Of People and Causes

Following on yesterday's post about PETA and it's misleading advertising campaigns, Steve Johnson of the Chicago Trib points out:

And PETA has [grabbed attention] in its time-honored fashion, winning attention not with the logic of its cause but with one more sensationalist public display of women as sex objects...Make that title People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Except Human Females in Their Physical Prime Who Will Be Stripped Down and Displayed Like Cutlets in a Deli Case).

This was another thing that I found ironic, but didn't include in my post---the same types of people who spell "women" with a y (you got it...womyn) are the people who send PETA checks. So why do they tolerate the use of the female body in this manner?

Given this, how is PETA better than the conservative senator who is caught soliciting sex from a man in an airport bathroom? The short answer is: they're not. It's always easy to have a moral crusade when you get to pick which morals you are crusading for.

I'll give another example. I was at the Farmer's Market today (don't laugh, the spinach is cheaper), and came across a guy soliciting signatures for some climate cause. I asked him what he thought about the scientific case for global warming, and he said (I quote) "Well, I'm not sure. I don't agree with all of the conclusions, but I do think we need to do something."

So here's a guy, trying to get me to sign a letter to Obama advocating a cap on carbon emissions in the US. The kicker is---he's not even sure that he's doing the right thing! If you believe in anthropogenic global warming, great. I don't know what the right answer is...but if you're not even sure that the science is right, you're just a pawn.

So back to PETA---if you're willing to support an organization that exploits sex the way that PETA exploits sex, and then you complain about the treatment of women in the porn industry (for example), you're a hypocrite. Sorry if this makes you feel a bit uneasy, but it's the truth. Boycotting something, or holding specific beliefs is great, and I hope everybody has something that they feel strongly about. But the minute you preach to me about how your lifestyle choices are so much better than mine, be prepared to be picked apart :)

So here's to the ethical treatment of animals: go for head shots every time, that way they're dead before they hit the ground.