Sometimes there are no words
PETA manages to outdo itself. Un-fucking-believable.
Related: Quick Hit: PETA's Ad Banned from the Super Bowl
PETA: Cause objectifying women never gets old
When you thought PETA couldn't get worse.
PETA does it again
Same old shit from PETA
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Oh. My. Fucking. God.
I usually half-heartedly mentally defend PETA--I don't like most of the things they do, but they're the main proponent for the cause I believe in most, so I feel a bit obligated--but this is just... words cannot express.
How could they possibly think this is OK? Are they some kind of animal rights poe? WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE THEY THINKING!?
*explodes from sheer amazement*
Activists need to read the stories of successful movements in history, like of the abolitionist and the suffrage movements.
They should begin with the life of Abbey Kelly, by Dorothy Sterling.
People who have a lot to say about animal rights, humane treatment and our food, who don't even grow a garden do not have my respect. I think the animal rights and humane treatment of animals people need to put their money all together, and buy a huge farm, and each one raise a whole diet for at least 10 other people, and then ask them to give up meat, milk and eggs. Until they do that, so far as I'm concerned, they are just blowing a lot of hot air and stirring up trouble.
Ugh, what a horrible show. They in no way represent me nor other animal lovers I know.
I urge all my fellow animal rights friends to please throw your support behind the Humane Society, http://www.hsus.org/.
They help to bring about positive change for animals without resorting to sexist, over-the-top, sensationalist crap.
I'm sorry, but this is a false and harmful statement. The HSUS has almost identical goals to PETA. They work closely together, and although the HSUS has a less extreme front, they are no better. Please support your local shelters and rescues, NOT this organization. They do next to nothing to help animals.
Can you link to a source, please? If this is true, I agree that it's cause for alarm, but I don't like to operate on hearsay.
Sure thing. I think (hope?) that Sofipanda is mistaking the Humane Society of the United States for American Humane or the ASPCA, both of which are organizations that focus on animal welfare - not animal rights. (More on that later.)
The HSUS does not operate any animal shelters, nor do they contribute any significant portion of their (sizeable) income to such causes. Although $30-some million was donated to them specifically to help animals displaced and injured during hurricane Katrina, little of that money was actually spent on helping animals, as many volunteers during the cleanup can attest to. (Several of my family members and friends included.)
Here are several secondary sources that describe the relationship between the HSUS and PETA (as well as other terrorist organizations, such as the Animal Liberation Front (ALF)).
http://www.consumerfreedom.com/article_detail.cfm/article/183
http://www.arbreptiles.com/extremists.shtml
http://www.louisvillepetlovers.com/hsus_peta.html
http://www.corn-utopia.com/Corn%20Utopia%20on%20the%20Web/-%20LURKING%20ENEMY%20Cornutopia%20corn%20snakes%20cornsnakes.htm
http://www.dogpolitics.com/my_weblog/2007/08/this-is-molly-l.html
For the record, I am an animal lover. I was raised vegan, and although I now eat some meat and dairy for health reasons, I do so sparingly, and I am privileged enough to be able to choose my animal products from cruelty-free sources. I have a horse that I adore, and I foster dogs for a local rescue. I love animals. But I hate animal rights. Animal rights organizations believe that it is WRONG for humans to have any contact with animals. Having a pet is slavery. Even important services that animals can provide at no cost to themselves (such as guide dogs) are "slaves" in their minds. Even the happiest, best cared for carriage horse is being cruelly exploited. Not only that, but they believe that domesticated animals that cannot survive in the wild should simply be eradicated. This, to me, does not show any compassion towards animals, simply hatred.
Animal welfare organizations, on the other hand, believe that animals should be treated with dignity and respect. They lobby for more humane slaughter techniques and living conditions for livestock, they support no-kill animal shelters, and they petition to impose harsh penalties on animal abuse. IMO, the animal welfare movement is a great cause that I wholeheartedly support, but I simply cannot get behind its more sinister cousin, the animal rights movement.
I'm vegetarian out of ethical and spiritual reasons, but I don't support Peta precisely because of antics like this. That and I don't think you ought to treat women like meat to encourage others to stop eating meat. It's a shame, too, because Peta does do some good things, but they're overshadowed by offensive and outrageous stunts like this. I support a few other animal rights orgs that are effective and do good things sans sensationalism -- Compassion Over Killing, Mercy for Animals, and Farm Sanctuary.
Publicity stunts like these are best dealt with by... oh I don't know, not giving them publicity. Peta uses sexist ('provocative' in their words), racist, and otherwise horrifying stunts to garner media attention. So why are we giving them exactly what they want every other week on feministing?
I'm a vegetarian and an animal rights supporter, but I've lost all respect for PETA because of the way the objectify women in their ad campaigns. This stunt, however, leaves me speechless. I realize that PETA is trying to bring attention to their cause, but this is beyond tasteless.
I urge people to complain to PETA about their sexist and racist campaigns. You can write to PETA at : People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, 501 Front Street, Norfolk, VA 23510. Also, you can submit a comment via web form at their website, http://www.peta.org/about/c-contact.asp
Because we can't in good conscience just let that go. Sorry, we just can't.
Thanks, folks for the links to other animal rights orgs - it's much appreciated!
I doubted you. I didn't think they could out-do their previous idiocy. I was wrong.
Wow. Apparently jokes likening black people to animals never get old to racists. Yeah, lynching African-Americans is JUST LIKE canine inbreeding.
Thanks for letting me know, PETA.
I can only imagine what it's like to be African-American and see that.
"Blind to one's privilege" doesn't even come close to describing PETA. These people are fucking comatose.
I don't know, I'm willing to bet they know exactly what's so assholeish about this and yet do it anyways. Knowing PETA's M.O., If they didn't know it was so terrible, why would they do it?
Apparently jokes likening black people to animals never get old to racists.
And taking offense at any suggestion that humans are like animals in any way (let alone that humans are animals - which they are; mammals, specifically) never gets old to speciecists. I am disgusted by what PETA is doing, but the real issue here is that they are unscrupulously exploiting history to provoke charged emotional reactions when they could be highlighting things humans have in common with many non-human animals, like intelligence and empathy, for instance.
I am not taking offense at the idea that humans are a kind of animal; that, after all, is true. I'm taking offense because PETA is either not cognizant of or is simply ignoring, or, even worse, outright exploiting a long-running racist idea: that black people are lower than whites, and should be/can be/are actually being treated as badly as animals are treated.
Surely you've heard about people (historically and now) calling African-Americans monkeys and dogs? And treating them, literally, as workhorses? Saying a black person who has been called an animal and treated as an animal by racists is absolutely not the same thing as saying humans in general are a species of animal. It's racism, not speciesism, but PETA can't see the difference, or it does and refuses to acknowledge it.
Recognizing speciesism but not racism in this context is indeed being extremely blind to one's privilege. If PETA can see one form really clearly, but for some reason the other flies right over their heads, it's fair to say they have some things they need to tune into and examine.
Saying a black person who has been called an animal and treated as an animal by racists is absolutely not the same thing as saying humans in general are a species of animal.
I think you might have left something out of this sentence, so I'm a little bit confused about what you mean, but I'm not really seeing any evidence in this isolated incident that PETA doesn't recognize racism as a form of oppression. I also read your first comment as suggesting that you don't see much of a problem with animal exploitation or treatment, so I'm sorry if I misinterpreted it.
Anyway, isn't it the whole point of the demonstration, to show that the AKC treats dogs as means to their end, which is similar to the way white supremacists have treated black people in the past or want to treat them now (and that most people see how the latter is wrong, but not the former)? This, of course, would suggest that PETA does recognize racism as a form of oppression, even if they are not doing anything to address it. I don't think you can chalk their behavior up to racism. They are equal opportunity offenders. As has been mentioned before, they have exploited the killings of white people, as well.
There was a post about this yesterday on a vegan forum, and most felt that on this issue (and on the go-naked campaign as well) PETA didn't represent their interests.
I know a fair amount of vegans who are thoroughly skeeved that PETA's giving them such a bad name.
WTF.
PETA's Middle East Peace Plan unveiled this month:
"...[PETA] has requested Israel's permission to post pro-vegetarian signs on both sides of its barriers with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
PETA's signs are in Hebrew and in English. They feature Israelis and Palestinians sitting down for a meat-free meal...
'Every time that we eat, we can choose not to participate in violence,' PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk wrote Wednesday in a letter..."
(http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jRiwW4sOe93zyZe-w1t22Rj_WoZAD965090G0)
Anyone up for some kabobs?
In addition to everything else silly about that, were they not able to find an Arabic translator?
Another good animal rights group, other than the ones mentioned, is Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. http://pcrm.org/
I don't like cruelty against animals, but PETA is completely wrong, both in their approach and what they protest. Take a good look at the agenda that they try to push. They'd be happy if nobody owned a pet. They sicken me, frankly. As someone who is going to school to train Assistance Dogs, it makes me sick some of the things want to do.
If you want, support Greenpeace. Support your local shelter. The Hellen Woodward Animal Center. ADI the place in Northern California that does research to help dogs help people. But PLEASE don't support these whackos. Okay? Please? I don't understand how they get so much good press. People just don't realize how extreme this group is.
Oh yes, and fuck you PETA, for dressing up as KKK members. Obviously that would not freak anyone out or offend anyone. *rolls eys*
Sometimes, I wonder if PETA is actually part of the meat industry or something. Every single one of their ad campaigns is terribly and offensive. No one likes them. People say that they eat meat to spite PETA. PETA is undermining its own cause.
How do they think these ads will be effective? People will look at the AKC and go, oh, they're dog racists? Bringing the KKK into this is like Godwinning an argument. Once you've made ludicrous a comparison, no one's listening anymore.
i'm beginning to think that pETA is secretly funded by the meat industry to make vegetarians look like crazy sexist racist fools.
Renee did a fantastic post on this yesterday which is very much worth a read (I did one too, FWIW, but hers is outstanding).
PETA doesn't just trivialize organized violence -- they trivialize specific victims of violence too.
They tried to exploit the Pickton Farm killings. Then, barely a week after a young man's decapitation murder, PETA tried to co-opt that, too.
It's just as well that they're driving people away, mind you. If they got more money they'd just use it to kill more animals.
I watched the recent documentary on Ingrid Newkirk last year. In it, she said that she and Peta feels that bad publicity is better than no publicity. I don't agree with that sentiment nor with Peta's antics, but I better understood where she is coming from and why Peta does the things they do.
I'm yet another vegetarian who hates PETA (for being hypocrites about meds that use animal testing and for killing the animals they "rescue", among other things). I also think they are exploiting historical events and personal tragedies (like the beheading of Tim McLean) in an extremely obnoxious manner. However, I can relate to at least the fundamental idea they are trying to convey. The fact that someone in the comment section has already taken offense at "jokes likening black people to animals" speaks volumes and reflects exactly the type of mentality PETA is purporting to combat (however ineffectively). Black people are animals, as are all humans.
I think comparing speciesism to racism or breeding for traits to eugenics could be effective if done in a less controversial way, but someone is inevitably going to take offense. I can't help but think of fundies demanding that whoever compares homophobia to racism apologize to black people because being compared to homosexuals is presumably offensive. The fact that people continue to think of the word animal as an insult shows not only ignorance and denial of their own biological nature, but also the deeply rooted disregard society has for non-human animals.
I am not taking offense at the idea that humans are a kind of animal; that, after all, is true. I'm taking offense because PETA is either not cognizant of or is simply ignoring, or, even worse, outright exploiting a long-running racist idea: that black people are lower than whites, and should be/can be/are actually being treated as badly as animals are treated.
Surely you've heard about people (historically and now) calling African-Americans monkeys and dogs? And treating them, literally, as workhorses? Saying a black person who has been called an animal and treated as an animal by racists is absolutely not the same thing as saying humans in general are a species of animal. It's racism, not speciesism, but PETA can't see the difference, or it does and refuses to acknowledge it.
Recognizing speciesism but not racism in this context is indeed being extremely blind to one's privilege. If PETA can see one form of oppression really clearly, but for some reason the other flies right over their heads, it's fair to say they have some things they need to tune into and examine.
Many thanks to the posters who suggested ethical, dignified animal rights organizations to support instead of PETA. Also, a warm thank you to Elianne and Shifter Cat for their articles on PETA's increasingly offensive and bizarre antics.
When I reflected on PETA's sexist and racist antics over the years, I thought to myself, "It's as if PETA actually WANTS people to hate them!" When I read Hoolisa's theory that PETA is accepting meat industry money to give the animal rights movement a bad name, however, I took pause. I've got to admit -- Hoolisa's theory answers a lot of nagging questions!
Just another reason to donate to the Humane Society or the ASPCA.