Young Activist Changes Name to Website (PETA Alert)

ASSOCIATED PRESS | 31 Jul 03 | MARTHA IRVINE

[SLB]

CHICAGO (AP) - She knew her new name might finally stick when she got a phone message recently: "Hi, GoVeg.com. This is your mother. Please call me."

It might sound more than a little odd - but it's true. A young animal rights activist from Indiana once known as Karin Robertson has legally changed her name to that of a Web site run by her employer, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

It's not a first name or a last name - just one name. And don't call her "Veg" or "Dot," as some have tried to do.

"I like the whole name together," says the 23-year-old woman who is a youth educator for PETA and living in Norfolk, Virginia, where the organization is based.

The point, she says, isn't necessarily to promote PETA, where her bosses were as surprised as anyone when she came to them with the idea this past spring.

She says she made the switch to get people talking about vegetarianism and animal rights wherever she pulls out her new driver's license - at the airport, the bank or anyplace else.

"People are really perplexed," she says. "They say, 'You've got to be joking.'"

They usually laugh - and so does she.

"Every time I go to the bank, the tellers will report back about vegetarian food they've tried," she says, gleefully.

Her decision to take on such an unusual name also offers a chance to talk about the treatment of animals on farms and in processing plants - a source of heated debate. For example, activists often criticize the conditions under which chickens are raised and slaughtered, but agriculture experts say the activists are simply choosing sentimentality over science and practicality.

Now those in the agriculture field are rolling their eyes over GoVeg.com's name change.

"It sounds like she needs to get a life," says Kara Flynn, a spokeswoman for the National Pork Producers Council, a lobbying group in Washington. "If she actually went on a farm and saw what was happening there, she might be pleasantly surprised."

The activist's mother, Melanie Robertson, says her daughter's name change has been difficult to get used to.

"My first comment was 'But your real name is so pretty. Why would you want to do that?'" says the kindergarten teacher.

GoVeg.com's father, Bob, regularly eats vegetarian food, too, since having triple bypass surgery two years ago. But when it comes to his daughter's name change, the fisheries biologist, who counts many hunters among his friends, is taking his share of ribbing.

"To us, she will always be Karin," her mother says. "But I think she has a good reason for doing what she's doing."

[SLB]

Now I have heard it all - or at least close to it.

[SLB]

Sheesh what a dim wit.

[CCCV]

veg...
seems pretty descriptive to me.

[pgyanke]

What's so strange about this?

Signed,
Ebay

[Libertina]

"To us, she will always be Karin," her mother says. "But I think she has a good reason for doing what she's doing."
The little vegetable doesn't fall far from the clump... these people have too much times on their hands.

[VRWCmember]

Maybe I'll change my name to DoubleMeatWhopperwithMayo.

[wasp69]

I heard this dunt interviewed on MANCOW the other morning and she is just what she sounds like; a stupid little girl who is trying to get attention.

[Tijeras_Slim]

"Momma, don't let your kids grow up to be legumes...."

[AppyPappy]

I hope erectiledisfunction.com is still available. That appears to be my email address.

[scab4faa]

I'll just stick with mine.. Whopper ;)

[CaptRon]

Yet more proof that these people are certifiable.

[Ruth A.]

Obviously PETA doesn't have the same lawsuit sensibilities as Spike Lee.

[Slings and Arrows]

Ping!

[Darksheare]

Is this like the guy who changed his name to, what was it, Trout Sniffing In America?
(Or was that Fishing?)

Well, anyway, it's the same stupidity and or mental disorder.
And I have NO clue why anyone would want to change their name to a stupid slogan.

[Ed Straker]

I'm not going to change my name to FreeRepublic.com.

[mhking]

Yeah, we talked about her having someone holding her beer about a week and a half ago...

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[BostonianRightist]

P eople
E ating
T asty
A nimals

[hchutch]

Seems nice, but I don't think the relatonship would not survive past the first time I ordered veal parmesan.

[r9etb]

GoVeg.com

[BostonianRightist]

it's like that Brit that wanted to change his name to "Gawd." it was rejected though.