Pasture Hamsters and Sea Kittens

People often have pretty strong feelings one way or the other about PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals).  Most people that we hear from have pretty strong negative feelings. I try to keep an open mind, and applaud the undercover video efforts that PETA has endorsed that has exposed the flaws with factory farming.  As I said to the PETA spokesperson on our Fox & Friends debate, I think we can find common ground by speaking out against factory farming, which, I think we can agree, is not good for the animals, not good for the workers, not good for nutrition and certainly not good for the environment.

The problem I have with PETA is their attempts at brainwashing.  It's one thing to say that there's a better way to farm than factory farming. It's another thing to say that no one should eat meat, even though mankind  evolved eating meat. 

PETA's latest attempt at brainwashing is at the adolescent level, with this campaign aimed at children. The goal is to change the name of "fish" to "sea kittens".  That's right, sea kittens. Evidently, the thinking goes, that name conjures up such comfy, cuddly thoughts of our ocean friends that no one would dare eat them!  I suppose that we shouldn't tell them that real kittens would eat their sea kittens in a heartbeat.

I suppose the next move is to change the name from "cows" to "pasture hamsters".  Surely then, we'd all give up beef.  As for PETA, well, they do far more harm than good by broadcasting their irrational hysteria.

Comments

[Sam Burton]

Good thoughts, Tim. As a sleddog musher, I have seen over the years that the idea of finding "common ground" with PETA is always one sided. One wants to applaud the discovery and 'outing' of animal abuse, but they make it so very difficult.

It's people like you and Liz who are setting a much better set of priorities and rationality than PETA. Keep up the good work.

[Drew]

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/luckovich/index.html

For those who want to join in on some of the humor about this latest PETA media release, here's a political cartoon from AJC's Mike Luckovich. Cartoon date is 1/15/09.

[tom stewart]

I live in north-east North Carolina and PETA"s natinal headquarters are in Norfolk VA., not 60 miles away.Thier building sets on the banks of the james river and they spent millions to build it. How ment sea cretues died (crabs, fish ect) as a result of the constrution? PETA (People eatting tastie animals) can only wonder what planet thies people came from!