I can’t stand PETA
I thought I had seen it all from our over the top animal loving friends known as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), that was until I saw the latest editorial peice from ABC this past week.
PETA’s latest cause in their fruitless effort to turn the entire world into herbavours is to save the Lobster. That’s right, that bright red delicious butter covered BUG you hate to look at, but LOVE to dine on.
PETA spokesman Karin Robertson had this to say about her new pal the Lobster;
“Scientists have studied them enough to prove that they do feel pain. They’re very sensitive animals. And they’re boiled alive, something we’d never consider doing to a dog or a cat or a cow or a pig. But many people do it to lobsters without thinking. When they’re being boiled, they’re thrashing around, they’re trying to get out of the pot, and nobody who’s seen that could honestly say that they don’t feel pain”
Ok Karin, I’ll bite… how do you know how “sensitive” a Lobster is? Have you sat down to extensive therapy sessions with a crate of the little critters? I’ve seen a lobster being boiled and they don’t sit there trying to climb out of the pot. They’re dead within a fraction of a second (unless you’re a sick bastard and want to bring it up to a boil from room temp while the lobster is taking a bath), and they only thrash around due to involuntary muscle contractions. For those of you who claim they scream, the ONLY sound a lobster could possibly make when being boiled is due to gasses and internal juices escaping rapidly from the shell.
Also, Karin states that “we” would never boil a cat alive, yet I can VIVIDLY remember images from a documentary on Asian cuisine in regions where Cat is considered a delicacy, where the cats were dipped alive in a boiling hot mix of chemicals that allows the “preparation specialist” to strip off the hair in under 5 seconds. It made me sick watching, but to them, it’s lunch.
Far too often we attribute human qualities to non-human animals that simply lack the facilities that a human would have to react the way we would in a similar situation. We see similar physical movements and automatically feel sympathy for the animal.
New England lobsterman Laddie Dexter put it perfectly in his response to PETA’s efforts to put her out of a career.
“They just don’t understand the nature of the animal they’re dealing with, you know?” Dexter said. “I’ve never had a lobster wave to me. I’ve never had one talk to me.”
To which Karin replies…
“If we can choose 50 different options at our favorite restaurant, why not choose something that’s vegetarian? Why not save the life of a couple of animals just by pointing to a different option? It’s such an easy thing.”
Karin, you’re answering your own question… PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY! If YOU feel the need to keep anything made out of meat out in the pasture to eat grass until it dies of old age, that’s YOUR choice. Just because the sight of a 1 inch thick T-Bone makes you ill, does NOT give you the right to wage a war against me and my dinner.
Back in college I had a PETA representative approach me in a rage at the fact that I was enjoying a triple cheeseburger on my lunch break. I proceeded to finish my lunch in front of her gawking face (as pale as could be) making sure to enjoy every bite. I eat what I want to eat, and no one is going to convince ME, that some ugly bug I buy out of a tank at the grocery store has feelings equal to that of a humans.
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Comments
I to saw this episode and was pretty irritated. Most chefs will tell you that if you stick them in a freezer for a few mins. before dropping in the pot, they reach thier end much quicker and it is next to painless, since thier bodies and [little] brains have slowed way down due to the cold.
If PETA had thier way I am sure we would all be vegatarians but then of course some eviromentalist will tell us that we are eating to many veggies and we’re killing the earth.
Somone is always bound to be unhappy. When the government or organizations began to do more than just talk, thats when I’ll be worried. (If that happens I think I’ll just move to Canada)
I actually ran across some study done in Europe somewhere where they hooked up Lettuce to electrodes in a room with a guy chopping up lettuce. He left the room and they sent in two other people only to have nothing register on the computers. They sent in the guy who was chopping up the lettuce and the electrodes went all whacky.
I wonder what PETA would do if it could be proven that plants felt pain when we yanked them out of the ground… eat hair?
first of all in repsonse to the aritcle written by james, all animal rights and peta lead movements are ethical opinions. None of which im sure have any standings with people who contain certain mindsets and/or the lack of ability to battle convenience in todays society.
the point of the statement by karin robertson isnt to turn everyone vegetarian, the point of the statement is to release information formerly unknown to certain individuals.
im vegan, and im a loyal peta supporter becuase they release information about the treatment of animals that people may not have realised (the kfc chicken treatment for example) solely becuase of the fact that the meat industry is a lucrative and highly profitable industry in todays economy so the ethical treatment of animals takes a backseat to profits. this james isn not aimed at biggots like yourself who are stuck in the mindset of
” I eat what I want to eat, and no one is going to convince ME”
this is aimed at the people are open minded enough to take in the information and may or may not judge their own personal opinion by it, then if they do consider it to be wrong may remove the said animal from their diet.
no offence adam but your an idiot….
read what your saying “most chefs will tell you” how many chefs do you know that are reasonably intelligent, what sort of degree do you need to become a chef? also what ability does a chef have to be able to distinguish whether a lobster feels pain or not?
at least karin has viable evidence, she states scientists have proven. im not sure about you but id chose a scientist over a chef anyday.
also lastly, if you knew anything about the enviroment and about predator prey cycles or about enegery that is avialable through resources in realtion to the earths growing population you would in fact realise that you cannot be a meat consuming human and an enviromentalist. the commercialised production of animals is killing this earth.
enjoy your meat ladies and gents.
p.s lisa FYI i have that dvd your talking about “high fives and stage dives” yea yea it has at least 12 bands members talking about how they become vegetarian, not one.
love jamie
None of which im sure have any standings with people who contain certain mindsets and/or the lack of ability to battle convenience in todays society.
My eating meat has NOTHING to do with convenience and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that I LIKE MEAT. Don’t sit there on your little Vegan Ethics high horse and tell me that I lack anything simply because I eat meat.
im a loyal peta supporter becuase they release information about the treatment of animals that people may not have realized
What about their treatment of people, or their complete lack for personal private property rights? If PETA had their way they would march down my driveway, knock down my door and “liberate†my cat and dog. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars PETA funnels to organizations like ALF that spend their time firebombing research labs and universities… after all, we know that terrorism is far more effective than lobbying.
this james isn not aimed at bigots like yourself who are stuck in the mindset of
†I eat what I want to eat, and no one is going to convince MEâ€
bigot - n. One who is intolerant of others.
itolerant – adj. not tolerating or respecting beliefs, opinions, usages, manners, etc., different from one’s own, as in political or religious matters
I totally agree with yours or anyone else’s choice to be vegan or vegetarian. I am in no way intolerant or bigoted towards non-meat eaters. I think excluding meat from ones diet along with ALL animal products etc is utterly stupid, but I am not intolerant of your behavior. Learn the word BEFORE you use it… it makes you look like you know what’s coming out of your mouth.
at least karin has viable evidence, she states scientists have proven
Karin STATES that she has viable evidence, yet ACTUAL research on the information she provides shows that information to the contrary is far more prominent than evidence in support of her claims.
One for instance comes from Wenche Farstad of the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science in Oslo. Prof. Farstad was approached to research pain reception in invertebrates and mollusks by the country of Norway in an effort to discover if they needed to include worms, crabs and lobster in their revised animal protection laws. Thankfully for the Norwegian fishing culture, their discovery was that worms, mollusks, crabs and lobsters and their relatives lack the complex nervous system to experience pain. Crabs and lobsters have only about 100,000 neurons, compared with 100 Billion in humans and other vertebrates. Evidenced by their ability to jettison body parts during an attack shows that the systems that are in place to make a lobster a lobster are FAR different than what makes you a human.
if you knew anything about the enviroment and about predator prey cycles or about enegery that is avialable through resources in realtion to the earths growing population
Dare I ask for your qualifications to assert such a ‘revelation’?
I could care less if you ate nothing but your own hair… but you’ve come here and proven why people get so turned off by vegans and vegetarians… you can’t live YOUR life without evangelizing to a ‘lowly meat eater’ about how EVIL and DESTRUCTIVE our lifestyle is. Sorry, but it’s just another anti-capitalist mantra, and I’m not biting.
Now where did I leave my Triple Cheeseburger…
I too dislike PETA. I was a concert recently (Vans Warped Tour) where they had a tent set up. People were signing the petion they had out without reading, just to get the free DVD.
Well, I got the DVD, and after watching it, I was super dissapointed. As I’m sure everyone else was when they watched it. The case said “footage of…” with a bunch of band names. It was really just a few (or only one) band member talking about why they were vegitarians or against animal testing. It was complete crap, and an easy way to indoctrinate the younger crowd (lots of minors there).
I wish they’d be more truthful about what they’re doing. I know that everyone who saw that DVD case thought “Oh, a ton of music videos, cool,” since it was being handed out at a rock concert. I felt gyped, and I wanted to do stuff against PETA. But, I like to be difficult.