Why I don't care for PETA...
... but do support many measures that provide for the punishment of those who mistreat animals.
The activist organization calling themselves the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals was founded in 1980 with the absolutist-sounding premise that "PETA operates under the simple principle that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment."
In the 25 years since then PETA operatives have thrown blood onto celebrities wearing fur, raided medical laboratories working to produce new medicines, and waged a war-like advertising campaign (featuring such well respected intellectuals as Pam Anderson) against large scale, factory style, chicken farming. The've even advanced the notion that "fish are people, too." Their emotional response to the suffering of innocent creatures is touching, even admirable. But their contempt for the human animals who hold differing views is without bounds.
Philosophical differences about such matters as 'natural order' and the 'prescence of a soul' aside, there is only one issue that makes PETA unpalatable to me: PETA not only wants to abandon Earth to the animals and live on planet Vegan (how else could we avoid eating, wearing, experimenting on, and exploiting animals?), they want to round up and re-educate anyone who doesn't agree. That's their notion of morality. They're right, we're wrong with no provision for discussion.
Like many others, my favorite range of cable channels includes TLC, The Discovery Channel, Natioal Geographic, A&E, and Animal Planet. I'm addicted to documentary shows and some of the best produced are nature programs. I grew up with Wild Kingdom, so there it is. (Blame Mutual of Omaha.)
I absolutely adore Animal Cops and Animal Precinct. The officers featured on these two shows display a concern for abused animals that often goes beyond what they can find words for. They frequently shed tears, flail their arms in grief, shake their heads at the atrocities they investigate.
But what really impresses me is the way these men and women in uniform never, never complain about budget constraints, light penalties for offenders, or the maddeningly slow grind of the justice system. They are true servants of their comunities. They aren't activists, they simply act.
I belive PETA could learn a thing or two from these officers.
Lesson # one - PETA activists do not have a monopoly on caring.
The activist organization calling themselves the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals was founded in 1980 with the absolutist-sounding premise that "PETA operates under the simple principle that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment."
In the 25 years since then PETA operatives have thrown blood onto celebrities wearing fur, raided medical laboratories working to produce new medicines, and waged a war-like advertising campaign (featuring such well respected intellectuals as Pam Anderson) against large scale, factory style, chicken farming. The've even advanced the notion that "fish are people, too." Their emotional response to the suffering of innocent creatures is touching, even admirable. But their contempt for the human animals who hold differing views is without bounds.
Philosophical differences about such matters as 'natural order' and the 'prescence of a soul' aside, there is only one issue that makes PETA unpalatable to me: PETA not only wants to abandon Earth to the animals and live on planet Vegan (how else could we avoid eating, wearing, experimenting on, and exploiting animals?), they want to round up and re-educate anyone who doesn't agree. That's their notion of morality. They're right, we're wrong with no provision for discussion.
Like many others, my favorite range of cable channels includes TLC, The Discovery Channel, Natioal Geographic, A&E, and Animal Planet. I'm addicted to documentary shows and some of the best produced are nature programs. I grew up with Wild Kingdom, so there it is. (Blame Mutual of Omaha.)
I absolutely adore Animal Cops and Animal Precinct. The officers featured on these two shows display a concern for abused animals that often goes beyond what they can find words for. They frequently shed tears, flail their arms in grief, shake their heads at the atrocities they investigate.
But what really impresses me is the way these men and women in uniform never, never complain about budget constraints, light penalties for offenders, or the maddeningly slow grind of the justice system. They are true servants of their comunities. They aren't activists, they simply act.
I belive PETA could learn a thing or two from these officers.
Lesson # one - PETA activists do not have a monopoly on caring.