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- Apr 4, 2004
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Well, I'll wind up covering a lot of the same ground, I think, especially in light of PitbullLady's excellent post, but.....
I think comparing marketing propaganda and ethical propaganda is like the old "apples and oranges" comparison. While the industries will try their best to promote something whether it is really in our best interests or not, they do not as a rule resort to acts of terrorism in order to get consumers to purchase their products. And they do not try to pass laws making the consumption of their products mandatory. (However much they might like to)
PETA, on the other hand, would gladly dictate what I consume, whether I hunt or fish, keep pets, what I wear, etc.
I can pretty safely ignore the meat and dairy industries if I wish. Ignoring groups like PETA could come at a heavy price, though.
Some time ago, at the PETA2 website I posted earlier, they were telling the members how to order their "Meat is Murder" stickers and how to covertly attach them the packets of meat in the supermarkets. Now, it is one thing to paste the things in public places, that's just the sort of vandalism that has been around for years, and could be considered a form of public protest. But when you start going into privately owned business and tampering with their products, that is destruction of property at the very least.
Now, how often do you see industries providing tips for junior terrorists? And where does it stop? After all, tampering with the meat itself would REALLY dicourage people from buying it. right? I'm amazed that something like that has not happened yet.
So, comparing the greedy profiteering of industry to the zealotry of ARAs is a rather flawed argument, I think. Two different sorts of evil.
Go read this thread. Simple, quick, and easy activist stuff.
Granted that most of the silly gits are teenagers (No offense arachnoboard teens, but go look at the average ages of the posters there), and that there are a few level-headed posters condemning the actions describe, but notice also that there is no sign of anyone locking the thread. I think that it is safe to assume that if anybody here proposed that sort vandalism, our administrators would be on top of it pretty quick, to avoid legal problems if nothing else. Put PETA encourages this kind of behaviour passively, if not actively.
To wrap up, and maybe to lighten up this post a little, I want to mention a fellow that I locked horns with (on a Lord of the Rings board, of all places), just to give you a taste of just how loony some of those folks can get. This guy claimed that if it were within his power, he would eradicate all ANIMALS that consumed other animals!
Now, admittedly that goes even beyond what most PETA supporters will go to, and was merely a silly scenario, but it does illustrate how twisted the mind-set can become.
Well, I called him on that one pretty damned quick. He backpedaled and said what he meant was that he would genetically alter all creatures so they would be plant eaters. So much for the "rights" of animals, as far as this guy was concerned.
Of course not, they are full of propaganda too! Marketing propaganda. But there is a difference between trying to sell your product by extolling the benefits (real or not), and trying to dictate the morals of society. The way I see it, PETA behaves more like a religion than they do a animal welfare group. More accurately, as someone pointed out earlier, they behave more like a religious cult.GoTerps said:
I think comparing marketing propaganda and ethical propaganda is like the old "apples and oranges" comparison. While the industries will try their best to promote something whether it is really in our best interests or not, they do not as a rule resort to acts of terrorism in order to get consumers to purchase their products. And they do not try to pass laws making the consumption of their products mandatory. (However much they might like to)
PETA, on the other hand, would gladly dictate what I consume, whether I hunt or fish, keep pets, what I wear, etc.
I can pretty safely ignore the meat and dairy industries if I wish. Ignoring groups like PETA could come at a heavy price, though.
Some time ago, at the PETA2 website I posted earlier, they were telling the members how to order their "Meat is Murder" stickers and how to covertly attach them the packets of meat in the supermarkets. Now, it is one thing to paste the things in public places, that's just the sort of vandalism that has been around for years, and could be considered a form of public protest. But when you start going into privately owned business and tampering with their products, that is destruction of property at the very least.
Now, how often do you see industries providing tips for junior terrorists? And where does it stop? After all, tampering with the meat itself would REALLY dicourage people from buying it. right? I'm amazed that something like that has not happened yet.
So, comparing the greedy profiteering of industry to the zealotry of ARAs is a rather flawed argument, I think. Two different sorts of evil.
Go read this thread. Simple, quick, and easy activist stuff.
Granted that most of the silly gits are teenagers (No offense arachnoboard teens, but go look at the average ages of the posters there), and that there are a few level-headed posters condemning the actions describe, but notice also that there is no sign of anyone locking the thread. I think that it is safe to assume that if anybody here proposed that sort vandalism, our administrators would be on top of it pretty quick, to avoid legal problems if nothing else. Put PETA encourages this kind of behaviour passively, if not actively.
To wrap up, and maybe to lighten up this post a little, I want to mention a fellow that I locked horns with (on a Lord of the Rings board, of all places), just to give you a taste of just how loony some of those folks can get. This guy claimed that if it were within his power, he would eradicate all ANIMALS that consumed other animals!
Now, admittedly that goes even beyond what most PETA supporters will go to, and was merely a silly scenario, but it does illustrate how twisted the mind-set can become. Well, I called him on that one pretty damned quick. He backpedaled and said what he meant was that he would genetically alter all creatures so they would be plant eaters. So much for the "rights" of animals, as far as this guy was concerned.
