So, how about that PETA, huh?

[Vern]

I'm not really concerned with inhumane treatment towards animals on farms because they're going to help my own species survive, and I can't see how they can call it inhumane, since that implies that these animals are humans in the first place. They're not, they are a resource like fruits and vegetables that we use.

See, reasoning like that I cannot understand. I really don't want to start with the emotional arguments, and this is something I rarely get into these days, but can you imagine your entire life (this is poultry I'm talking about here, living in battery farms) just being one confused, terrified, painful mess? I mean, from beginning to end.

That sort of things pricks my conscience a lot, and I cannot understand people who, knowing the full extent of it, feel nothing of that sort. Anyway, like I said previously, I am not a vegetarian, but it is this sort of thing that actually makes me consider cutting out poultry (since birds are apparently not benefited by the same animal welfare laws that larger animals usually are).

I am sorry that the only argument I can give is 'imagine how it must feel', but seriously... that should be good enough for anyone who actually takes the time to imagine it. I know it makes me sound like a total girl to say it, but I do not like to think of any living creature suffering like that.

I can understand the viewpoint. I'd rather not make animals suffer for my survival, my only complaint with slaughterhouses is that some employees like fucking with the animal for their own amusement. Basically torturing them, bashing the chickens head against concrete repeatedly, running into cows with forklifts. Kill them clean, and I don't have a problem with it. It may be where I grew up, but after you gut some fish, skin some deer, pluck some chickens, and realize just where your food comes from you stop getting this sentimental feeling about just how wonderful animals are and realize that their bodies are what sustains your existence.

 

[Agrael]

To me PETA is basically a legal-form of 'effing terrorists. Firebombing houses - they love animals more than humans. I mean, I am in favour of not hurting animals, and treating them properly (snip snip on your cats and dogs please) but I think that PETA is way over their heads.

 

[Player 2]

I love how everyone is claiming that P.E.T.A. are "extremists" sure some things go a little bit over the top but overall they are doing good for animals, some people seriously mistreat animals and P.E.T.A. are trying to help them. Its not a bad thing at all, Seal Clubbing why the fuck not do it at least humanely by shooting them.

P.E.T.A. do stand for a good cause, sometimes they are just a bit misunderstood.

No. They. Do. Not.

Not at all. They do not stand for a good cause.

They directly fund homegrown terrorism.

They have an animal euthanasia rate of over 70% yearly.

They openly support violent acts and protests (not peaceful).

There is nothing good about these people. At all. They do not want people to treat animals nicely. They don't want people to do ANYTHING to animals. They don't want them to help them if they are hurt, feed them if they are hungry, be near them if the animal wants them near, any pets at all, nadda. They are a vile and despicable organization. Nothing is good about them.

They aren't for the ethical treatment of animals.

I think you started making stuff up.

No pets? No feeding animals? Already people like you have contridicted yourselves. Another person here got upset because they were feeding animals thus upset the balance of the ecosystem.

Plus, leave your hate at the door and only answer with facts and not make-believe.

Nah, he wasn't making stuff up, that was from a Penn and Teller episode (although he forgot bits and got it a bit wrong) there's a link somewhere in the thread.

 

[Acaroid]

Did you not see the catastrophe that was The Sea Kitten Debacle! Not only are Peta ignorant they have been killing pets that were supposed to be looked after for years!
http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

They are amazingly idiotic. They claimed milk causes autism...Milk?...Autism! Thats not to mention all their ridiculous campaigns over the years!

Im very anti-milk and I think that milk should be taken out of any text as a needed food group, but only should be an optional one (cause it really is 100% optional, other than human milk for a baby of course)

Oh thats strange, you see, the whole country of sweden drinks milk regulary. We don't seem to have a problem with those kind of stuff. Milk, quite contrary to what people seem to believe, is actually pretty fucking healthful and contains loads of necessary vitamins and similair.

simply, cow milk, by design, is not meant for human consumption, so hence it is a choice to consume it. It should not be an essential part of any human diet, it is an OPTIONAL one.
End of discussion.

if you want to be a tool about things go ahead, but next time try and bring actual points to the conversation and I am sure that EVERYONE in Sweden drinks milk, that is an ignorant and miss-informed statement. Also swearing to try and make a point just makes you look like a bigot.

 

[Kazturkey]

I went to their website a while ago, I took a look in their forum.

Everyone knows cats are natural carnivores, correct? They can eat some veg but deep down they NEED meat.

I saw a post in which a PETA member was asking for help in FORCING HIS CAT TO EAT A VEGAN DIET. This is torture to a cat. They complain about cosmetics testing on them when often that leads to puffy skin and nothing else. The animals in these centers are well fed and kept from harm. PETA, on the other hand, withold from an animal its preferred food so it (and I quote) "Won't have to live at another creature's expense".

These people are monsters, or they are idiots. I personally have not decided which they are yet.

EDIT: Here is a link to the thread on their official forums with pages and pages of replies.
Especially read the replies of one "lurking_girl" and tell me these people are well balanced, intelligent individuals.

http://www.peta.org/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14092

 

[Ushario]

They bought an abandoned prison building (which was trying to be purchased by a group who would use it for a homeless shelter) and turned it into a Lobster Sanctuary, a museum all about how we torture lobsters. Fuck those guys.

Why? A lot of people still don't know how lobsters are cooked. It is horrible.

Boiled alive, just like the crabs I used to go and catch. Chuck em in the pot and have a beer while it cooks!

As you saw earlier in the thread PETA are a bunch of hypocritical extremist freaks, from those websites that were linked. I don't condone any of their campaigns or actions harrasing people.

Notice that the crazies only threw red paint on rich women wearing fur? Why not on the bikers wearing leather? They are a bunch of opportunistic bottom feeders.

 

[EisBaron]

Guess what I just found

http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

 

[dannyboi1236]

I do agree however that PETA are fanatics to their cause and extremists in behavious, but with goals like this, I can't see people here doing any more to better these goals

I hate PETA myself and it is mostly for this reason, i have no problem with them believing in what they want to but dont try and make me do it aswell.

 

[megatron2.0]

peta takes thing way to far.... one memeber changed his legal name to "kentuckyfriedcrultey.com"

 

[traceur_]

The thing I hate about them is their extremism, I wouldn't care if they went around spreading sunshine and happiness, I'd still hate them with every fibre of my being for being extremists.

 

[Borrowed Time]

Do I hate PETA? No, not really. I can't hate them, they're too fuzzy! Anyway...

1. One issue I have with them is the fanboy(girl)ism they attract. They attract a type of member that is in it for the "feel good" factor. These people have this warm, fuzzy feeling in the pit of their stomach when they think they're helping the poor animals. Yes, there's plenty of animals that need help, and the basis of their group is a good cause, but when you recruit mindless zombies of propoganda spewing zealots (kinda like religion 0_o) to hand out your propoganda, they're going to draw down some hate. Yes I realize this is rampant amongst many organizations, but that doesn't make it any less annoying for me.

2. The extremism just gets under my nipples. The destruction of private property irritates the crap out of me. I don't care how much money the individuals have or how much attention their going to get. It is wrong; end of story. You do not destroy other people's things. It is as much of a crime as the things they're trying to stop.

3. The insulin argument is actually a good one that you seem to play off with out giving any thought. My mother is type 1 diabetic. Here's some information on insulin in general as well as the current synthesis methods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recombinant_DNA#Synthetic_insulin_production_using_DNA

Oh my goodness! The poor bacteria plasmids! How could we not realize that they're using these horrible farms of bacteria to create insulin!? :cough: (tongue in cheek there) Many medical advances were first tested on animals to fine tune them for human consumption, if not derived directly from animals to begin with. If the members of PETA are so quick to demand a stop to animal testing, why not go straight to human testing? I have an idea! They can submit themselves first! That's how they can stop animal testing! :cough: Nature itself uses it's own genetic testing day to day. Natural selection anyone? The animal that has the best genetic code for it's environment is determined to be the dominant one. As far as I'm concerned, we're just helping it along. =P Which leads to my next point.

4. If they're really concerned about humans meddling with the lives of animals for their detriment, then they really need to round up every domesticated breed in existance and destroy them as soon as possible. We have bred so many genetic deformities, especially into dogs, that it's sickening. So many breeds have a high tendency to cancer, have faulty joints and have basic psychological disorders that are inherent to individual breeds. Round them all up, disallow anyone to have any more pets, since holding them against their will is evil, and destroy them to purify their genes. Only allow the wild specimines of each family (wolves, coyotes, foxes, dingos, etc...) to exist. Why not? Don't these genetic deformities cause suffering amongst the populations? Uh huh...

Conclusion (tl;dr) - PETA started with fantastic ideals. Their beginnings were in well founded logic with a hope to help living things that couldn't fight for themselves. They've lost that and turned into a group of shock inducing extremists who turn less people towards their way of thinking then they have against it. Many PETA supporters do so for the "feel good" aspect, instead of a true conviction for their beliefs. They are hypocritical on many things, such as using medications that were derived from animal testing. If they were so convicted in their beliefs, they would boycott these things. So no, I don't hate PETA, but I far from love them. There are many alternatives to what they do, such as leaving the damn pets with their loving families. My family and I love our dog damnit, and we personify her to an unhealthy degree. Let us enjoy her company and she enjoy ours. I can guarantee you, she doesn't know any better when she gets pat on the belly or gets a biscuit.

 

[Syntax Error]

The real thing that I hate about PETA is the lengths that they go through for their goals. While zeal is a good indication that you're motivated and wants to push through, you're also treading a fine line between insane fanaticism and success.

See, people lose the sight and meaning of the goal by being too zealous on the process of achieving it.

 

[El Poncho]

I've heard that PETA throws animal blood over people, if someone did that to me I wouldn't be like omg I should stop eating animals because that I will side with the people who just threw blood over me orrr I carry on with my life eating meat like every goddamn human has been doing for 100,000 years(somethin like that).

 

[Damien the Pigeon]

Animals need a voice to protect them. However, if that voice is utterly f*cking insane, it doesn't really do them much good. PeTA is an organization of hypocrites and extremists, and there isn't much on this planet that I hate as much as I hate them.

I'll give an example: I don't remember if it was the vice president of PeTA or something else, but it was some lady who was higher up in the organization who is DIABETIC. She uses insulin, which was made in a lab after testing was done on dogs and pigs. When confronted about this, she said "I'm not a hypocrite; I need my life to fight for the rights of animals."

...

Oh, EXCUUUUUUSE me! I had no idea that you were special! Everyone else with diabetes can go jump off of a fucking cliff, but you keep on living, oh hypocritical protector of the weak!

On a personal note, I have four pets that have tons of freedom, and I love them very much. If PeTA had their way, then no more pets for me! Also, I'm allergic to soy! Should I die because I can't eat tofu instead of animals? The scary thing is, PeTA would probably say, "yes, you should."

EDIT: This is why I made a thread awhile back about starting an organization called <color=red> M.E.A.T. (Models for Ethical Animal Treatment). The point of it would be to be cool to animals without being completely insane.

 

[Kazturkey]

I've heard that PETA throws animal blood over people, if someone did that to me I wouldn't be like omg I should stop eating animals because that I will side with the people who just threw blood over me orrr I carry on with my life eating meat like every goddamn human has been doing for 100,000 years(somethin like that).

If some fucker throws blood on me or my family/friends I will break their arm and call it self defense. Throwing paint or blood on someone is both vandalism and assault, and if they touch me with that shit I will take "Minimum defense" the the fucking limit.

 

[Johnmw]

There are many greenie groups around. Lets look at a famous one in comparison to PETA and we can see why people hate them (keep in mind this is in my country, so things may be different in the rest of the world).

Greenpeace:

Protest - The Steve Irwin ship harasses Japanese whaling ships in the Pacific. Generally by sailing too close. They have thrown eggs and other stuff though. The objective is to force the Japanese ships out of whale waters.

Interaction with general public - Every now and then you meet a representative in Auckland's main street. They stand there with their clipboard, they are polite and discuss with people about either joining or donating. I have donated many times.


PETA:

Protest - Generally in-your-face. Their most recent in these parts has been having 3 people walk down (the middle of) Auckland's main street dressed as lettuces to protest people eating meat. This caused traffic problems and in the middle of the day.

Interaction with general public - see above.

The difference between the 2 is simple. Greenpeace and co protest those that are truly harming the planet, i.e deforrestation, poaching and whaling. These things are unnecessary and should be stopped. PETA protest the way people live their lives. Demanding people eat no meat or don't keep pets (I use demand because that is what they do) is an attack on peoples personal freedom.

This is why people hate PETA.

This, sooo this.
TBH to the OP, you can't really have it both ways, you argue that the shock and gore based marketing (propaganda or whatever you wanna call it), is necessary, as the extreme reactions and general hate they set out to generate gives them publicity. You then wonder at length as to why there is such hatred of them. They're very method for attracting attention/sponsorship relies on the hatred, arguments and millions of water-cooler conversations, like this, it generates. PETA's whole holier-than-thou attitude is crucial as it divides the world into the minority of the PETA sponsors, who can actually agree wholeheartedly and unreservedly with PETA'S ideals, methods and adverts, and the rest of the world who are demonized attacked and generally sneered at by. In this way it not only provokes heated debates, but insulates the donors/sponsors, they are superior people in the eyes of PETA. PETA generates unreasonable, ill informed hate because that is what it itself does and sets out to provoke in others. I personally can't bring myself to sympathise with PETA. they appeal to the most base instincts and us v.s them prejudices in order to make their point. Oh yeah and because of a point the OP is yet to reply to - THEY SPONSOR TERRORISTS seriously after that fact became apparent was there any reason for the debate? Oh and whoever it was who tried to side step the whole terrorist sponsor thing by saying that the USA sponsored Osama bin laden - That is true, but it doesn't make either of them right! Finally one other reason I can see for the general uninformed hatred, (informed hatred is soo much more interesting) of PETA is the instinctual annoyance people feel at the time and money being donated and spent by sincere people ( I'm sure that people within PETA genuinely think that they are doing noble work), on shock based animal stunts. There are soo many causes that are hugely deserving of the GIANT funds available to PETA. We see PETA and we think "...but you could be saving PEOPLE". Whenever i see such energy misdirected i feel that humans as a species need to sort their priorities right, honestly surgery for your pet dog whilst humans starve?
ah well Peace to all and horray for interesting discussions!

 

[Biek]

With all due respect Purplerain. I think what your doing here is pointless. Alot of people hate Peta because all they see is their extreme actions in the news (the violent protests, propaganda etc.). But who is to blame for that? Their shooting themselves in the foot with their actions.

Your point is that not all of peta's members are like that, right? And ive noticed you react to just about every post so youve got quite the conversation skills. I personally think your crusade is going to bear more fruit if you took it to the peta themselves and tell those guys to chill because its giving the entire movement a bad name. Should this message somehow get through to them, it will make them look better to everyone, including the folks at the escapist.