I am finding it is hard to write an opening paragraph so I will just dive right in on this. I am a PETA member. I think animals should have a right to live natural lives, happy lives, and healthy lives. This does not, however, mean that I have to agree with everything they say and do (and I find it hard to agree lately).
I can agree easily with their reasoning behind the major campaigns: animals suffering in fur farms, promoting spaying and neutering of pets, promoting a healthy vegetarian/vegan diet, etc etc. What I cannot agree with is their methods. Should animals have to suffer so that you can wear fur when we have perfectly good faux fur? I think not (especially since I have had the pleasure of living with chinchillas, animals that are used for fur). Should the animals be treated the way that they are? I think not. Should people spay and neuter their pets? Absolutely. Should everyone recognize that they are eating flesh? Maybe. Should they at least consider how consuming the meat means that animals will have to be slaughtered in sometimes ineffective and cruel ways? Yes.
I do NOT agree with their more recent campaigns. You cannot compare the animals being slaughtered for food to a holocaust. To me it is almost mocking the actual holocausts. An older campaign put images of slaughtered cows on happy-meal boxes. Why? This will only prove to be disturbing and turn parents against their cause. Calling the mistreatment of the animals in the industries where the animal is the product genocide is wrong. Again, it makes a mockery of any real genocide. It is called animal cruelty. Plain and simple. If these poor animals were protected under the laws that every other animal is, than they would not need to suffer as they do. THIS should be the primary objective of PETA. Focus on getting the laws changed, and educating the public in a more passive way.
Shock is always a good way to grab peoples attention, but all that it does sometimes is add fuel to the fire and turn those people who really couldn't care ( and I cannot imagine why) even further away from their cause. They need to be more eloquent and careful with their wording. Protesting is effective, but not when you are pushing it in people’s faces. Please, PETA people, I am on your side, really I am, but these methods are no longer effective. We need to change our strategies. I still stand by PETA, because I believe that their underlying intentions are really good and their message is clear, but the way they are doing things now is just not working. They are the reason I became a vegetarian. One of the things that got me was you "If your cat tasted like chicken, would you eat her?" Seeing as I volunteered all weekends and most weekdays volunteering at a no-kill animal shelter for 3 years, I found this to be a valid point. If they went back more to these kinds of slogans, I think that people would be more responsive to them, and not despise them and everything they stand for.
Suporter of animal rights: A PETA person
By Leesanimevampire - Posted on September 1st, 2008
Tagged: Animal Rights
• animal welfare
I have long maintained similar feelings. I cringe whenever I hear someone say, "I'm a PETA member!" I always want to ask them if they realise what PETA really done for their cause. I'm quite grateful there is at least one person that is not a blind follower of PETA's way, no matter how good their intentions are.
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You can't ignore me, for I'll not lie down quietly.
http://insanitek.net
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Your philosophy is very sound. I've always been wary of protests and shock to get a point across, be it for animal rights, abortion, or what have you. Activism is so much more effective in contacting those in power, like a local senator, rather than disturbing people, and making your case known, and voting for those who are in tune with your philosophy.
Personally, I am not against animal rights, I just happen to find it of very little priority. Once the number of homeless and domestic abuse shelters outnumber animal shelters, unlike the case now, I would have more focus. I find, though, that humane treatment of animals leads to more efficient businesses in terms of product quality, and health of the consumers. In these times, I, and may others, could put my support in that.
In terms of PETA, though, my immediate mistrust lies in their hypocrisy and apathy for other people. They euthanize many of the animals they "save," and condemn medical testing that ultimately saves other people. This, though, I fear is rampant within the leadership. Perhaps it's time for a new, more focused group that rallies for animal rights, rather than redeveloping that which has been corrupted. This may save those from the challenge of avoiding the PETA constructs that those of us on the outside have developed.
I can honestly say that sometimes euthinasia is the only course of action in some cases. I have seen puppies die of mange that was oozing puss and so bloody that their cages were covered in it, dogs you cannot even touch because they are so agressive, and cats that just stop eating and had to be put down. I do not agree with their ideas on euthinesia, especialy seeing as how their was little hope for these animals to ever recover from the abuse they sufffered. The shelter that I volunteered at for over 4 years was a no-kill shelter, but had to put down a couple of animals becasue there was just no hope of recovery.
Faith is like a glass of water. When you're young, the glass is small, and it's easy to fill up. But the older you get, the bigger the glass gets, and the same amount of liquid doesn't fill it anymore. Periodically, the glass has to be refilled.
-Dogma
I think a lot of people don't realize what it actually means to be a "no-kill" shelter. I think most people look at it and think that a shelter won't euthanize any animal for any reason, when in fact, it generally means that they won't euthanize animals just because they've been in the shelter for too long or there's no room left.
If an animal is in such a bad condition that it can't even touch anything without bleeding or being in extreme pain and there's no chance that the animal will be healthy again (such as, like you mentioned, with mange), then it is better to put them down ("mercy kill" as it's often known as). Or if an animal has been so abused that it can't be rehabilitated, then it, too, would be better off being put down.
It seems cruel and heartless to a lot of people, but in reality, which is worse - a life of pain and suffering, or being released from that? I think even those that do have to be euthanized are thankful for the time before that because they've been taken out of the situation they were in and were under the care of people that actually cared for them and wanted to help them, instead of suffering a slow, painful, lonely death.
I am treated as evil by people who claim that they are being oppressed because they are not allowed to force me to practice what they do. ~D. Dale Gulledge
exactly.
Faith is like a glass of water. When you're young, the glass is small, and it's easy to fill up. But the older you get, the bigger the glass gets, and the same amount of liquid doesn't fill it anymore. Periodically, the glass has to be refilled.
-Dogma
If your cat tasted like chicken, would you eat her?
That's an interesting thought, actually. As one who believes that nature can at times be far more cruel than even humans, I first thought that I would if it came down to either doing that or starving. Then I thought that cats don't have much meat to them, so one wouldn't last long anyway, and if I was at the point of eating Kitty or starving, Kitty wouldn't buy me much time and I'd end up starving anyway.
There is, however, a difference between having a creature companion and food (at least, in my opinion). You've created a bond with your companion that one doesn't typically have with a creature that's seen as food (even if it is of the same species). So, would I kill my pet for food? Probably not. Would I eat it if it died of other causes if the conditions called for it (and the cause was not one that would also harm me)? Probably.
Whenever someone talks about how cruel it is simply to kill a creature for food (this is different from the factory farms, which I'll address in a moment; this is in regards to the ones that are against killing animals in general), I generally point out the hunting habits of various wild creatures, my favorite of which being that of the Komodo Dragon, though Hyenas, when they find live prey, comes a close second. For one, the Komodo Dragon kills by poisoning their victim's blood with bacteria. A single bite from a Dragon will take down prey the size of an elk...after about three days. As for the Hyenas, well, they'll eat it even if it hasn't died yet. Compared to those, as well as a number of other creatures, it makes us look like a bunch of Care Bears.
Now, like I mentioned, I am against the inhumane methods of factory farms, where the animals spend their entire lives in their own feces and the feces of their neighboring animals, and where they basically eat the discarded remains of other animals. Animals are not meant, nor do they deserve, to be penned up to the point that they can't move, and pumped full of hormones to grow more muscle mass, faster, than they're able to really handle.
So, advice I give to everyone, even vegetarians, is this -- know where your food comes from. If you eat meat, find local farms where the animals are raised on vegetarian diets and are free to roam and be raised naturally. For vegetarians, try to find sources that don't use a ton of chemical fertilizers and bug sprays and whatnot. That stuff gets into the plants themselves (not just sitting on top of them) and can build up in your system just like the chemicals used to raise animals for food.
Is being a meat eater pretty? Not really. However, if you think about it, you take life whether you eat meat or not. Plants are still alive, even fruits and nuts have the potential for life. Just because they don't have eyes or fur or feet, it doesn't mean that there's no life. Would you eat your Venus Fly Trap, your Aloe plant, or your African Violet if it tasted like a salad?
I agree with the other commentors, though, it's good to see someone that isn't just a blind follower, and has their own views on the matter. Perhaps you and others like you should start a new group that does it right?
I am treated as evil by people who claim that they are being oppressed because they are not allowed to force me to practice what they do. ~D. Dale Gulledge
I was actualy thinking about starting one up later on, but I don't think that anyone would suport is so much. I detest the way factory farmed animals are treated, as objects rather than living creatures. I think it takes a desperate or cruel person to work in a factory farm and treat them in that way.
Faith is like a glass of water. When you're young, the glass is small, and it's easy to fill up. But the older you get, the bigger the glass gets, and the same amount of liquid doesn't fill it anymore. Periodically, the glass has to be refilled.
-Dogma
People Eating Tasty Animals
My ancestors didn't claw their way to the top of the food chain so that I would be forced to live on like an ungulate. Our digestive systems were not designed for it.
But each to their own.
I think most of what PETA does is absolutely ridiculous and totally ineffective. They mainly exist to earn a nice living for their executives courtesy of the feeble minded who give them money.
But I do like their protests that involve pretty naked women.
But being on the top of the food chain means that we have more of a choice in what we eat and what goes into its production than other animals.
Faith is like a glass of water. When you're young, the glass is small, and it's easy to fill up. But the older you get, the bigger the glass gets, and the same amount of liquid doesn't fill it anymore. Periodically, the glass has to be refilled.
-Dogma
As far as what we eat...not as much of a choice as you might think. We still need certain nutrients and if we don't get them, we suffer for it. At this point, however, we do have a lot more choice in how we get those nutrients. On the same token, we're still slaves to how our bodies most effectively absorb nutrients.
Iron, for example, is best absorbed from animal sources than plant sources (25% vs 10%) and is more abundant in animal sources (venison has the most iron). Vitamin B12 comes almost exclusively from animal sources, as well. On the other hand, one of the best sources of calcium is actually vegetables. And Vitamin C, of course, comes best from fruits.
I am treated as evil by people who claim that they are being oppressed because they are not allowed to force me to practice what they do. ~D. Dale Gulledge