassion at any cost, they have wracked up a staggering death toll.
According to public records, PETA killed 2,124 pets last year at its Virginia headquarters. Let's face it, if it were any other organization euthanizing an animal, PETA would call it murder. This brings PETA's body count since 1998 to 21,339 dogs and cats. Way to commit mass-freaking-murder, PETA!
I am now wondering what the sane animal rights activists and advocates are going to do after PETA starts calling people “Torture-Death-Monkeys” and boycotts eating food because our stomachs brutally slaughter all kinds of microorganisms and bacteria, which PETA will then be calling “Cuddle Buddies.” This will lead to their slow starvation outside a Wal-Mart holding signs that read, “You can beat our prices, but you can't beat our meat.” Or perhaps PETA will end up being like the old, senile relative at the Thanksgiving table. No one will take notice when they calmly place the dinner bird on their head and start ranting about the benefits of electroshock therapy to a 2-year-old.
Who knows, perhaps they will realize how very unimportant their bizarre and irreverent attempts at attention-getting truly are. Sadly, I don't think this is the case. The only truth I can find in a mess like this is that PETA, for better or for worse, is not so gradually becoming completely irrelevant.
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Comments
In the beginning, PETA was outrageous to get attention for a worthy cause. Somewhere along the line, the cause became less important than the attention.
I suspect they're trapped in a vicious circle. Acting outrageous limits their appeal to young, naive, well-intentioned people. College freshmen, if you will. Once those kids mature a little, they move on to organizations with a better signal to noise record. To replace these lost members, PETA goes after more low hanging freshmen and the cycle continues.
Exceptional article, you've voiced my opinion entirely :)