PETA promotes sensitivity but ignores human suffering

By Kristen Hoverman

The Collegian

I was driving to school Thursday morning, following an old station wagon. When I reached a stoplight I looked at its license plate and read the cover. In bold italicized letters it read, “I love animals, they are tasty.”

As a vegetarian and avid animal lover I was disturbed by the message I read, although at that particular moment it was amusing.

Humor aside, there is cruelty in this world that simply cannot be made fun of, especially when the victims, like animals, cannot defend themselves.

On the other hand many people are turned off to the idea of better treatment of animals. Because of this, animal rights organizations have made educating the public a goal and priority. But when activists, like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, militantly force its views on people, that goal backfires.

Don’t get me wrong, PETA is dedicated to establishing and protecting the rights of all animals and believes animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on or use for entertainment.

PETA has held successful rallies protesting the enslavement of animals in four environments where they are repeatedly forced to live in for long periods of time: on factory farms, in laboratories, in the clothing trade and the entertainment industry.

Despite all the good it has done, PETA has gained a reputation of being a judgmental organization that pushes animal lovers away by the strong-arm tactics it uses. PETA gives other animal rights organizations a bad name.

“Being an animal lover myself,” said human physiology senior Vanessa Tucker, “I believe PETA’s tactics and its message alienate people.”

PETA activists have demonstrated in the past by dressing up as cows and standing in front of schools telling children milk is rape.

“They are too militant and violent,” Tucker said. “One of the biggest things PETA messed up on is in comparing animals living on farms to Holocaust survivors.

“That’s not a parallel that can be drawn,” she said. “It was totally wrong of them to bring that up and it bothered me a lot.”

PETA has taken its offensive tactics even farther with its latest exhibit, “Animal Liberation,” which compares animals with African-American slaves, lynching victims and turn-of-the-century sweatshop workers.

“That’s kind of harsh,” said Cheri Mitchem, Humane Education director of the SPCA. “[In that exhibit] they show some really rough things.

“Any of the PETA stuff that I read really breaks my heart,” Mitchem said. “We get animals coming in to the shelter with embedded collars, with fleas and ticks so bad you just want to choke somebody.

Animals give unconditional love, humans don’t. It’s really hard to see the things that we see people doing to animals.”

Although PETA activists spend a lot of time showing videos and passing out pamphlets asking people to become more sensitive to the innocence of thousands of enslaved animals, their abrasive demonstrations prove they lack sensitivity for human rights.

The Internet has numerous anti-PETA Web sites, showing public disapproval of PETA’s approach.

By forcing the issue down people’s throats with offensive billboards and literature, PETA continues to alienate people from its cause.

Watching its discriminatory practices, in the name of animal kindness, is enough to make any animal lover frustrated.

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