Generally speaking, mustn't rhinos think that rhino suffering is more important than vervet monkey suffering and vervet monkeys think that their suffering is more important than songbird suffering? I'd imagine so, for a monkey mother who must choose between rescuing her own baby or a squirrel baby from drowning would surely pluck the monkey baby from the water? Just so, humans who define themselves by religion or culture or nationality or skin color think that their suffering can never be compared, no matter how factually, with any other human or animal's suffering. To do so makes them feel belittled, reduced. But perhaps that's just our primitive biology crying out to protect and save our own kind, the more narrowly defined the better, and the rest be damned. I reject that.-Ingrid Newkirk, President and Co-Founder of PETA
As I have noted before, I am not a fan of PETA. I find them to be hypocritical, controversial, and they serve no real purpose for the advancement of animals rights, except to secure celebrity endorsements. If a person is swayed by what Pamela Anderson eats, so be it, but really how committed are folks to the lifestyle if being like Pamela Anderson is their ultimate goal?
PETA in the past has shown it's insensitivity to certain groups of people, but it is shocking how they continue to be insensitive over and over again, and then wonder why folks find them to be repulsive and offensive.
Comparing the horrors to factory farms to the death camps of the Holocaust, is wrong. We should know this. To objectify women for the sole purpose of showing the objectification of animals is wrong. Being cruel to interns to compare to the cruelty of animals is wrong. We know telling black people to get over slavery and comparing the practice of slavery to animal cruelty is wrong. Obviously PETA does not know this is wrong, and they continue to alienate people, and prove they have no actual interest in the rights of anyone or anything.
So now they have decided during Black History Month, it would be a great idea to dress up like the KKK in opposition to the AKC dog show. I am against the AKC dog show for many reasons, but the least of them is due to breeding of "master races" (or breeds) of dogs. The insensitivity that PETA once again displays in their attempt to expose the objectification of animals shows it is impossible for them to ever achieve their supposed goal of animal rights and liberation. If you can't show compassion to people, how can you do it for animals, and aside from those wooed by what diet celebrities consume, how do you get the general public to understand your true goal? You don't with their horrid shock factor campaigns. Yes, it gets people talking about you, but that is all they do, continue to talk about you. PETA has done nothing for animals rights or liberation in the last twenty years. They just continue to offend, and all that does is just distract from their supposed goal. It would be nice if they could show compassion to people, like they claim to do with animals.
PETA uses KKK imagery at dog show protest
PETA uses KKK imagery to protest dog pure-breeding outside Westminster Kennel Club show
• Rachel Cohen, AP Sports Writer
• Monday February 9, 2009, 3:17 pm EST
NEW YORK (AP) -- "Is this really the KKK?" somebody asked the woman in the white robe and the pointy hat.
Crowds gawked at a table set up outside Madison Square Garden on Monday afternoon, where People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals was protesting the start of the Westminster Kennel Club show. PETA contends that the American Kennel Club promotes pure-breeding of dogs that is harmful to their health.
"Welcome AKC Members," read a banner hanging from the table -- with AKC crossed out and KKK written above it. Two PETA protesters dressed as Ku Klux Klan members, while other volunteers handed out brochures that read: "The KKK and the AKC: BFF?"
"Obviously it's an uncomfortable comparison," PETA spokesman Michael McGraw said.
But the AKC is trying to create a "master race," he added. "It's a very apt comparison."
David Frei, spokesman for Westminster and TV host of coverage on NBC Universal's USA Network, said: "I can't speak for everyone, but the vast majority of the people exhibiting and handling and showing at Westminster are more interested in the health of dogs than anything else."
"We want to produce the next generation of healthy and happy dogs," he said, "not just for the show ring but for the couches at home."
Most passers-by seemed more puzzled than offended, though those who didn't stop walked away thinking they really had seen the KKK. The most common reaction was to pull out a cell phone and start snapping photos.
Police monitored the situation from nearby, but the scene was mostly calm. One shouting match broke out during the hour-long protest.
Earlier, a man strode away yelling, "That's disgusting! I'm going to buy more fur!"
Fatima Walden, who spotted the protest during a shopping trip, called the KKK imagery inappropriate no matter what the message.
"They could have used something else as an example," she said. "You should be considerate to everybody."
NBC Universal is 80 percent owned by General Electric Co.
AP National Writer Ben Walker contributed to this report.
27 comments:
About par for the course for an organization that made it practice to kidnap pets from people's yards and kill them so that they won't be 'slaves' to their 'masters' (sorry about that, I may not be remembering the story word for word, but you get the idea).
I think up here (CT), we've been fortunate enough not to have extensive dealings with PETa (beyond having them as charitable organization you can donate to through your paycheck as a state employee), and I think most people here stopped taking them seriously quite a while ago.
Publicity hounds are all they are, nothing more and nothing less.
And are easily dispatched in the chat rooms, for they espouse much of the same rhetoric that you posted examples of here today.
People with an excessive love for animals tend to look at humans with low regard. So its not surprising that they relate to animals better than humans. Their own inability to connect to humans is what makes them project humanity on animals and project animality on humans. They are twisted. And yes they are not far from hate groups. And should be looked at as such.
Next time you have a ranch owning person vying for high office, run from them.
The reason Tustsi's are hated so much is that they are traditionally cattle people. To them cattle are more valuable than other human beings of other groups. And if you see this behavior and witness how they historically dehumanised others, you will understand why the genocide happened. It doesn't make it right but if you dehumanize someone and don't completely destroy them, there is a price to pay.
Its a twisted thing when people put the value of an animal over that of a human.
In the process of improving animal rights they are attacking human rights. They shouldn't get away with it.
PETA is so whack in my opinion I don't know where to begin. I'm a vegan and anytime someone brings them ups in my presence or attempts to associate me with those straight-up nut jobs I always give my honest thoughts on how totally bizarre I really think that organization and its viewpoints are. I don't hate animals at all, but I would not ever put an animal's life before a human one. Let me see here - a dog or cat versus a baby? It's not a contest or even up for debate with me.
Stunts like this is why I've never been able to take PETA seriously. It’s partly because their philosophy is way to extreme for my tastes and partly because they are more focused gimmick than the message.
To be clear, I am totally against the mistreatment of animals (cruelty is a distinctly human flaw). However, this is not because I think that they "are people too" nor do I believe that they have the same rights as human beings. That's where my main beef with PETA lies, because their belief that Animals are equal to humans is the impetus for many of these outrageous campaigns. They believe that Animals are like humans, so stinging up beef is just like lynching a black man. Animals and humans are equal, so showing images of the holocaust next to images of livestock is not offensive to Jews. If white people wearing white robes with pointy hoods is racist, then so are dog shows that encourage breeding a master race (seriously?! SERIOUSLY!?). In my opinion, the reasoning is flawed and thus their demonstrations become offensive, and their message (be kind to animals, I think) gets lost in the ridiculousness.
There are plenty other animal rights groups out there that aren’t run by crazies (because lets be honest…that is what Ingrid Newkirk is) that I can support, than for me to give PETA more than a passing chuckle or the occasional SMH.
While I think animals should be treated humanely and with care, they are not equal to people.
Plants and trees are precious, but not as valuable as people.
PETS, Greenpeace, and others have a history and pattern of destoying livelihood's and harming people on behalf of vegitation and animals.
There is no justification for this.
WTF?! No PETA did *not* compare the atrocities of lynching black people and the Holocaust with animal cruelties!? PETA irks the ever-loving hell out of me. And I will not even address the side by side comparison of a black man on death row and a monkey...ok, yes I will. That's racist as hell. And the KKK thing shows an amazing lack of sensitivity and ignorance.
I'm so sick of PETA elevating animals above humans. I'm all for treating animals humanely, but PETA takes this crap waaaay too far. Ugh...I think PETA gives animal rights a horrible name and hurts their cause more than it helps.
peta put the "whore" in "media whore" and I'm a vegan. I can't stand those idiots at peta. They're a bunch of white liberal elitists who don't give a f@&k about anyone or any animals(I don't want to offend anyone here that is white).
There are hardly any good comparisons to slavery and the Holocaust and people make comparisons to them far too often. However, I'm prone to agree wit the ideas behind the philosphy of the founder of PETA.
Ingrid Newkirk, an atheist, adheres to the idea that humans are animals; we are part of a web of life, but not masters of that web. That idea flies in the face of the Christian ideal that God created the world for man and that animals are here for us to use. Instead she recognizes we have evolved from animals and they very much a part of us.
If you can't show compassion to people, how can you do it for animals, and aside from those wooed by what diet celebrities consume, how do you get the general public to understand your true goal?
That's one of the main problems I have with animal rights activists. I'm glad they have compassion for animals, but I can't understand some of the things they do. If you keep alienating people by comparing them to animals in any capacity, you're going to lose them. By the way, throwing paint on a person wearing fur is assault. I liken those types of tactics to people who bomb abortion clinics and shoot doctors because they consider them killers. (Hmmm, what's wrong with that logic there and did I just compare two unlike struggles for the sake of making a point?)
Ingrid Newkirk, an atheist, adheres to the idea that humans are animals; we are part of a web of life, but not masters of that web. That idea flies in the face of the Christian ideal that God created the world for man and that animals are here for us to use. Instead she recognizes we have evolved from animals and they very much a part of us.
I can't treat my doberbman or pitt like an equal in all things. I can't ask them how their day is and expect a word response, I can't expect them to know why it is gross to eat your own poop, I can't explain to them why they have to go to the vet, they just know it sucks when they go because it usually means shots. I tend to think of my animals like children, my goal is to make sure they are happy and take care of them, not exploit or harm them, Ingrid has a different belief of what is exploiting them than I do. Ingrid Newkirk takes her equality of animals too far, and her belief system to me goes beyond her slapping Christian ideals in the face:
If a girl gets sexual pleasure from riding a horse, does the horse suffer? If not, who cares? If you French kiss your dog and he or she thinks it’s great, is it wrong? We believe all exploitation and abuse is wrong. If it isn’t exploitation and abuse, it may not be wrong.
-Ingrid Newkirk
I tend to think of animals more like children, if we know they cannot think in the same manner as a human, what right do I or anyone else have to sex them up? That is molestation and exploitation, even if a animal or child "enjoys it". As she finds nothing wrong with exploiting animals sexually, she is perfectly ok with,but she is also for breed specific legislation that makes me cringe, and her reasoning even more cringe worthy, it tends to border on racist. She seems to be perfectly fine being raised with servants paid dismal wages while she grew up in New Dehli and defends her parents exploitation of humans, but animals she doesn't want exploited at all, except sexually. I guess she takes her mentor Peter Singer and everything he says as gospel, much like many of PETA's followers take everything she says as gospel.
I take my treatment of animal equality seriously, PETA doesn't. I don't think animals are beneath me, what I do think is that her love of animals has elevated above the love and common sense of people. To justify infanticide, to kill animals to "protect them" from possible future abuse, and to justify bestiality isn't animal rights to me, but that is PETA's actions when it comes to animal rights. I differ in my opinions of Newkirk and PETA on these actions. I don't love animals any less because I don't think it is fair to equate slavery with factory farming or the Holocaust.
bout par for the course for an organization that made it practice to kidnap pets from people's yards and kill them so that they won't be 'slaves' to their 'masters'
Yep I remember that vividly or the fact they went to NO KILL shelters to take dogs and cats to euthanize them because it in their minds it was wrong for a unwanted and unloved cat or dog to exist.
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People with an excessive love for animals tend to look at humans with low regard. So its not surprising that they relate to animals better than humans. Their own inability to connect to humans is what makes them project humanity on animals and project animality on humans.
I have what people call an excessive love for animals. I treat my animals like children, if I could successfully care for and adopt every animal I saw I would. Instead I volunteer, donate money to groups I find worthwhile. PETA is not one of those groups. I don't eat meat, I am working on my husband in trying to convince him I don't want my kids eating meat, that the only milk I want my child to have is my milk, not some cows, and I find it strange that humans are the only animals drinking milk from other animals. I find in this day and age with all the alternatives out there, there is no excuse not to go vegetarian, even lacto-ovo at best. Hell just pescatarian. My husband thinks I am a nut job, and I probably am for this mindset, but he like most of America has been raised with the belief that animals are for killing and that to eat meat is part of the natural food chain. I differ with that thinking, but I am not going to keep my husband from eating a steak, nor will I go around chastising and cursing out folks because they got a piece of fried chicken.
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I'm a vegan and anytime someone brings them ups in my presence or attempts to associate me with those straight-up nut jobs I always give my honest thoughts on how totally bizarre I really think that organization and its viewpoints are. I don't hate animals at all, but I would not ever put an animal's life before a human one. Let me see here - a dog or cat versus a baby? It's not a contest or even up for debate with me.
I hear ya sister on that one. Everyone always thinks I am pro PETA when they find out I have given up meat. I am not. PETA is what is wrong with animal rights, they have caused way more headaches than benefits to the cause.
To be clear, I am totally against the mistreatment of animals (cruelty is a distinctly human flaw). However, this is not because I think that they "are people too" nor do I believe that they have the same rights as human beings. That's where my main beef with PETA lies, because their belief that Animals are equal to humans is the impetus for many of these outrageous campaigns. They believe that Animals are like humans, so stinging up beef is just like lynching a black man.
I probably am guilty of feeling animals are equal to humans in the fact I don't believe they should be exploited, abused, or murdered for human benefit. I do however realize I can't equate an animal with a human in the same way. Animals show emotion, they do it differently than humans, they express themselves differently than humans, and I tend to treat them more like kids than adult humans. I want to protect them and I want to ensure that suffering for them is limited. I don't think animals should be killed because they are unloved. I think that we should focus on groups that actually do something aside from try to shock the public, like provide sanctuaries and non kill shelters that actually protect and care for unwanted animals. I do get offended when the comparisons of animals in factory farms are compared to the holocaust or slavery. At least in a factory farm (no matter how cruel the concept is) they at least have laws to protect the animals from suffering long term. That there are SUPPOSED to be laws and regulations put into place to ensure the animals are relatively healthy. Slavery and the holocaust didn't have that. It was straight up long term suffering and killing.
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I'm so sick of PETA elevating animals above humans. I'm all for treating animals humanely, but PETA takes this crap waaaay too far. Ugh...I think PETA gives animal rights a horrible name and hurts their cause more than it helps.
Exactly my belief system.
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peta put the "whore" in "media whore" and I'm a vegan. I can't stand those idiots at peta. They're a bunch of white liberal elitists who don't give a f@&k about anyone or any animals(I don't want to offend anyone here that is white).
I definitely agree.
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That's one of the main problems I have with animal rights activists. I'm glad they have compassion for animals, but I can't understand some of the things they do. If you keep alienating people by comparing them to animals in any capacity, you're going to lose them. By the way, throwing paint on a person wearing fur is assault.
Remember not all animal rights activist are PETA or the Animal Liberation Front. Some of us love animals, but we also love humanity.
C1, I can also understand some of the underpinnings of their beliefs although I do not agree with their conclusions or activities. That we are animals is undeniable fact. And denying that other animals have feelings or want to live just as much as we do because we like how they taste or look on our feet is just wrong. Usually people who care "too much" for animals are perfectly fine connecting with other humans and valuing human life. In fact, I think it's been demonstrated that it's often those who have no regard for animal lives and suffering who have a problem respecting human life.
100% correct. & I'm completely with what American Black Chick and brohammas say here also.
It's just disgusting what they are doing, and it completely and utterly undermines their cause. It makes me sick, frankly. No matter how much I might love animals, any humane person shouldn't want anything to do with this organization.
Beyond reprehensible.
PETA is all about self promotion. Their work does little to help the treatment of animals. They supported killing Michael Vicks pits while other Animal organizations took them in to rehibilitate them. PETA is an organization with no regard of how sexist,racist and elitist their campaigns seem. I'm vegan and respect those who do meaningful and compassionate outreach.
it's troubling that humans would show more compassion to animals than other humans. this behavior is not simply crude and offensive, it renders their void their attempt at making a point.
'stina
on Ingrid's ideas that animals are the same as humans knocks itself down at the knees. if all are animals than none should be exploited. none should be used to highlight the atrocities of another.
PETA should be pushing the idea that we are engaging in genocide: A genocide directed against our own planet. The widespread killing and extinction of animals species is part of the human assault on the earth. Instead of dressing up like the Klan, they should be educating folks on what happens when you disrupt the food chain and destroy ecosystems.
The problem with PETA is that they are not vocal on things that matter. They appear to be a little inconsistent about what bothers them.
Why aren't they up in Alaska fighting against Palin's policy of allowing hunters to shoot wolves and other wildlife from helicopters?
Why aren't they at meat processing plants screaming about the mistreatment of livestock?
There is alot of animal abuse out there, so I have no problem with an organization that protests against it. But, be consistent. Protest against it all.
Or what about men like Cheney who hunt birds for sport, or those who hunt endangered species from their computers?
If they want to be controversial, that's their right. Yes, there are some people who equate human suffering with animal suffering. They have the right to their opinions.
And yes, I am a hypocrite since I eat meat and wear leather. Oh well. I guess that's why I don't criticize Peta.
I just wanted to add that even though I'm a non-vegan (and an animal lover), I found this post and the comments to it, incredibly informative.
I'm not used to seeing rational responses by people in support of their particular viewpoint.
Thanks.
And to the poster who apologized for offending anyone who is white, for me personally, it takes an ungodly amount of something to offend me (except for the pics contained in this post), so I didn't take offense to your post.
That's why it is very hard for me to take PETA seriously. I'm starting to think that they are either mentally handicapped or they are just doing this for giggles. I cannot understand someone with that kind of mentality.
white liberal elitists who don't give a f@&k about anyone or any animals(I don't want to offend anyone here that is white).
There are quite a few loathsome liberal whites that I would like to personally kick out of the race.
PETA is an extremist group to me. They got my name from a mailing list when I was volunteering for an animal rescue group and they tried to recruit me. The materials they sent me just put me off for life. They are obviously all about getting your attention in the most outrageous fashion possible. Comparing slavery, the Holocaust or any kind of Genocide involving human beings is insane. I read stories about them breaking into labs and stealing animals so they would not be tortured in experiments, throwing paint on people who wear fur, etc. On some level, it's great to be passionate about a cause, but it makes no sense to go to any lengths necessary to show people that you are serious about what you are doing. I love my cats, but if they ever attack my children, It would break my heart, but I'd have to give them away.
I have a hard time listening to someone who used to go to work early to euthanize adoptable animals at shelter, all the while eating raw meat out of her hand, seriously when they talk about the mistreatment of animals. Ingrid Newkirk is a sick individual.
I have a hard time listening to a person who is diabetic, but keeps using insulin of porcine origin all the while railing against animals in medical testing, production, and the like because her life is more important to the cause of helping other animals. I forget the woman's name, but she's high up in peta and shown on Penn and Teller's Bullshit.
I have a hard time listening to an organization that provides defense funds for individuals who are charged with blowing up people's cars in their driveways because of where they work or spiking trees in an attempt to injure those who work outdoors. It also scares me that they would use these same people, once out of jail, as "educators" on tours of public schools.
I have a hard time listening to anyone that can't act directly in a positive manner. Attacking people in fur or at rodeos does not make me care. Suing a soccer organization for having milk as its official drink (under the pretense that it is discriminatory toward ethnic groups with a high percentage of lactose-intolerant individuals) or pushing for "humane" laws in CA as a backdoor attempt to drive up the production price of poultry to drive down meat consumption and put people out of business does not make me listen.
Anyone that turns a dietary preference in to a militant political platform is suspect.
I wrote PETA a nice little letter and had my cousin and friends revoke their memberships. Nothing shows displeasure like taking money out of an organizations pocket. I suggest you all write as well.
http://www.rhapsody.com/player?type=track&id=tra.2007453&remote=false&page=&pageregion=&guid=&from=&hasrhapx=false&__pcode=
and that's all i have to say about that.
AAAwwww Zek. I love that song. My first concert ever was the Violent Femmes
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