P.E.T.A. Compares Slaughtering of Man

[Miranda]

August 14, 2008

An animal rights group has posted an ad on its website comparing the recent stabbing and decapitation of a young Winnipeg man to how humans kill animals for food.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the advertisement is meant to make people understand how animals suffer when they are killed in slaughterhouses. The group posted the imageless advertisement on its blog site Wednesday.

"PETA's ad…is meant to spur people to think about the terror and pain experienced by animals who are raised and killed for food. The group aims to demonstrate that animals — just like humans — are made of flesh, blood, and bone and deserve protection from needless killing," said a statement on PETA's website, also posted Wednesday.

Tim McLean, 22, was stabbed and then beheaded by a fellow passenger as the two rode an eastbound Greyhound bus across Manitoba last Wednesday. The man accused of second-degree murder, Vince Weiguang Li, allegedly engaged in cannibalism during the attack, which occurred just west of Portage la Prairie.

Designed using large, bold type, the ad compares McLean's struggles to those endured by an animal being slaughtered for its meat. It then refers to Li's alleged act of cannibalism before saying, "It's still going on!"

In its statement, PETA said it intended to run the notice in the Portage Daily Graphic, the local newspaper in Portage la Prairie, Man. PETA also sent out a news release to major media outlets across Canada announcing its plan to run the ad in the Manitoba paper, according to a story on the newspaper's website Wednesday.

The paper's publisher Barry Clayton, however, said the advertisement is in bad taste and will not be allowed to run.

PETA acknowledges in the ad itself that the notice may be offensive to some, but spokesman Bruce Friedrich said the goal is to inspire people to think about what they can do to stop violence against animals.

"We can't do anything to bring Tim back or bring his family relief from their suffering. But all of us can ask what we personally can do to decrease our support for this sort of violence," Freedrick said.

PETA said it will discuss later this week whether to attempt to run the ad in other publications.

Source: CBC News

[taysteewonderbunny]

I continue to think that PETA takes things too far. I don't see them decrying lions for eating gazelles. Yes, humans are animals, but not all animals are humans. I don't think our eating meat distorts the order of things. Perhaps major overhauls of our meat producing industry are in order, yet I don't think that such reforms should be based on the premise that no animal should be killed or harmed ever. Even other primates, btw, have been known to engage in cannibalism periodically. I had a gerbil that ate his young when the mother had a very large litter. In humans, I feel that these perhaps natural tendencies should be minimized and highly discouraged, even punished. I did not punish my gerbil. I removed the young ASAP and invested in a larger aquarium.

[TitsMcGee]

Sometimes I just wish I could smack the people at PETA. They apparently forgot that animals in slaghter houses are usually shot so they die instantly, so they don't suffer. Comparing that to the poor guy who got beheaded is fucking sick. On some things, I'm all for what they do. Don't wear fur, don't test on animals, that kind of stuff. But they fail to realize that if people everywhere stopped eatting meat the animal population would grow to huge proportions and they would start dieing of starvation because they won't have enough food. Which is the lesser of two evils here, eatting meat or animals starving to death?

[pomba gira]

That's horrible. If I were a friend or family member of that poor ninja I'd be incensed. What a cheap shot. And there are enough instances of real cruel practices without resorting to analogies that don't hold up anyway- last I heard, livestock in slaughterhouses were not hacked to death with hunting knives... which would be pretty inefficient to say the least.

IMHO PETA actually does more harm than good most of the time. Using confrontational tactics and a holier-than-though attitude does not convert people to your cause (except for people who just enjoy being confrontational and self-righteous). In fact it tends to alienate people who actually share some of your views. I certainly think that many of the ways we deal with animals are needlessly crueland need to change, but I would never join PETA 'cos they just do some straight-up stupid shit.

[taysteewonderbunny]

This is far from the first time PETA has used incendiary comparisons in their campaigns. Prior horrifically bad campaigns have compared keeping pets to keeping slaves (yes, US-style chattel slavery) and raising animals for food to the European Holocaust of the Jews. Disgusting. On the one hand, they want to declare all animal life (or at least, mammalian life) as being equal per the inherent rights, value, and quality. They want to completely ignore, for example, the very real and legitimate differences between you and a pig. We can not possibly expect these non-human animals to respect those same sets of values. Pigs don't obey the law. They aren't courteous. They don't care what you are feeling.

What is disgusting about the comparisons used in their campaigns is how accurate they are in demonstrating the depravity of humans toward other humans when those humans consider the other humans less than human. In those cases, we treat them as non-human animals. That is disgusting. It is not that disgusting to me that humans make use of non-human animals. That's a tradition thousands upon thousands of years old that I am loathe to relinquish. I love non-human animals, but not like I love humans. I don't want to see animals suffer unnecessarily, but that does not mean that I would take any drastic measures to keep them from suffering at all. I'd rather put those energies into improving the lives of other humans. I am speciest, unabashedly so.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

PETA pisses me off.

[Homicidalheathen]

PETA pisses me off too. One, they harrass my kid at work...when she is giving dogs (get this) down blankets...fricking LACTOSE FREE ice cream...and movies???

(its a pet motel)

THATS ABUSE? I want in.

Two....they harrass me...I have a coat with a FUR TRIM HOOD. Thats it. Just the hood. I get spray paint threats...until I threat back I gonna shove that frickin can up you ass AND make you buy me a new one.

[Msterbeau]

This is just like Pro life groups who use imagery of dead fetuses to try and convince people that abortion is wrong. It backfires totally.

[Oh_My_Goth]

Animals shall rule the Earth.....

The CEO of PETA is a shaved monkey.....I think he is actually related to the Bush family.....

[Msterbeau]

Animals shall rule the Earth.....

The CEO of PETA is a shaved monkey.....I think he is actually related to the Bush family.....

You're a truly mean person. How could you insult monkeys like that?

[Rev.Reverence]

I QUIT & I'M NOT COMING BACK.

I am no longer a Human....

.....

.....

.....AGAIN.

[TygerLili]

PETA is f-ed up.

Seriously, I love animals, I spoil my pets, I'm a vegetarian, I'm against animal testing, I don't believe in wearing real fur or real leather just for fashion, but come on.

[phee]

If vegetarians only eat vegetables... I guess I am a humanitarian

[Goth Brooks]

Ask any gardener or greenhouse worker... vegetables have feelings too!

Stop the mindless slaughter.

[Miranda]

Ask any gardener or greenhouse worker... vegetables have feelings too!

Stop the mindless slaughter.

Yes, you know those potatoes are sobbing when you put them in the microwave. I throw them into the oven, I find it more humane.

[n0Mad]

Even if I believed in everything PETA stood for, their tactics piss me off to the point where I would skin an animal alive in front of them just to piss them off.

[sass_in_the_pants]

I'm going to put bacon bits on all of their salads.

Take that commies!!

[Hellion]

Lets see them go after bug collectors,LOL!!

[TygerLili]

If vegetarians only eat vegetables... I guess I am a humanitarian

You only eat humans?

Ask any gardener or greenhouse worker... vegetables have feelings too!

Stop the mindless slaughter.

Which is probably what I would tell a PETA member, lol. I have nothing against people eating animals, I just don't like the taste/texture of meat.

P.S. If we could skip the obvious jokes about "eating" meat, I'd really appreciate it. They get old fast.

[Goth Brooks]

MARY MOOOOOOOOOOOON

SHE'S A VEGETARIAN

[graverobber]

did they forget that they guy on the bus WAS NOT SUBSEQUENTLY CANNIBALISED!!!!!!

your analogy is false! The comparison is Untrue!

The dead human was not eaten!

after which, P.E.T.A. was strongarmed off the premises by members of 'The Clean Plate Club'

-what- laugh, damnation