Posted by Dan Ewert : 12/07/2003 10:59:00 PM (Archive Link)
The Circle Of PeTA Life

This article helps describe why PETA is at best a fringe group. It discusses a billboard they erected in Rhode Island (which has the highest percentage of Catholics in the nation) that has the Virgin Mary holding a dead chicken with the words, “Go Vegetarian. It’s an Immaculate Conception.” In fact, you can also currently see it on their website’s main page. Just in time for Christmas!

They’re always up to fun little tricks and comparison like this. Not too long ago, they compared factory animal farms to the Holocaust. Of course, the comparisons are always invalid and specious and almost always deeply offensive. The point of these campaigns, though, isn’t to convert large numbers of the public over to their philosophy or even to create sympathy; it’s hard to appeal to large segments of the population when said segments are disgusted by your message. No, the main purpose is to turn those who already lean their way into ardent believers, or even better, activists. Because each time they pull one of these stunts, the public outrage inevitably results in free publicity in the form of media coverage. Then their message reaches a wide audience and in that audience is a very small percentage who see the ads and think, “Yeah… livestock farms and slaughterhouses are exactly like the Holocaust! It makes perfect sense!”

You see, while PETA’s comparisons are invalid to normal people, they’re not to the extreme PETA folk who create them. And so the end result of their ad campaigns is to attract other extremists who also believe in the invalid comparisons. So while PETA may claim that they want to make a big impact on society’s attitudes towards animals, it doesn’t really happen. Since the organization is largely made up of fanatics (have you ever heard of the moderate wing of PETA or moderate PETA tactics?), they create fanatical ideas and ads that only succeed in bringing other fellow fanatics into their fold. Thus the circle completes itself and continues on.