In defense of PETA

[Guest guest]

Hi Everybody,

 

Years ago I was at a wedding and I was talking about animal rights, and someone brought up this crazy notion to me that PETA actually kills animals, I was dumbfounded.

 

Anyway, the hate group spreading this information is a front group for the smoking, restaurant, alcohol, and fast food industry to discredit groups such as PETA, MADD, PCRM, and many others.

 

The main man in charge is Richard Berman who's own son calls him despicable among other things. I like to think that PETA is having a pretty substantial impact to need to have groups like this, but the information is often believed by those who may dislike PETA for whatever reasons.

 

http://sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_Consumer_Freedom

 

http://www.bermanexposed.org/

 

http://current.com/items/89754418_head-of-center-for-consumer-freedom-called-a-despicable-man-by-his-own-son.htm

 

http://www.ethicurean.com/2006/09/16/ccf-vs-ncifap/

 

http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=180 & page=C

 

http://blog.peta2.com/2009/03/why_we_euthanize.html

 

Have a great weekend,

Robert

[Guest guest]

On Aug 30, 2009, at 8:37 AM, Robert Anderson wrote:

 

> Years ago I was at a wedding and I was talking about animal rights,

> and someone brought up this crazy notion to me that PETA actually

> kills animals, I was dumbfounded.

>

> Anyway, the hate group spreading this information is a front group

> for the smoking, restaurant, alcohol, and fast food industry to

> discredit groups such as PETA, MADD, PCRM, and many others.

 

 

CCF is a deeply dishonest, right wing lobbyist group, and they should

never be trusted on anything. They're responsible for an enormous

amount of misinformation on everything from secondhand smoke to drunk

driving to global warming pollution. How anyone can look themselves in

the mirror after spending the day fighting to repeal drunk driving

laws is beyond me.

 

All that said, the problem here is that there's a fairly large kernel

of truth to CCF's " PETA Kills Animals " meme. PETA actively euthanizes

animals, and they make no secret about it. They even defend the

practice:

 

http://www.peta.org/MC/factsheet_display.asp?ID=39

http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-peta-defends-euthanization-of-sick\

-injured-animals

 

They've also had problems with PETA employees getting charged with

animal cruelty for dumping animals in a garbage bin:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8255324

 

Finally, we have Ingrid Newkirk, in her own words, defending the idea

of eradicating pitbulls:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/06/08/EDGDLD4G1S1.DTL & t\

ype=printable

 

Let me make my own position clear. I believe in dignity with death,

which means euthanasia. I also believe that PETA is correct in

opposing breeding of any kind.

 

However, PETA has completely mishandled the " PETA Kills Animals "

smear, and they've made an unrecoverable PR error by not caring

sufficiently about cats and dogs. I understand PETA's position on the

issue, that they're a shelter of last resort, but they've failed to

understand the difference between *being* right on an issue and

*appearing* right on an issue. On top of it, they actually do kill a

lot of animals, and some of their own employees have faced criminal

charges for it.

 

PETA has a permanent credibility problem because of this. While people

tend to be somewhat indifferent towards animal rights issues, the idea

of cats and dogs getting hurt or killed pulls their heartstrings in a

way that no slaughterhouse video could ever touch. For whatever

reason, PETA seems to disregard this (or they'll give it lip service

before going on to pound the table that they're right and everyone

else is wrong) which only leaves the public less interested in

anything they have to say about anything.

 

As they say in politics, if you're explaining, you're losing. And over

the last few years, PETA seems to do a lot more explaining.