PETA at Westminster

[Starchamberfall]

My family has been directly targeted by PETA. Not nice.

I knew someone once who was a white supremacist, and who thought it would be good to divide the USA in half, with all the white people living on one side. Aside from that, he was like everyone else. Being run into by PETA and their tactics reminded me of him.

 

[Xerus]

Lately, I've been thinking about how some activists always seem to be angry about almost everything. Like how they call hamburger eaters evil. Or when someone has a birthday cake, they scold them for eating a dairy product. Or when someone watches a cartoon or reads a comic book, they tell them that their entertainment comes at the cost of poor cut down innocent trees who did nothing to them.

It's like the only time they're happy is when they find a reason to protest against something.

 

[frogboy4]

To be a true supporter of PETA you have to follow their motto "Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment."

This means a vegan diet that not only excludes eating meat, chicken or fish, but also cheese, butter, eggs, milk and honey! Think of that the next time you eat a piece of bread or nibble on a cookie.

This means fur is out, of course, but also leather goods for belts, shoes, jackets and they even frown on faux fur.

This means no dousing rabbits in toxic perfume to make it safe and that's a good thing, but it also limits scientific research to cure HIV, cancer and even nixes the use of eggs to culture our yearly Flu shots!

This means no circus animals. The circus has a patchy past concerning cruelty to animals, but PETA won't support animals appearing on stage or screen unless part of a nature documentary.

They even go so far as to claim that we don't (and shouldn't legally) own our pets!

I'm for the ethical treatment of animals, but PETA has never truly stood for just that. They'll converse with the middle-ground elements, yet that is not their true agenda.

I don't eat animals, I don't hunt, I don't wear fur, I don't purchase animal-tested cosmetics and I don't support the mistreatment of animals for the sake of entertainment. That's a lot more than most people do, but I don't frown on them. It's my choice. However, I will eat honey and cookies, I will wear my shoes and leather jacket, I will get a flu shot if it's particularly viral that year, I will support all sorts of AIDS and Cancer research and I'll watch programs with animals in them if they're good.

That's just my two cents. People wonder about my issues with PETA and so I've articulated them. There will always be extreme activists and that's okay as long as they don't infringe on the rights of other human beings. It's about moderation for me.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I will get a flu shot if it's particularly viral that year, I will support all sorts of AIDS and Cancer research and I'll watch programs with animals in them if they're good. There will always be extreme activists and that's okay as long as they don't infringe on the rights of other human beings. It's about moderation for me.

I think PETA is a good example of why an extreme opinion can sometimes become a problem. Life is complicated and you can't always look at issues from one point of view.

That's why our country shouldn't be just conservative, OR just liberal. We need to have both because both are right on different issues.

 

[frogboy4]

I think PETA is a good example of why an extreme opinion can sometimes become a problem. Life is complicated and you can't always look at issues from one point of view.

That's why our country shouldn't be just conservative, OR just liberal. We need to have both because both are right on different issues.

[like]

I'm just not much of a "joiner" but I do agree with a lot of PETA just like I agree with many conservative and liberal ideas. Both parties get hijacked by their fringe elements.

Ultimately it's about thoughtful balance and -real- equality and respect for human beings even if they think differently from the majority. Too much of the world is about "winning" rather than accepting one another and keeping our hands to ourselves rather than tinkering in the lives (and rights) of others.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I'm just not much of a "joiner"

Yeah me neither, lol.

What I don't like about PETA is their business model of doing shocking things just to gain attention for their cause. I don't believe that "any attention is better than no attention." I think there are a lot of people who would be willing to listen to what PETA has to say, but are turned off by their bizarre and pointless publicity stunts.

I'm not saying PETA needs to become all boring and conform. But if they want to be an influential organization that actually contributes to a cause (as opposed to just an angry mob), they need to inspire people outside of their group to want to join them.

 

[frogboy4]

Yeah me neither, lol.

What I don't like about PETA is their business model of doing shocking things just to gain attention for their cause. I don't believe that "any attention is better than no attention." I think there are a lot of people who would be willing to listen to what PETA has to say, but are turned off by their bizarre and pointless publicity stunts.

I'm not saying PETA needs to become all boring and conform. But if they want to be an influential organization that actually contributes to a cause (as opposed to just an angry mob), they need to inspire people outside of their group to want to join them.

True, and remember that we can always support our local animal rescue organizations.

 

[Drtooth]

I think PETA is a good example of why an extreme opinion can sometimes become a problem. Life is complicated and you can't always look at issues from one point of view.

That's why our country shouldn't be just conservative, OR just liberal. We need to have both because both are right on different issues.

Extremism does nothing but breed opposing extremism, and all extremism does is eliminate ANY middle ground or common ground 2 sides can share. The annoying moral majority came out of the annoying hippies. I don't think there's a better metaphor for that. That way, people are forced to take sides, and ignore ANYTHING the other side says that may actually have a point. That's why so many people hate the idea of protecting the environment even at a bare minimum... the Tree Hugging Captain Planet environmentalists ruined their own cause.

I'm surprised a group that goes around slaughtering animals for no good reason didn't come up as an antithesis of PETA. And as I said, you lose all credibility when you go after video game companies for digital recreations of what other people actually eat, Football teams to change their names to bend them to their will, and worst of all, considering human milk ice cream... again, health class.

Speaking of health class.... aren't eggs essentially... well... you know... they're unfertilized and all. So basically it's waste anyway. And milk? Don't cows get huge cramps if they aren't milked routinely? Sheep need to be sheared to. I don't see why products that come off an animal while it's still alive are so bad, but that's just me. That's what animals are best at, giving us the stuff they don't want while they're still alive. Our veggies and fruits grow with stuff animals REALLY don't want.

 

[frogboy4]

Extremism does nothing but breed opposing extremism, and all extremism does is eliminate ANY middle ground or common ground 2 sides can share. The annoying moral majority came out of the annoying hippies. I don't think there's a better metaphor for that. That way, people are forced to take sides, and ignore ANYTHING the other side says that may actually have a point. That's why so many people hate the idea of protecting the environment even at a bare minimum... the Tree Hugging Captain Planet environmentalists ruined their own cause.

I'm surprised a group that goes around slaughtering animals for no good reason didn't come up as an antithesis of PETA. And as I said, you lose all credibility when you go after video game companies for digital recreations of what other people actually eat, Football teams to change their names to bend them to their will, and worst of all, considering human milk ice cream... again, health class.

Speaking of health class.... aren't eggs essentially... well... you know... they're unfertilized and all. So basically it's waste anyway. And milk? Don't cows get huge cramps if they aren't milked routinely? Sheep need to be sheared to. I don't see why products that come off an animal while it's still alive are so bad, but that's just me. That's what animals are best at, giving us the stuff they don't want while they're still alive. Our veggies and fruits grow with stuff animals REALLY don't want.

LOL on the last sentence. The rest of it, well vegans and PETA folk (not me) will tell you that the milk and dairy industries have helped to create that very problem and that just because animals produce things doesn't mean it's for us to consume just like the way that poisonous things grow organically in nature that we are not to consume. I get their point, but cheese is yummy!

 

[CensoredAlso]

I'm reminded of early Sesame Street's slightly dubious claim of "The cow makes milk for her baby, the calf. But she makes much more milk than her baby can drink." And of course that extra milk is clearly made for us! Lol