really, when i see images like this, i can't help but think about anti-abortion protesters waving around pictures of your dead baby. and i think it's pretty highly offensive to 'disgust' someone into agreeing with you.

as far as i can tell, PETA is just kind of a well-meaning peice of shit.  i’ve been thinking on and sort of tinkering with writing about PETA for a while, months, even, but eventually, i just came to the conclusion that other people have said everything i want to say much more effectively, and that you should read some of the things these other people have to say.  and, yeah, clicking on links and reading twenty different articles can be kind of annoying, but really, i think talking about, or reading about, this kind of stuff is pretty worthwhile.  so just shut yer gob and do it.  you’ll thank me later.  probably.    

~~~~~    

PETA and breed specific legislation, whatwhat!:    

 http://www.workingpitbull.com/truthaboutpeta.htm    

 “People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals can easily be defined as radical. Instead of working to educate people to their ideas, they try in various ways to force their personal opinions upon the public. They do this through shock tactics such as assaulting people or businesses which have different ideas or practices from their own extreme beliefs.  While their actions may bring attention to their ideas, they create a hostile attitude toward legitimate animal welfare work.”    

 http://www.realpitbull.com/peta.html    

 (ingrid newkirk, in the article accessible through the above link, applauds the breed ban on pit bulls in specific areas.  what’s my problem with this?  first of all, breed bans on one breed and one breed only?  that’s discrimination.  it’s cool to breed labs but not pits?  no fuckin’ way.  second of all, you are treating a symptom and not the cause – you think a breed ban is going to stop the assholes who fight these dogs in the first place?  ’cause banning dog fighting totally stopped that shit, and now banning breeding will most certainly keep people from breeding these dogs in their backyards… give me a fuckin’ break.  third… banning shit, in my opinion, is sort of fascist.  not a fan of telling people what to do over here.)    

 ~~~~~    

 these here links are articles about PETA and feminism (and, yeah, i mostly think PETA is pretty fuckin’ anti-feminist):    

 http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2008/03/fuck_you_peta    

 http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/feminists-vs-peta/Content?oid=1609061    

 “As PETA President Ingrid Newkirk prepared to speak at Powell’s Books on Tuesday, August 18, a dozen Portland feminists were crouched on the sidewalk a block away, drawing up large protest signs. The loosely knit Portland Feminist Action League organized the “flash protest” via the internet, criticizing PETA for its ‘sexist and offensive’ animal rights campaigns. PETA’s protests have featured nude women in cages, and most recently, the organization produced a billboard that pictured a fat woman in a bikini that read, ‘Save the whales! Lose the blubber. Go vegetarian.’    

 ‘A lot of us are vegan and vegetarian and actually support what PETA is trying to do,’ explained protest organizer Erin Fairchild as she finished writing out a sign reading, ‘PETA can kiss my big fat vegetarian ass!’    

 ‘We’d just like them to stop relying on sexism to get their message across,’ Fairchild added.”    

     

how is it than anyone might think this isn't highly offensive??? "hey look, fattie, stop eating meat and you won't be such a fat piece of shit, because people who are 'fat' are pieces of shit!' thanks, PETA. i almost forgot i've been subconsciously struggling with body image issues most of my life because i don't look like pamela anderson or kate moss. i needed a reminder.

 http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/4/2/2/2/pages242225/p2422251.php “…we examine two advertisements produced by the international nonprofit organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).   One of the advertisements is a billboard intended to promote vegetarianism and the other a print ad encouraging an end to seal hunting in Canada. Using these images as  examples, we will investigate and demonstrate how a rejection of feminism actually bolsters the oppression of animals and subverts these campaigns.  Broadly, we argue that an AR campaign that does not embrace the eradication of all forms of oppression cannot achieve its goals.”  

  ~~~~~  

 now, let us consider:  is PETA racist?  me thinks they may indeed be kinda racist.   if not racist, than at least really fucking culturally insensitive to the point of being absurdly ignorant given the fact that they are such a ‘radical’ organization.  here’s some stuff about all that:  

 http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/02/10/peta-racism-goes-into-overload/  

 http://blog.elizabethkateswitaj.net/2009/02/peta-racism-and-eugenics/  

     

http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2005/08/peta_wrong_but_.html 

“It’s callous to think that you can use racially charged images without opening wounds, even if you’re using them to make a non-racist argument. Perhaps PETA is being racist for pulling the earlier Holocaust campaign but refusing to pull the Slavery campaign. If PETA cares less about the feelings of lynching survivors like Dr. Cameron than it does about those of Holocaust survivors, that’s racist. However, it may be that PETA pulled the first ad because its opponents raised a bigger backlash. PETA deserves to be criticized for being insensitive, and inept, but not for being racist.”  

  

 http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2005/08/so-you-were-almost-lynched-big-deal.html  

 ~~~~~  

 yeah, so, i’m not a fan of PETA.  after looking through some of this stuff, are you?