# PETA shoots itself in the foot......again **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 31, 2001, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087 "2001-08-31T08:02:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/1 "2001-08-31T08:02:51Z")
[This](http://www.dailynews.com/news/articles/0801/30/SHARK.asp) is from todays LA Daily News. I shall quote the relevant portion, as the link will not last long. > [@](#): > > Thursday, August 30, 2001 > > PETA capitalizing on shark attack > > By Reni Winter > Knight Ridder Newspapers > > BILOXI, Miss. An animal rights group plans to erect a billboard that capitalizes on the recent shark attack on 8-year-old Jessie Arbogast. > The Web site for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says a billboard will be erected in Pensacola, Fla., this week that asks, “Would you give your right arm to know why sharks attack? Could it be revenge?” > > Dan Shannon of Norfolk, Va., PETA’s fishing campaign coordinator, admits the group’s intent is to “capitalize on a news story, which is current right now, and that is Jessie Arbogast.\*\* Obviously our prayers are with him and his family, and we hope he’s doing well.”\*\* > > But, Shannon said, the group is willing to risk offending people to further its cause of protecting animals. PETA’s mission is to convert the world to vegetarianism, according to its literature. > > “Our philosophy is that we’d rather go too far than not far enough,” Shannon said. "Sometimes, when it deals with animal cruelty, we have to do some outlandish _bolding mine_ Your prayers are with him, and you hope he’s doing well??? And you start an ad campaign that basically says 'he got what he had coming??? Well, isn’t that dandy! Allow me to play the idiot reactionary and send out a hearty **FUCK YOU** to you and yours at this special time. Could you have least waited until it looked like the kid was gonna recover?? How do you think his mother is feel when she sees that? Or were you secretly hoping the kid was gonna buy the farm? Wouldn’t _that_ be outrageous! Fuck you guys… ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/2 "2001-08-31T09:35:25Z")
Anyone ever read _Rainbow Six_? The main plot of the story (WARNING: SPOILER!!) involves a group of nutty planet-loving scientists who plan to eliminate almost all of humanity through a supervirus (isolating and vaccinating themselves from the virus, of course, so they could restart humanity and “do it right”). At the end, following the final battle and after thwarting the plot of these scientists, the counter-terrorist team makes them all strip naked and run to live wild in the woods, since that’s what they seemed to want. I propose we do the same thing to PETA. Not because they plan on killing all of humanity, of course (not yet, anyway), but because they’re annoying, Ignorant little fucks. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/3 "2001-08-31T10:05:42Z")
Ya know, I’m halfway to being a vegetarian, but people like this make me want to go out and stock up on steak. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/4 "2001-08-31T10:19:11Z")
Well, I’m heading down to Gladstones 4 Fish seafood restaurant for shark steak. ---
**Author:** ![NutWrench](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nutwrench/32/20193_2.png) [@NutWrench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutWrench)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/5 "2001-08-31T10:31:44Z")
I’m waiting for a really COOL newspaper headline like: “PETA Activists get Eaten by Bears” ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/6 "2001-08-31T12:43:05Z")
[Bun-Bun](http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=970906) is the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Briminator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba9def/32.png) [@Briminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briminator)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/7 "2001-08-31T12:49:13Z")
This link sums up my feelings of PETA [http://www.theonion.com/onion3110/petacommandos.html](http://www.theonion.com/onion3110/petacommandos.html) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/8 "2001-08-31T12:49:48Z")
I heard about this on local radio a couple of days ago. I figured the DJs were making a particularly tasteless joke. Way to go, PETA. Most people stop sinking so low after they hit bedrock; it’s amazing (and saddening) to see an organization that says, “No, by God, let’s start drilling. I’m sure we can go lower.” ---
**Author:** ![NutWrench](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nutwrench/32/20193_2.png) [@NutWrench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutWrench)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/9 "2001-08-31T16:38:56Z")
Shark Banner ad from PETA’s website: [http://www.peta.org/feat/shark/index.html](http://www.peta.org/feat/shark/index.html) And while I was on the page I noticed this, too: > [@](#): > > Beachgoers fall “hook, line, and sinker” for PETA banner > A PETA banner flying over Florida’s beaches may send swimmers running onto the beach, screaming, “Shark!” After the excitement dies down, perhaps they’ll think twice before heading to a nearby “seafood” restaurant to sink their teeth into cholesterol-laden, zero-fiber, fatty dead animals. PETA’s Web site offers advice on how to avoid an attack, too: a heart attack, that is. Any thoughts on the ethics/legality of this? And on the lighter side: here’s a gag website (PETA - People Eating Tasty Animals) [http://www.fegan.net/peta.htm](http://www.fegan.net/peta.htm) ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/10 "2001-08-31T16:52:14Z")
minor hijack I used to enjoy Bill Maher, particularly on Politically Incorrect. He often seemed a pretty common sense - pro individual responsibility kind of guy, in addition to being pretty funny most of the time. Then I saw him on Leno a few months ago after he had to follow an animal act, and he got all wiggy about being a member (board member IIRC) of PETA and how using animals in show business was senseless exploitation and any educational benefit people might receive was secondary to the violation of the animal’s rights by putting it in captivity and parading it around, etc. I was dumbstruck. I haven’t been able to reconcile my two perceptions of the guy, but by listening more closely to what he says since the Leno thing, I’m thinking pretty much anything he says that sounds like common sense is suspect and probably supplied to him by his writers. I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/11 "2001-08-31T17:06:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FallenAngel \* > \*\* > I was dumbstruck. I haven’t been able to reconcile my two perceptions of the guy, but by listening more closely to what he says since the Leno thing, I’m thinking pretty much anything he says that sounds like common sense is suspect and probably supplied to him by his writers. > > I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread. \*\* I think Bill says what he believes. He’s against meat but he’s admitted that once in a while he does eat it. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/12 "2001-08-31T17:06:35Z")
I’m a _proud_ member of PETA - §eople (E)ating (T)asty (A)nimals. My bumper sticker reads: “Nuke the baby whales till they glow in the dark” ---
**Author:** ![THespos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/13 "2001-08-31T17:36:44Z")
Is PETA stupid enough to think that if we stop eating sharks, they’ll stop trying to eat us? Man, I am so tired of these guys jumping in everybody’s face all the time, trying to make people feel like assholes if they don’t agree that animals have rights. Why the hell should animals have rights? If PETA’s argument is that securing rights for animals would prevent cruelty and suffering, they’re completely full of shit. We have laws in the U.S. that are designed to combat animal cruelty, but they don’t do it by ensuring that cute little kittens and baby seals have rights. They do it by punishing cruel human behavior. In other words, we punish the drooling idiot down the street for shoving the lit firecracker up the cat’s ass not because he violated the cat’s rights, but because he’s engaging in some seriously deviant behavior. My view? If another shark can enjoy a shark steak, so can I. So what if we use gill nets to nail the sharks? Their natural predators rip them into tiny pieces with their jaws. Which is worse? And why does it matter? ---
**Author:** ![Tedster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/14 "2001-08-31T18:36:54Z")
Maher is a lot of things, but politically incorrect he ain’t. Maybe that refers to some of his guests. He’s pretty boring, actually, since his responses are so predictable. Oh well. I don’t like animal cruelty- in fact, those people who torture small animals should be killed, basically. Hunting and raising livestock isn’t even comparable. And I love eating steak, venison, etc., and I’d try shark, but the midwestern grocery stores just don’t carry it, dang it. Is it good? ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/15 "2001-08-31T19:32:46Z")
> [@](#): > > …Is PETA stupid enough to think that if we stop eating sharks, they’ll stop trying to eat us? - THespos - - - I will not attempt to plunge the depths of PETA’s stupidity. However, just for fun: 1990 Florida shark catch: 7.4 million pounds 1999 Florida shark catch: 1 million pounds ~ 1993 Florida shark attacks: 8, none fatal 2000 Florida shark attacks: 34, 1 fatal ~ Source: National Review Sept 3 - MC ---
**Author:** ![Akatsukami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/16 "2001-08-31T19:34:02Z")
The bosses and spin doctors at PETA have long since shown that they are:[ul] [li]as stupid and/or ignorant as they act;[/li][li]well-meaning but clueless people who, under the rubric of “all publicity is good publicity” have decided to get their organization’s name (or at least its acronym) in the news as often as possible, no matter how outrageous they have to behave to do so, or;[/li][li]most likely hypocritical, self-centered bastards principally interested in garnering the spotlight whilst pulling down a cushy wage for doing so, but are as bad at acting as [**zuma**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=84515) would have us believe that everyone is.[/li][/ul] In any case, they have long since made themselves as marginal to the “animal rights” debate as the WCTU is the problems of alcohol abuse. Ignore them and, like any bunch of children acting up get attention from mature human beings, they’ll go home. ---
**Author:** ![that\_darn\_cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/59ef9b/32.png) [@that\_darn\_cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/that_darn_cat)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/17 "2001-08-31T19:57:29Z")
**Akatsukami** is right; PETA is just as embarassing to animal rights activists as gun nuts who advise you to shoot federal agents in the head are to anti-gun control activists. For the record, I’m both to some degree. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/18 "2001-09-01T00:58:36Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m a _proud_ member of PETA - > > §eople (E)ating (T)asty (A)nimals. SPOOFE’s Law: As a thread in reference to PETA grows longer, the greater the odds that someone will post this - or similar - play-on-words with PETA’s name. ---
**Author:** ![Billy\_Rubin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billy_rubin/32/3622_2.png) [@Billy\_Rubin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Rubin)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/19 "2001-09-01T01:33:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\*SPOOFE’s Law: As a thread in reference to PETA grows longer, the greater the odds that someone will post this - or similar - play-on-words with PETA’s name. \*\* Damn, if I believed in the existence of sigs, I’d use that one. b. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087/20 "2001-09-01T03:52:32Z")
PETA makes me want to run right out, kill a cow with my bare hands and eat the flesh raw. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-again/79087.md?page=2)