How Do You Solve a Problem Like PETA?
What do you do when your child acts up in front of friends and family, just to get attention? Giving them the attention they crave will reward the behavior, but ignoring the child is a silent approval and may escalate the behavior. It's a tough call.
What do you do when an animal rights group, over and over again, pulls offensive publicity stunts, allegedly in the name of animal rights? We cannot sit by silently and implicitly give this behavior our approval. But publicly blasting the stunt is exactly what they want, and will encourage similar stunts in the future.
In case you're unaware of PETA's latest publicity grab, which is offensive to women as well as whales, you can read about it from Stephanie Ernst at Change.org. And here is a story from a local news outlet.
And no, saying that you're doing it for the animals is not an excuse. We cannot oppress and ridicule one group to help another. And in this case, their stunt is also an insult to whales. I believe that language is important, and we should not call people "whales" or "snakes" or "pigs" as an insult. The animals are too often maligned without animal advocates contributing to the notion that certain animals are inherently objectionable.
I do believe in encouraging good behavior, and PETA has certainly done great things in the past, like undercover videos of cruelty at Ringling Brothers, a turkey farm and a fur farm. They even know how to pull off a goofy publicity stunt that is not offensive.
I initially decided against blogging about this, because expressing outrage would encourage this type of behavior. The armchair child psychologist in me told not to reward the behavior with the desired result. But neither could I remain silent. So I have another solution.
Stop giving PETA your money. There are other organizations that promote veganism, conduct undercover investigations, and promote an animal rights ethic. And if you're a current or recent PETA member, tell them why you will no longer send them your money.
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Sorry Doris,I’m a member of Peta and will always support them,aye there are times they go to the extreme but there are times when they must,tis all I have to say!
My mom asked me just the other day what motivates PETA, and why they don’t work collectively with animal welfare groups and others working earnestly through public education and our legal system. Personally, I think their role is to agitate, to push the envelope to the extreme so as to frame the issues in a totally new way.
I haven’t been a member of PETA since my college years and refuse to defend them to my non-animal rights peers, but PETA really was the first group that drew my attention to animal testing, animals in entertainment, and other issues. While I wouldn’t give them my money, I do believe there’s a place on the continuum for legal, albeit offensive, tactics.
I think you need to lighten up on PETA. They have enough PR problems from the general public. They are an animal rights group.
How do you solve a problem like our Peta?
How do you make those irksome activist go away?
When they’re caging all the dogs
When they’re drowning all the frogs
What do you do with our Peta?
How do you solve a problem when you’re crying?
What’s the purpose of eating when you’re dead?
Oh they’re feeding all the bovines crap
Oh the blood flows here & back
What do you do with our Peta?
I really wish there was a decent answer
It’d be really really nice if someone spoke their heart
& while Peta knows the truth
they act like bloody brutes
What do you do with our Peta?
Thank you for the thoughtful blog post. It is a shame that PETA resorts to the “any publicity is good” motto, especially when it puts someone else down in the name of animal advocacy. Ultimately, I think this turns more people away from helping, which is a shame.
Geez, lighten up Doris! PETA does more for animal rights than ANY other group worldwide. If they have to shock and awe to get attention, so be it. They do not have the big funds to combat the meat and dairy false advertising. They must do
shock and awe to be heard or seen. And, hey, just maybe some big fat slob will see themselves for what they are…all because they are eating animals!
PETA gets more publicity by doing ads such as the whale person. More people think, hmmm, they could be talking about me! I do not want to be ridiculed, so maybe I had better see how not to be so fat!
Doris, spend your time and effort on helping PETA! Not on critique!
Please do not support this murderous group of hypocrites. PeTA kills thousands of innocent, healthy, friendly animals at its facility in Norfolk, VA every year. They make no effort whatsoever to place or adopt these animals to loving homes. There is a reason Ingrid is known as the Butcher of Norfolk.
I’m a long-time animal activist, advocate & rescuer. I’ve been veg for 25+ yrs. I used to respect & admire PeTA. PeTA has done a lot of good for animals but they harm the movement in many ways.
I cannot forgive PeTA for KILLING helpless animals. They can’t save animals with one hand & kill them with the other. How is it they think other people/animal experimenters/slaughterhouse workers/fur trappers, etc etc should not kill animals but it’s ok for PeTA to kill them? They must be nuts to think that no one would notice this hypocrisy & not find it patently ridiculous.
For PeTA to claim these animals were ALL beyond rehabilitation & death was the only humane option is also an insult to the intelligence of anyone in rescue & anyone who’s found a hungry stray or rescued an abused animal. Actually, to any reasonable person.
They’ve become quite insane & it’s sickening that they’re trying to have it both ways. They seem to believe death is preferable than living under the dominion of humans, even as a cherished pet. The 2 morally bankrupt PeTA employees who killed all those animal in NC & dumped them – those cats & dogs were totally adoptable, many were puppies. Plus, they LIED to the owners who surrendered the animals, assuring them they’d find good homes for them. Minutes later they were mercilessly killed.
PeTA called for the killing of the Vick dogs (as did the HSUS) & disparaged Best Friends (who took 22 of the dogs & successfully cared for & rehabbed some) a “so-called sanctuary”. They’ve clearly never been there & are totally opposed to the wonderful life-saving work BF & rescues/sanctuaries do.
See http://www.peta.org/about/numbers.asp for PeTA’s financial report. “Total Operating Expenses – $30,959,406″″ – I *THINK* they can afford to house, rehabilitate & adopt out most of the 3000+/- animals they kill each year. They could start with a http://www.petfinder.com account, which is free.
It’s hard to comprehend that PeTA only adopted out 8 dogs & 2 cats in an entire year. And that their kill rate is HIGHER than the average U.S. kill shelter – it’s a disgrace that an ANIMAL RIGHTS ORGANIZATION with their resources has a higher kill rate than average. It’s just unacceptable.
If a small fry like me can save animals on a shoe string budget, like MANY people & rescues do, there’s no reason why PeTA can’t do it. Several horribly-run high-kill shelters have been turned around & gone no kill very successfully. All it takes is commitment to saving animals (duh!). PeTA needs to get with the No Kill movement pronto – see http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org and http://www.tinyurl.com/2dzsys .
Plus, PeTA is OPPOSED to TNR & prefers that all feral cats be KILLED. They also consistently call for the death of pit-bulls & rescued fighting dogs.
I’m aware of all the PeTA-hating groups & have seen their sites. They hate PeTA for the wrong reasons. I still haven’t found the right word for how I feel about PeTA. Betrayed, shocked, disgusted, horrified, repulsed, insulted, outraged, baffled… They need to clean up their act pronto & become a PRO-ANIMAL ORGANIZATION, & less media clowns, if they want to salvage their credibility & truly help animals.
Just a few thoughts!
I became an animal rights activist when I was 14 through PETA. I first learned about animal rights through them. I do agree that some of their tactics is to the extreme, but they do make people think. Has anyone heard the latest controversy about them? That they want to kill all pitbulls and that PETA doesnt rescue animals, instead they kill them because they cant found homes for them.
Peta is doing a great job at getting a message heard that most people do not want to hear. I wonder how many hits their website received after they put up the billboard. Sorry that people were so offended, but I am more sorry that people continue to partake in the horrible cruelty of the animal industry, and stuffing themselves with animal corpses that are causing them to be obese.
Go Peta! I will continue to send all money I can spare to Peta, the most effective animal rights group in the world.
PETA sucks.
I’m all for shocking publicity stunts, peaceful civil disobedience, and other actions that lead to media coverage.
I understand that PETA pulls publicity stunts in order to generate media coverage and attention for important issues. But they can do publicity stunts without offending women or people of color.
Disrupting a fashion show with fur? Yes! Dressing up as a bloody Col. Sanders with a knife and beheaded fake chicken at a protest in front of KFC? Yes! Dressing up as the KKK or ridiculing overweight women? No.
Lea, yes, there is a controversy about PETA killing almost every animal who comes into their shelter. And they support bans on pit bulls, which just about every other animal protection organization opposes.
I think that Peta harms animal rights movement by being disrespectful to others and inconsistent in their campaigns. I personally don’t want to be associated with that group any more, I don’t think that they are about Animal Rights, I think they are about Peta domination, no matter what.
They hate their critics and sue animal rights organizations like Friends of Animals, whom I discovered after Peta so viciously attacked them. FoA is not afraid to promote only veganism and not improvement of exploitation (like peta does not to loose support of animal product consumers), FoA rescues lots of animals and provides free neuter and spay clinic, instead of aggressive promotion of euthanasia (what peta does).
I was Peta’s supporter for a while and then I got sick and tired of their inconsistency: “here we kill and insist that others do the same – here we say killing is bad; here we praise these fur wearers (working with peta on other campaigns) and there we condemn those fur wearers,…” They keep sending mixed and often opposite messages. How it can be good for the animals.
I am glad that I finally realized that there are people who does consistent and honest work for the animals, I support them, not peta.
For all of you that still support PETA, well, that’s your perogative, however, please do a little research. I admit, they are good for getting attention to their cause and many people became animal advocates because of them. However, I can’t (and neither can many other people) align myself with an organization so tied up in hypocrisy. I won’t bother going over the details, i think it’s something everyone has to discover for themselves, but please, at least look into it so you understand those of us who are simply disgusted by PETA. Each of us has several things that bothers us about PETA but their stance on BSL burns me the most.