Posted on 06/22/2002 12:15:55 PM PDT by Drew68
In the midst of public policy debates about serious issues, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has not been wholly useless. It has often provided comic relief. For example, their recent protest of a game of cow patty bingo as a carnival fundraiser for women's athletic teams at Florida Southern College. Squares on a grid on Barnet Field were sold to contestants, with the winner determined by the spot where Bessie planted a cow patty. Amy Rhodes, a PETA cruelty caseworker, complained that this event and the laughter of people viewing it were an assault on the cow's dignity.
PETA regards the practice of humans keeping pets as the equivalent of slavery. PETA disapproves of fur and leather clothing, and certainly opposes the consumption of animals for human nourishment at MacDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Red Lobster, or Morton's.
No reasonable people condone animal cruelty. But we still make distinctions between animals and humans - and between animals and other animals. We employ some species to our use. We love our pets because they're domesticated, loyal and cute. We hate vermin like rats, locusts, mosquitoes and cockroaches because they're disease carrying, destructive, annoying and not cute. We do our best to eradicate harmful viruses and bacteria, while cultivating useful microorganisms.
We do these things because most rational people recognize that humans, by virtue of their superior intellect or, perhaps, spirituality, sit on top of the food chain. PETA zealots are neither rational nor reasonable. They tend toward self-indulgent, moral exhibitionism, and they're intolerant of the dissent of the majority.
In a debate a few years ago, I implored Ingrid Newkirk, PETA's founder and fanatic-in-chief, to concede that it wasn't unethical for me to swat a mosquito sucking the blood out of my arm. She wouldn't.
Animals don't have rights, only people do. But people accord animals certain protections - up to a point. Going well beyond simple kindness to animals, PETA has embraced the ridiculous notion of animal liberation. Cows, chicken and pigs would be emancipated to roam free and form their own societies. I believe George Orwell meant "Animal Farm" as a metaphor. If it weren't for their utility to humans, these animals wouldn't have been bred in the first place.
Once content to conduct silly demonstrations and acts of intimidation and petty vandalism, PETA has grown increasingly radical, providing financial aid and comfort to individuals and groups involved in ecoterrorism; groups like the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front, which the FBI reports have been involved in more than 600 attacks, causing more than $43 million in damage since 1996. PETA's tax-exempt status presumes that it operates exclusively for the charitable purpose of prevention of cruelty to animals. A recent congressional hearing, chaired by Rep. Scott McInnis of Colorado, looked into revoking that status. Taxpayers shouldn't be subsidizing this bunch.
With an annual budget of $17 million, PETA can't be dismissed as a menagerie of harmless kooks. Consider the recorded comments of their spokesman, Bruce Friedrich at the "Animal Rights 2001" conference, July 3, 2001:
"If these animals do have the same right to be free from pain and suffering at our hands, then, of course, we're going to be, as a movement, blowing stuff up and smashing windows. For the record, I don't do this stuff but I do advocate it. I think it's a great way to bring about animal liberation. And considering the level of the atrocity and the level of the suffering, I think it would be a great thing if all of these fast-food outlets, and these slaughterhouses, and these laboratories, and the banks that fund them exploded tomorrow (applause). I think it's perfectly appropriate for people to take bricks and toss them through the windows. And, you know, everything else along the line. Hallelujah to the people who are willing to do it."
I'd like to drop a nothingnew-pie on her head...
FMCDH
ROFLMAO. literally.
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