A recent official tweet from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is not an April Fools Day joke. In full context, it's not even funny, because it's part of a long campaign by an utterly unhinged mob to shut down entire industries. Specifically, that March 31 PETA tweet claims that milk is an awful thing because it "has long been a symbol used by white supremacists."
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The tweet in question (HT Twitchy) includes a 1:22 video which decries milk as a "thinly veiled allegory for racial purity," characterizes cow's milk as "the perfect drink for supremacists anywhere," and concludes with a statement that "the white stuff isn't the right stuff":
This tweet is the end result (for now) of years of unhinged behavior going unchecked. A major part of the reason why it has gone unchecked is that the establishment press rarely if ever discloses the group's clearly stated comprehensive agenda.
Many people in the general public likely understand that PETA bitterly opposes anyone, any time, anywhere wearing animal-based clothing. But beyond that, the general belief is that PETA just doesn't want animals mistreated.
That's not what this group is about, as plainly seen here:
"Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way."
There is no room for any compromise in the group's positions. Nothing short of the elimination of all animals and animal products from everyone's diets, stopping the sale of all animal-based or animal-derived clothing (including, for example, leather), ending all animal-based scientific experimentation, closing every zoo and public aquariums, and ending all use of animals in entertainment beyond filming them in natural settings will ever satisfy PETA.
PETA makes its intention to carry out its agenda crystal clear, as seen in several recent tweets:
- March 31 — "... breeding animals is ALWAYS irresponsible & cruel."
- March 29 — "No fur. No leather. No animals—ever. #VeganFashion is the future!"
- March 24 — "Aquariums are just as sad for animals as #SeaWorld."
- March 18 — "The world knows that orcas do NOT belong in captivity."
PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk "describes the idea that humans should have more rights than animals as a ‘supremacist perversion,’" and believes that "When it comes to feelings like hunger, pain, and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy."
Of course, PETA has every right to nonviolently advocate its positions. What it doesn't deserve is press coverage which consistently refuses to disclose the group's genuine, plainly disclosed agenda.
Here's one small example from the Associated Press on March 21, in a short squib on the rise in the number or purebred dogs:
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... People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and some other animal-rights activists deplore the pursuit of purebreds, saying it fuels puppy mills and diverts people from adopting mixed-breed dogs. The AKC says conscientious breeding helps owners predict what dog will be right for them to make a lasting match.
The bolded sentence, with accurate full disclosure, should have read: "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which wishes to ban all animal breeding, saying it fuels puppy mills and diverts people from adopting mixed-breed dogs." The inclusion of "some other animal-rights activists" in the sentence is a ruse, because the others, like the Animal Liberation Front, are even more radical than PETA.
Here's another, from Pittsburgh on March 22:
... two women wearing nothing but nude-toned underwear and pasties over their breasts stood under a stream of water in a makeshift shower.The demonstration by animal-rights group PETA was meant to send a message about the amount of water used to produce animal-food products like meat and cheese.
The second paragraph's beginning, if genuinely communicative, should have read: "The demonstration by animal-rights group PETA, whose goal is to end all consumption of animals and animal-based food products ..."
PETA is also getting a pass over practices at its headquarters animal shelter which would be making major headlines if a big-city SPCA shelter were found with the alleged results like these:
PETA’s has continued its shameful killing of pets since (whistleblower) Harper-Troje left in 2000. PETA reported to state regulators earlier this month that it killed 1,411 cats and dogs last year at its headquarters—72% of the cats and dogs it took in. An analysis of PETA’s 2016 kill rate shows that it kills dogs at 16.3 times the rate of other private shelters in Virginia.
“PETA has defended its atrocious kill rates for years by saying it takes ‘unadoptable’ dogs that no other shelter will take. These explosive allegations from a PETA insider show that PETA’s lack of honesty is second only to its bizarre quest to kill pets,” said Will Coggin, research director at the Center for Consumer Freedom. “PETA’s systemic slaughter of cats and dogs is an affront to animal lovers everywhere.”
Press coverage of this news has been extraordinarily light, especially considering the breathtaking hypocrisy involved.
So while the organization's dumb March 31 tweet is clear fodder for ridicule, its positions and track record are not. Part of the reason why such mockworthy episodes occur is arguably the group's knowledge that the press has their back, and won't subject them to the same level of scrutiny and, where deserved, exposure in controversial situations that other groups routinely receive.
Meanwhile, your humble servant is going to take a break and have a nice glass of chocolate milk, which is currently being hyped, with apparently sound basis, as extraordinarily good to drink when recovering from strenuous activity.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
