Pamela Anderson goes PETA.
PETA – Is It Really Ethical?
Who would think twice about questioning the motive of a nonprofit animal-loving organization with the word “ethical” in its title? The word “ethical” usually refers to someone who is doing the right thing. After all, who wouldn’t want to treat Животные ethically?
I sat behind an avid PETA supporter one год in my high school English class. PETA, as I was later informed, was an acronym for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and was an organization dedicated to saving Животные and promoting veganism. Hardly a день went by that this girl wasn’t talking about that oh-so-wonderful organization, или passing out leaflets, catalogues, and stickers. Early on, I didn’t care или know much about this organization, but it got harder and harder to ignore the countless leaflets shoved under my nose. Finally, one день when I ran out of things to do, I decided to look through one of the ever present PETA catalogues. I wasn’t very impressed; it seemed to me that it was a pathetic attempt to make money. The catalogue was filled with juvenile-looking stickers, books, and a bloody Colonel Sanders model with a нож getting ready to murder a chicken… This was getting annoying, and some of the products looked like they were created by someone deranged.
PETA, или People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is everywhere. Ads for it are seen on TV, the Internet, billboards, in schools, and at concerts. What isn’t seen by the general public are the facts. The facts have been pushed out of PETA’s limelight by the Обои of half-naked celebrity spokespersons and shocking images. PETA is a corrupt organization, and Ingrid Newkirk, the president of PETA, has еще things on her mind than saving animals. PETA is merely a front for Ingrid Newkirk’s Любовь of the press, and a way for her to make money. People for the Ethical Treatment of Животные is attempting to turn this country’s children into mindless, militant vegans, and something needs to be done about it.
In the introduction of Ingrid Newkirk’s book, You Can Save the Animals, she explains how PETA started. PETA, или People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was founded by Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco in 1980. At the time, Newkirk was working in a Washington, D.C. animal shelter. Pacheco volunteered his services there, and told Newkirk the story of how he and a crew, members of the group Fund for Animals, hunted down and sank a pirate whaling ship. Pacheco lent Newkirk his copy of Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation, which had changed his way of thinking about animals. In a review by Judy Quinn of “Library Journal,” she calls Animal Liberation a “bible for animal rights activists.” Newkirk’s way of thinking about Животные was also swayed by this book, and so they formed People for the Ethical Treatment of Животные (Newkirk xv-xviii).
On the official PETA website, it is stated that “PETA is dedicated to establishing and protecting the rights of all animals. PETA operates under the simple principle that Животные are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, или use for entertainment… PETA works through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns.” Nowhere in that statement do they mention supporting convicted arsonists, working with terrorists, corrupting children, killing adoptable animals, или offending the general public.
According to an Статья titled "Animal Rights Activists Are Terrorists" by Helen Cothran, as well as numerous other sources, PETA has been linked with the group ALF, otherwise knows as the Animal Liberation Front. Several of ALF’s illegal acts have been declared terrorist incidents by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Rodney Coronado, who is an affiliate of ALF, bombed a Michigan State университет lab in February of 1992. He pleaded guilty and was convicted of arson for that crime, sentenced to 57 months in prison. Coronado’s support committee received $45,200 from PETA, which was 15 times еще than the amount PETA spent on shelters that year. PETA denies any connection to ALF, but perhaps they operate under the same violent principle. Alex Pacheco, chairman and co-founder of PETA, stated that “Arson, property destruction, burglary and theft are 'acceptable crimes' when used for the animal cause.” (Cothran).
PETA is a tax-exempt organization. Examples of other tax exempt organizations include universities, churches, and social service organizations. PETA’s income totals еще than $25 million a year, much of that coming from donations that are believed to be helping animals. Since they are a tax exempt organization, their tax returns are a matter of public record. Their tax returns prove that they donated money to the convicted arsonist Rodney Coronado and his support committee. If this organization can afford to pay legal fees for a domestic terrorist, shouldn’t they also be able to pay taxes?
Petakillsanimals.com declares that, “Hypocrisy is the mother of all credibility problems, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Животные (PETA) has it in spades. While loudly complaining about the "unethical" treatment of Животные by restaurant owners, grocers, farmers, scientists, anglers, and countless other Americans, the group has its own dirty little secret. PETA kills animals. By the thousand.” PETA killed еще than 14,419 Животные from July 1998 to the end of 2005. They took in 17,806 animals, and only 3,047 were adopted. That means about eighty percent of the Животные PETA took in were killed. Newkirk says that it costs еще to keep the Животные alive than to euthanize them. PETA’s income last год totaled about $29 million. That should have been enough to keep a few Животные alive for a while. Instead of using this money to help animals, PETA uses it on advertisements and protecting criminals (PETA’s Dirty Secret).
The following is an excerpt from a comic book distributed to children from PETA, titled “Your Mommy Kills Animals.”
“Ask your mommy how many dead Животные she killed to make her мех clothes. Then tell her that Ты know she paid men to hurt and kill the animals. Everyone knows. And the sooner she stops wearing fur, the sooner the Животные will be safe. Until then, keep your doggie или kitty Друзья away from mommy—she’s an animal killer!” (PETA comics).
Would Ты like for someone to hand a copy of this to your child? When this comic was distributed, many parents were unaware of its contents, или even the fact that their child had the book. Many of PETA’s attempts to shock and terrorize are aimed at children. Children are naïve and impressionable, making them easy targets, and pawns in the hands of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Since it is illegal for unauthorized visitors to be on school property, PETA activists have been known to linger just outside school grounds to distribute literature, such as the “Your Mommy Kills Animals” comic book to children coming and going to school. Another place that PETA activists gather is outside restaurants such as KFC and McDonalds, handing out “Buckets of Blood” and “Unhappy Meals” to children exiting the restaurants.
PETA runs many websites that are directed at certain groups of people. Petakids.org is directed at children, offering features like games, homework help, and information on vegan celebrities. Peta2.org is aimed toward teens, with information on PETA scholarships, celebrity vegans and animal rights supporters, e-cards, discussion boards, offering suggestions on how to “veganize” your cafeteria and detailed instructions on how to avoid frog dissection. Teachkind.com is the education program of PETA, and is geared toward teachers, specializing in offering free teaching supplies and tips. People for the Ethical Treatment of Животные is brainwashing and scaring children and attempting to use teachers to assist them.
Perhaps the most offensive campaign PETA has ever presented is “Holocaust on Your Plate,” according to a news Статья entitled “Group Blasts PETA 'Holocaust' Project” from CNN.com. This campaign, launched in 2003, consisted of 60 sq. ft. panels of pictures of Jews in Nazi concentration camps alongside pictures of Животные in slaughterhouses and factory farms. The “Holocaust on Your Plate” campaign was meant to rally the Jewish community alongside PETA in the fight for animal rights, but it angered a great number of people, including Holocaust survivor and Anti-Defamation League national director Abraham Foxman, who issued an angry statement toward PETA. “'The effort by PETA to compare the deliberate, systematic murder of millions of Jews to the issue of animal rights is abhorrent… PETA’s effort to seek approval for their 'Holocaust on Your Plate' campaign is outrageous, offensive and takes chutzpah to new heights.'”(CNN)
Nancy день includes a quote from PETA’s president, Ingrid Newkirk, in her book Animal Experimentation: Cruelty или Science? . “Animal liberationists do not separate out the human animal so there is no rational basis for saying that a human being has special rights. A крыса is a pig is a dog is a boy. They’re all mammals.” (59). If all the animal liberationists and rights activists achieved their goal of “total animal liberation,” what do they think would be the outcome? Total animal liberation would mean that all animals, including pets and zoo animals, would be set free. Life isn’t a Дисней movie, where all living creatures live in harmony. There would be serious consequences to this. Животные would be killing other Животные as well as humans, destroying property, spreading diseases uncontrollably, and overpopulating. Would human laws apply to other animals, since apparently, we’re all equal? или would laws be abolished altogether, resulting in utter chaos? There is no way it would, или could, ever happen. I’d like to see Ingrid Newkirk share a taxi with an anaconda, или an elevator with a grizzly bear. That might cause a bit of a change in the minds of a few animal rights activists and liberationists.
This “ethical” organization is obviously targeting children, sponsoring highly offensive campaigns, and funding domestic terrorists. People for the Ethical Treatment of Животные has already gotten away with enough wrongdoing, and it’s time for it to stop. The truth must be exposed.
Works Cited
"About PETA." PETA. 15 Nov. 2006 <peta.org>.
"Animal Rights Activists Are Terrorists." Animal Experimentation. Helen Cothran. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2002. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Thomson Gale. Piedmont Virginia Community College. 10 Nov. 2006
<link>.
Day, Nancy. Animal Experimentation: Cruelty или Science? Hillside, N.J.: Enslow, Inc., 1994. 59.
"Group Blasts PETA 'Holocaust' Project." CNN. 28 Feb. 2003. 10 Nov. 2006 <link>.
Newkirk, Ingrid. You Can Save the Животные : 251 Ways to Stop Thoughtless Cruelty. USA: Prima, 1999. xv-xviii.
PETA Comics Presents: Your Mommy Kills Animals. Norfolk: PETA Comics, 2003.
"PETA's Dirty Secret." PETA Kills Animals. 05 Dec. 2006 <link>.
Use of Outside Sources
Paragraph 1: None
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Paragraph 4: Summary of Ты Can Save the Animals. Direct quote from "Library Journal" review.
Paragraph 5: Direct quote (mission statement) from official PETA.org website.
Paragraph 6: Summary from "Animal Rights Activists are Terrorists."
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Paragraph 8: Direct quote from "PETA's Dirty Secret." Summary of statistics from "PETA's Dirty Secret." Paraphrase from "PETA's Dirty Secret"
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Paragraph 10: Block Quote from "Your Mommy Kills Animals" comic book.
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Paragraph 12: Summaries of different PETA sponsored websites.
Paragraph 13: Summary and quote from the Статья "Group Blasts PETA 'Holocaust' Project"
Paragraph 14: Direct quote from Animal Experimentation: Cruelty или Science?
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