In All Reality

The news topic that provided the catalyst for this article is probably old hat by now (especially in teh interwebs, where thingz goes really fast!), but I couldn’t help but write something about it, if for nothing other than a personal record of a historical event. You seen, PETA has changed the world. It may be hard to believe, but rest assured they did – and here’s how:

PETA has been working really hard to break down the fabric of reality.  They’ve done their best to take a good, long, hard look at what makes up the world before us, and then figure out how to utterly tear it apart.  PETA was founded in 1980, for

…the simple principle that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment. PETA educates policymakers and the public about animal abuse and promotes kind treatment of animals.

I’m not going to pull the Bible card here, and I’m not going to say that I disagree wholly with their mission statement.  I do believe that, while animals are a crucial source of food, clothing, and many other provisions, the sheer vindictiveness that human beings can exhibit toward animal treatment is oftentimes very frightening.  Of course, such incidents are usually no worse than what humans gleefully do to each other.  I think that my understanding that there does need to be some set of basic guidelines governing treatment of animals is what causes me to be so angry with PETA’s methods.

PETA has always taken an over-dramatic stance on their issues, and I feel that this has really harmed them.  I believe their organization to be populated by totally irrational people who will do anything to support an ideology, and a supporting group of people who genuinely feel that there is a better way to handle all this messy business of eating things and wearing clothing.  The former group seems to be in charge of their marketing.

Dramatic Gestures

PETA is a huge fan of doing in-your-face, over-the-top videos, ads, photos, etc.  Some of their most recent publicity stunts have included:

• Santa and Bikini-Clad Chicks vs. KFC
• Tastes Like Chicken!
• Cops Flock to KFC Protest in Sydney
• Lowe’st Of The Low

Probably their most famous campaign has been the “We’d Rather Go Naked” string of photo shoots, where notable (women) celebrities pose naked to demonstrate how much they detest fur.  I have a lot of problems with this, especially the way that these women have willingly objectified themselves for the sake of a shock & awe campaign.  I’d be very interested to see what feminists and women’s rights activists think about such a campaign.

PETA’s work on testing the fabric of reality has yielded such results as Stop the (Other) Carnage’ in the Middle East.  We’re talking about a place where war has literally been a way of life since time began, and we’re concerned about fur sales? Once again, I’m not for fur or against people who feel the same way, but this is an obvious case of choosing a poor battlefield for your fight, and treating a symptom and not the cause.

The Company You Keep

You can typically tell a lot about a person (or organization in this case) by the type of people they support and surround themselves with.  PETA is notorious for idolizing those who typically make the most irrational statements and hold vindictive viewpoints.  Take this post for instance. Ricky Gervais did not set Letterman straight.  What he did do was convince the rational world that he is incapable of having an intelligent discussion about a topic of foreign aid, humanitarian efforts, and animal rights.  But this is the type of stance that PETA advocates – a stance of close-mindedness.

Likewise, anyone who has a viewpoint different than that which PETA advocates is instantly demonized.  Even those who have apparently “redeemed” themselves at some point can quickly and easily fall from the high graces of PETA.  It is a tenuous position to hold.

Morals For Morals

I think my largest problem with PETA is their total sacrifice of everything else that is right and proper in their misguided pursuit of animal rights.  Once again, I am not against kindness to animals nor am I for cruelty.  My problem is the proliferation of photos like this one:

This is not appropriate for kids (and the image they put up is in BMP format *shiver*). I’m not being conservative here; I’m being bluntly sensible.  PETA’s use of public nudity/exhibitionism on a repeated basis is NOT effective; rather it is repulsive.  Back to feminism and women’s rights here again.  The message is: People matter less than animals.  I especially like this quote from an article about Discovery’s Shark Week:

True, an average of 10 humans die each year because of shark attacks. However, this is nothing compared to the 100 million sharks (and billions of other sea animals) killed by humans every year—so that humans can eat them.

When you think about the painful way that all fish are slaughtered for fun and food—suffocated, crushed to death, and cut open alive—shark attacks really don’t seem all that unprovoked, do they?

What?  Seriously?  Mmmm…eye for an eye.  If someone kills you or your people, you kill them right back.  Go sharks!  Meh, what are a few human lives?  Congrats PETA, you’ve just reinforced every ideology behind genocide, ethnic cleansing, and land disputes throughout history. The gist of PETA’s efforts is pretty plain.  They’re trading one set of morals for another, choosing to block out all points of view and methods of informing, and accomplishing nothing as a result.

The Tear in the Fabric of Reality

…and back to what caused me to start writing this article: the historic event of PETA’s unraveling of the very fabric of reality.  We’re talking sea kittens here.  That’s right: sea kittens – it was even featured on The Colbert Report.  PETA is now assaulting common sense and accurate labeling.  In an effort to get people to see fish as cuddly, cute, and above all – inedible, PETA has labeled all fish as “sea kittens”.

PETA definitely targets children to propagate their delusions.  They have a site dedicated to the indoctrination of the wee ones, and have now decided that the best way to breed the next generation of warped viewpoints is to start teaching children that fish are kittens.  Sounds like the tobacco companies, doesn’t it?  We might as well teach them that up is down, and that gravity makes us fly.  The solution to the problem of having the existence of viewpoints other than your own is simple – just tell them that there are no other viewpoints and oh, here, pet this slimy sea kitten.

To stave off a portion of the inevitable criticisms, and hopefully appeal to those who haven’t submitted entirely to PETA dogma, I reiterate: I like animals.  Pets are awesome, intelligent, loving creatures.  Animals, in any circumstance, should be treated as befits any living thing.  But…there are right ways and wrong ways to get a message across.  Shock value is inappropriate, defaming other people is inappropriate, indoctrinating children is inappropriate. PETA is, simply, inappropriate.