Why I Hate PETA

I'm an animal lover. I was a vegetarian for seven years. I try to buy animal-friendly cosmetics and "certified humane" meat. I buy organic when I can (Not that that necessarily means anything, but that's another post. Get me drunk -- I love to ramble on about the loopholes of organic labeling while drunk. It's why I'm such a big hit at parties). I generally consider myself a responsible shopper.

I also know a lot of people who are vegetarian and/or vegan (and most of them hate PETA as well, it's worth mentioning). They are, by and large, people who care about the Earth, and are more connected to it than the rest of us. More importantly, though, they're generally people who care about other people. They do volunteer work. They're into new age crap. They're nice people.

PETA is not nice. PETA is exploitative. They exploit women, for one. I jokingly refer to PETA as "People For the Unethical Treatment of Women." See the ad above. Why is Alicia Silverstone naked? Can someone explain that to me? Much like Scientology, it pains me when I find out that a celebrity I like is involved with PETA. It's why Bill Maher and I would never work as a couple.

Speaking of Bill Maher, he had Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder and president of PETA on his show last week. Her message? IF YOU EAT MEAT YOU ARE KILLING THE ENVIRONMENT. Now, while the cattle industry is a large, horrible industry that is, in fact, hurting the environment in myriad ways, not everyone that eats meat is eating the products of the industry. Again, it comes down to responsible shopping, at least until we have a government that actually puts some regulations (and enforces them) on large industries like beef.

And let's look at some of PETA's campaigns, shall we?

Holocaust On Your Plate:

The goal of PETA's ad, which is funded by a Jewish philanthropist, is to stimulate contemplation of how the victimization of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and others characterized as "life unworthy of life" during the Holocaust parallels the way that modern society justifies the abuse and slaughter of animals. Just as the Nazis tried to debase Jews—by forcing them to live in filthy, crowded conditions; tearing children away from their mothers; and killing them in assembly-line fashion—innocent, intelligent, and feeling beings of other species are, in today's concentration camp-like factory farms, stripped of all that is enjoyable and natural to them and treated as nothing more than meat-, egg-, and milk-producing "machines."

Are Animals the New Slaves?

The PETA campaign shows images of black people in shackles juxtaposed with chained elephants, and a black civil rights protestor being beaten at a lunch counter beside a photo of a seal hunt. The group even went so far as to show a graphic photo of a lynch mob surrounding two black bodies that were hanged in a tree next to a picture of a cow hanging in a slaughterhouse.

Okay, so PETA has exploited the Holocaust, slavery, and women. Who's next? The gays? Oh wait, never mind. Is there anyone they're leaving out? It's a good thing they care so much about animals, because they sure don't give a shit about people.

Via Feministing