PETA or People for Ethical Treatment of Animals love animals and make it their life mission to try and convert everyone in sight to veganism. Their beliefs tend to be rather extreme as demonstrated by their frequently outrageous protests, the shocking videos they put out and the way that they frequently prioritise animal rights over human. While some of their initiatives are laudable and welcome, many bear the characteristic mark of fanatical, almost maniacal zeal. Sometimes PETA is just silly as their new grammar Nazi avatar indicates:
So PETA’s latest beef (if you’ll pardon the pun) is that language is insidious in the way that it promotes cruelty to animals. The animal rights outfit has likened such usage to ‘racist, homophobic, or ableist language and phrases’ that are now recognised as offensive and have fallen out of use.
PETA helpfully compiled a list of phrases that it deems offensive to animals and offered a list of alternatives. So we must not kill two birds with one stone; instead we must feed two birds with one scone. We must say test tube instead of guinea pig. We also must not beat a dead horse, but instead feed a fed one and so on.
“Guess i can’t choke the chicken anymore” said one tweet flippantly. Mostly the tweeple thought that PETA's stance was really silly and extreme and unnecessary.
Many people thought that it was outright offensive. Those who feel strongly about the injustice and abuse and discrimination that some groups have faced and continue to face, were furious that PETA chose to conflate real human suffering with imagined animal suffering.
The PETA list suggests that we all now bring home bagels instead of bacon. Some on twitter decided that they wanted both, plus sausages. Yet others were instantly craving a bacon bagel.
Then there were those who decided to be facetious: ““Take the flower by the horns” that’s cruelty to flowers. They have feelings too you know,” said one tweet. “I think i just heard my brocolli screaming as i cut it up. It traumatized me. But do my feelings matter?” said another.
This tweet reflects what many think of PETA – a noble cause hijacked by fanatic agendas. Very often PETA tends to do more harm than good because of the extreme, intractable positions the organisation takes up.
PETA is often accused of doing things for publicity and to make money; even using coercion to get corporations to bend to their will. This tweet suggests that PETA should concentrate on actually doing something for animals rather than simply trying to increase their social influence.
Animal lovers and pet owners all came down hard on the PETA post. Even vegans who not only eschew meat and dairy products but also refuse to use leather and honey, were perplexed by the pointlessness of it all.
In fact vegans seem to take umbrage especially! They feel that PETA’s stance about idiomatic usage is actually laughable and gives detractors a chance to belittle and trivialise the vegan and animal rights movement.
So clearly, this latest social media foray of PETA has backfired. In fact they seem to have opened a can of worms with this wild goose chase of theirs…. Because many are mad as hornets with them now and others will be watching them as closely as a hawk. I feel that PETA should just have let sleeping dogs lie!
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