# PETA says : Don't call them fish ! Call them sea kittens ! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 12, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998 "2009-01-12T22:54:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/81 "2009-01-13T21:39:38Z")
What? Kittens love to eat sea kittens! Is PETA promoting cannibalism? Really – does anyone take PETA seriously? Their just attention whores who come up with with ridiculous idea after another solely so people will talk about them. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/82 "2009-01-14T00:13:29Z")
It’s not entirely ridiculous. Well, I mean, yes, it is, but I understand their underlying point, which is that the reason we eat fish and not cats is because we’ve divided animals into “animals that we love and care if they suffer”, and “Animals that we’re perfectly willing to let suffer”, and that the division is arbitrary, so why not treat all animals the way we treat “cute” ones? ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/83 "2009-01-14T01:37:31Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > It’s not entirely ridiculous. Well, I mean, yes, it is, but I understand their underlying point, which is that the reason we eat fish and not cats is because we’ve divided animals into “animals that we love and care if they suffer”, and “Animals that we’re perfectly willing to let suffer”, and that the division is arbitrary, so why not treat all animals the way we treat “cute” ones? Well, there’s the fine point that a dog or a cat (yeah, I know, just go with me here) can, in some degree or another, have feelings of reciprocity towards their owners. A little empathy if you’d like. They are able to show affection in a way no fish is capable of doing, with all that about having a brain somewhere in between a worm and a frog, you know? ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/84 "2009-01-14T02:11:00Z")
This “Sea kitten” designation is pissing me off, but not for the reasons it’s pissing most people off; “Why shouldn’t I eat fish? I like fish…” I’m the odd vegetarian story, by circumstance. Parents Marine biologists, always around fish fish fish, so, when, at 11, saw fish on Dad’s boat brought up and dying, age 11, made a connection with killing, and decided I didn’t want to kill to eat. My decision, and, a long row to hoe for decades in differentiating that and learning how to eat otherwise. I still don’t eat fish as a personal decision not to take life. But, Sea Kittens? That is really insulting to intelligence, a stupid tactic. Fish are the beings they are, and the sea is teeming with all the ruthless wonder that nature has to offer. That life doesn’t have to be reduced to Cute to be appreciated. I have now become a Misadorableanthrozoomorphoticatarian. Sheesh! ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/85 "2009-01-14T02:39:02Z")
If children are the intended audience, I find it insulting to _their_ intelligence. That’s the most patronizing, sanctimonious and just plain inept attempt at childrens’ writing I’ve ever seen. I wonder if these PETA folks have any significant “zero-earther” crossovers (or whatever they’re called), because whoever wrote that sure isn’t a sympathetic writer for that audience. The Soviets and the Nazis had more effective childrens’ propaganda. ETA again: and if it’s satire, it’s utterly inept on that front as well and still shows a real contempt for kids. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/86 "2009-01-14T03:15:37Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > …the reason we eat fish and not cats is because we’ve divided animals into “animals that we love and care if they suffer”, and “Animals that we’re perfectly willing to let suffer”, and that the division is arbitrary, so why not treat all animals the way we treat “cute” ones? I don’t have those divisions; they are _all_ fascinating, beautiful and potentially tasty. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/87 "2009-01-14T03:27:23Z")
This is why the world misses George Carlin. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/88 "2009-01-14T04:02:06Z")
Won’t somebody think of poor Jessica Simpson? She’s never going to get this straight. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/89 "2009-01-14T04:21:17Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > It’s not entirely ridiculous. Well, I mean, yes, it is, but I understand their underlying point, which is that the reason we eat fish and not cats is because we’ve divided animals into “animals that we love and care if they suffer”, and “Animals that we’re perfectly willing to let suffer”, and that the division is arbitrary, so why not treat all animals the way we treat “cute” ones? OTOH, why not treat all animals as those we’re willing to let suffer? Any why isn’t PETA complaining about the mistreatment of plants, too? After all [Carrot juice is murder](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmK0bZl4ILM) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/90 "2009-01-14T04:57:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Won’t somebody think of poor Jessica Simpson? She’s never going to get this straight. I’d pay real money to see a paparazzi picture of her on some red carpet somewhere holding a spangled handbag with a gasping fish protruding from it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/91 "2009-01-14T04:58:40Z")
> [@](#): > > OTOH, why not treat all animals as those we’re willing to let suffer? I’m thinking about stopping by the animal shelter tomorrow and picking up some fuzzy salmon to throw on the grill. ---
**Author:** ![Mame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@Mame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mame)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/92 "2009-01-14T12:23:58Z")
OK, I am posting just to ensure some good info comes from PETA’s insanity. This link is from a show called the Gruen Transfer, which analyses in a very funny way how ads work. It has a mock ad segment, where 2 different ad agencies are given an impossible brief - [in this case](http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=XofGXKxpU2Y), to sell people on eating whale meat. (hijack. I include [this one](http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=vo6fgZ-dbOw&feature=related) where the brief was to persuade Australians to invade New Zealand, cos it amuses me. Really, the show is worth tracking down.) And PETA? Just lost the plot entirely. ---
**Author:** ![masterofnone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@masterofnone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/masterofnone)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/93 "2009-01-14T14:55:29Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > They are attention whores. This is a satirical campaign with some humor value in it (the stories are kinda funny, and the idea is ridiculous enough to be funny). It fails on two fronts: > > 1. Most people are so convinced that eating fish != eating kittens that the satire will fail to move virtually everyone who hears of it; and > 2. Many people who eat fish but not mammals do so for sound philosophical/ethical reasons, based on observable behavioral differences between normal fish and mammals. > > It succeeds on one front: > > 1. It gets people talking about PETA, gets them in the news, makes PETA feel relevant and awesome to themselves. Just like Reverend Birdsong feels relevant and awesome to himself when he calls female pants-wearing college students whores. > > Daniel This. Remember - these are the morons who [urged Ben & Jerry’s to use human milk](http://www.wptz.com/news/17539127/detail.html). They just don’t understand that it makes them look like idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/94 "2009-01-14T16:00:36Z")
> [@masterofnone](#): > > This. > > Remember - these are the morons who [urged Ben & Jerry’s to use human milk](http://www.wptz.com/news/17539127/detail.html). > They just don’t understand that it makes them look like idiots. But it led to a great thread here on potential ice cream flavors. ---
**Author:** ![masterofnone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@masterofnone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/masterofnone)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/95 "2009-01-14T16:31:37Z")
Linky? I’m sick of waiting for 300 seconds at a time for the damn search engine to bring up every post made in the last 10 years or not find anything at all. Sure, ben and ice are too short, but you’d think Jerry, cream, human, milk, and/or peta would be in that thread in some combination. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/96 "2009-01-14T16:48:50Z")
I used to have sea-kittens for pets. But when I tried to make them use the litterbox they died. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/97 "2009-01-14T16:50:44Z")
> [@masterofnone](#): > > Linky? [Linky](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=484754). My favorite was “Banana Nicole Smith.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![masterofnone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@masterofnone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/masterofnone)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/98 "2009-01-14T17:06:56Z")
Thanks! That was hillarious! “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Mother” has to be my favorite! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![slime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@slime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slime)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/99 "2009-01-15T01:30:39Z")
Remember your sea kitten facts. But also remember you may not want to pet the Great White Sea Kitten. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998/100 "2009-01-15T01:34:27Z")
What does PETA call oysters and clams? I like eating them…maybe stillborn sea kittens? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-says-dont-call-them-fish-call-them-sea-kittens/480998.md?page=6)