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 动物 ethically?
I sat behind an avid PETA supporter one 年 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 动物 and promoting veganism. Hardly a 日 went 由 that this girl wasn’t talking about that oh-so-wonderful organization, 或者 passing out leaflets, catalogues, and stickers. Early on, I didn’t care 或者 know much about this organization, but it got harder and harder to ignore the countless leaflets shoved under my nose. Finally, one 日 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 刀 getting ready to murder a chicken… This was getting annoying, and some of the products looked like they were created 由 someone deranged.
PETA, 或者 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 由 the general public are the facts. The facts have been pushed out of PETA’s limelight 由 the 图片 of half-naked celebrity spokespersons and shocking images. PETA is a corrupt organization, and Ingrid Newkirk, the president of PETA, has 更多 things on her mind than saving animals. PETA is merely a front for Ingrid Newkirk’s 爱情 of the press, and a way for her to make money. People for the Ethical Treatment of 动物 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, 或者 People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was founded 由 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 由 Judy Quinn of “Library Journal,” she calls Animal Liberation a “bible for animal rights activists.” Newkirk’s way of thinking about 动物 was also swayed 由 this book, and so they formed People for the Ethical Treatment of 动物 (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 动物 are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, 或者 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, 或者 offending the general public.
According to an 文章 titled "Animal Rights Activists Are Terrorists" 由 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 由 the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Rodney Coronado, who is an affiliate of ALF, bombed a Michigan State 大学 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 更多 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 更多 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 动物 (PETA) has it in spades. While loudly complaining about the "unethical" treatment of 动物 由 restaurant owners, grocers, farmers, scientists, anglers, and countless other Americans, the group has its own dirty little secret. PETA kills animals. 由 the thousand.” PETA killed 更多 than 14,419 动物 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 动物 PETA took in were killed. Newkirk says that it costs 更多 to keep the 动物 alive than to euthanize them. PETA’s income last 年 totaled about $29 million. That should have been enough to keep a few 动物 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 动物 she killed to make her 毛皮 clothes. Then tell her that 你 know she paid men to hurt and kill the animals. Everyone knows. And the sooner she stops wearing fur, the sooner the 动物 will be safe. Until then, keep your doggie 或者 kitty 老友记 away from mommy—she’s an animal killer!” (PETA comics).
Would 你 like for someone to hand a copy of this to your child? When this comic was distributed, many parents were unaware of its contents, 或者 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 动物 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 文章 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 动物 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 由 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 日 includes a quote from PETA’s president, Ingrid Newkirk, in her book Animal Experimentation: Cruelty 或者 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 鼠, 大鼠 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 迪士尼 movie, where all living creatures live in harmony. There would be serious consequences to this. 动物 would be killing other 动物 as well as humans, destroying property, spreading diseases uncontrollably, and overpopulating. Would human laws apply to other animals, since apparently, we’re all equal? 或者 would laws be abolished altogether, resulting in utter chaos? There is no way it would, 或者 could, ever happen. I’d like to see Ingrid Newkirk share a taxi with an anaconda, 或者 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 动物 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 或者 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 动物 : 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 你 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 文章 "Group Blasts PETA 'Holocaust' Project"
Paragraph 14: Direct quote from Animal Experimentation: Cruelty 或者 Science?
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