Now, I'd very much like to believe that everyone can keep a civil tone in a serious discussion, even though I am absolutely certain that this will turn into a debate of some sort. However, I'm not quite that naïve, so I'm going to ask again that everyone please try to remain calm while talking in here and also state that I will personally lock the thread and let it at the very least cool off for a day before opening it back up again if anybody gets out of hand.
I'd also like to add something else. If you had something in mind to post after just seeing the thread title, please don't post it. If you saw a message forming in your mind, whatever that message may have been, before even clicking on the link and waiting for the thread to open, I implore you to discard it immediately. One of the absolute worst contributors to a raging argument is impulsivity. Regardless of how calm or level-headed you may feel or you may think your message is, please think it through carefully before posting. Impulsive posts can cause equal or even greater damage than aggressive posts that were carefully thought out, and are an almost certain recipe for disaster.
With that stated, I'll get on with the real business.
I'd like to state my position. I was raised alongside the family dog, my parents having acquired a German Shepherd puppy roughly a year before they "acquired" me. The dog quickly took up the role as a third guardian, seeking to keep me safe and cared for at all times, such as watching over me when I was an infant and getting my mother from the garden just as I was waking up (a behavior he picked up by himself). I developed an incredibly strong bond with this dog, and I have ever since had a certain connection and affinity with most animals, although I am of course most at home around dogs.
I was raised a pescetarian, avoiding land-based meats primarily because of health reasons regarding commercial farming in the meat industry. I also spent most of my life lactose intolerant like my mother, so I was brought up accustomed to cow's milk alternatives like soy, rice, and almond products (although there was very little that could keep any of us away from goat or sheep cheeses, which even now after having grown out of my intolerance I still regard as utterly superior to cow cheese).
By all accounts, I should be a strong and proud supporter of groups like PeTA and Greenpeace. But even though I strongly believe in proper care of animals (I hesitate to use the word "humane"), I am absolutely opposed to most of the animal rights groups I am aware of.
I consider PeTA to be a very bad joke, one that an unfortunately small number of people seem to have gotten. Every demonstration or release I've seen related to them has given me the impression that they are insane, delusional, and far more dangerous than people give them credit for.
Through connections on Facebook, I have learned quite a bit more about some of the people I know than I previously thought. For instance, I now know that a number of them are staunch supporters of PeTA. Some I regard as lost causes, utterly swayed by the 'animals are people too' doctrine spread by misguided animal rights organizations like PeTA. But a few I know to be otherwise intelligent individuals who simply aren't aware of PeTA's insanity, and support them out of a misinformed hope that they're actually helping to fix a real problem.
I've seen the outstanding reports of PeTA's unclaimed animal euthanasia, but I remember hearing a long time ago some comments about the many shock videos that they release, claiming that some were faked by PeTA itself.
Considering their other acts, I would not be entirely surprised to find that PeTA had in fact filmed the brutal torture of a few animals "for the good of the cause". But however likely or unlikely it may be, I refuse to believe in it until I can see some sort of verification for those claims.
Attempting to find any information on the subject is proving difficult, however. Maybe I'm just searching in the wrong places with the wrong tools, but in searching Google all the terms I used resulted in hits coming either from PeTA itself, or from the opposite bias of sites funded by meat and fur companies. Either nobody ever reads professional news sources and so just push the hits way down through the pages and out of sight, or PeTA isn't regarded as particularly newsworthy and as such isn't extensively covered by the (somewhat) independent media.
I think a large problem is just how nobody really pays attention to PeTA. Some new flip comes out and everybody laughs at the silly vegans, and then they go back to whatever it was they were doing beforehand. Nobody seems to consider the truly insane levels of support this organization receives, both in funds and in people, and what they can and are doing with those resources.
As it stands, I don't think PeTA is helping anybody. Through their antics and frankly absurd views, they make a mockery of the organizations that actually are trying to do something about animal treatment. And through sheer force of power and people, they impede important research efforts and the people who use animals but don't treat them poorly. The only group that PeTA doesn't hurt in some way is PeTA.
Maybe I've just been reading all the wrong sources. Maybe all the things I've heard about PeTA are fabrications themselves. But everything I've read in support of PeTA has been on a level of such freakish and absurd idiocy that I have a very hard time believing that they are actually a respectable organization.
Regardless of how respectable they may be, if there is any substantial proof to these claims of PeTA abusing animals to enforce their message, I would very much like to see it. I feel that it would be an incredibly powerful call to reason, and would help me try to fight the madness surrounding the radical views and supporters of PeTA.
I apologize for any offense taken from this post. I did not intend for it to be inflammatory, and I see no sense in inciting anger or hurt in anyone. I just feel very strongly about this issue, and I don't know how better to express myself.
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Topic: PeTA (Read 23210 times)