# Why do YOU hate PETA?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [March 22, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367 "2010-03-22T18:26:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/61 "2010-03-23T05:10:09Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#):
>
> Including Ingrid Newkirk, PETA president.
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > “I’m an insulin-dependent diabetic. Twice a day I take synthetically manufactured insulin that still contains some animal products – and I have no qualms about it … I’m not going to take the chance of killing myself by not taking insulin. I don’t see myself as a hypocrite. I need my life to fight for the rights of animals.”
> > –Glamour, January 1990
That’s actually PETA Senior Vice President MaryBeth Sweetland. But yes, it is the height of hypocrisy.
Edit: Rick beat me to the punch with MaryBeth’s quote.
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### Author:  [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/62 "2010-03-23T05:31:52Z")
Huh. Misread my cite, my apologies. The point stands however.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/63 "2010-03-23T08:40:49Z")
The one girl I know who embraces PETA seems to do it because she likes to look at herself and post pictures of herself in various stages of undress on her MySpace.
I don’t even know if I can muster up actual hate for PETA anymore. I honestly believe they are shooting themselves in the foot, as I know of no one in my generation or younger that actually buys what they are selling. That’s the thing about trolling: it’s unsustainable in the long run.
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/64 "2010-03-23T10:19:30Z")
> [@curlcoat](#):
>
> Not the HSUS - they are essentially the same thing as PETA.
I’ve never seen anything to support that assertion. Even their [positions on animal welfare/rights](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humane_Society_of_the_United_States#Position) differ greatly. They support a lot of animal research (but with some reductions), they are in favor of responsible pet ownership, they oppose cruelty in raising of food animals but are not against eating animals, etc. They’re against hunting for any reason other than wildlife population management or food.
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### Author:  [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/65 "2010-03-23T10:30:33Z")
> [@curlcoat](#):
>
> Not the HSUS - they are essentially the same thing as PETA.
This is impressively ignorant, even for you. :dubious:
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/66 "2010-03-23T11:06:13Z")
> [@DianaG](#):
>
> This is impressively ignorant, even for you. :dubious:
There’s a one-many lobbying team who runs some websites like [activistcash.com](http://activistcash.com) and some others. He’s hired by the restaurant industry to try to discredit people who might increase restaurant costs or litigation. His two main focuses are animal welfare issues and MADD. If you hear someone claiming HSUS is like PETA, they probably have been taken in by this guy.
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### Author:  [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/67 "2010-03-23T11:31:04Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#):
>
> I fail to understand the outrage over the use of animal parts beyond food. Besides maybe clubbing baby seals for their fur, leather is a perfectly acceptable usage of cow skin to me.
Seal hunters have stopped hunting juvenile seals at least 20 years ago because of protests. Of course, that won’t stop PETA or other extremist groups from still making this claim, as young seals are “cute”.
And of course, most of the opposition to seal hunting is based on cuteness in the first place.
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### Author:  [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/68 "2010-03-23T12:22:17Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#):
>
> I suggest Fudge-Packers.😃
Are you a Bears or Vikings fan? 😛
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### Author:  [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/69 "2010-03-23T13:07:38Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#):
>
> > [@friedo](#):
> >
> > Guess what: all your cruelty-free cosmetics are made by companies who just buy their recipes from other companies that do animal testing. That way they can say they don’t do any animal testing.
>
> Or with chemicals that were tested in the past on animals and thus the company doesn’t see a need to do it all fucking over again.
You don’t say.
Still, Friedo, I suspect you’d be unable to provide a cite showing that -all- cruelty-free cosmetics use recipes from companies which currently perform animal testing. Cosmetic testing on animals was banned in Britain in 1998 and was banned in the EU five years later. Clearly it’s possible to buy from companies which currently eschew animal testing for cosmetics. I can’t do anything about products or companies involved in animal tests decades ago but I can do my best to avoid products from companies which are still testing today.
Like I said, the testing lists are imperfect, but they’re a start.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/70 "2010-03-23T13:54:42Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#):
>
> ".
>
> And of course, most of the opposition to seal hunting is based on cuteness in the first place.
One of my favorite early internet sites was Hunting Baby Fur Seals for Fun and Profit. It was a tongue in cheek site that had the feel of those late night ads for home businesses/MLM type of things.
Of course some people had no sense of humor about it. And some even thought the thing was for real. The hate mail that guy posted was hilarious.
And the Bonzai Kitty website where the guy had a how to on how to grow a baby kitten in a bottle to make it a Bonzai Kitty had some good mail too.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/71 "2010-03-23T14:26:27Z")
> [@billfish678](#):
>
> One of my favorite early internet sites was Hunting Baby Fur Seals for Fun and Profit. It was a tongue in cheek site that had the feel of those late night ads for home businesses/MLM type of things.
>
> Of course some people had no sense of humor about it. And some even thought the thing was for real. The hate mail that guy posted was hilarious.
I remember that one! Oh, man - memories. Prodigy dial-up, watching GIFs sloowwwly load one line at a time … I kind of miss the nineties now.
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### Author:  [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/72 "2010-03-23T14:59:20Z")
> [@Oakminster](#):
>
> Yeah, I’m pretty sure I heard it somewhere before, but I can’t remember where or when. Might pay to watch PETA try it, though…
I’m reasonably sure I’ve seen it on a bumper sticker somewhere. An oldie, but definately a goodie.
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### Author:  [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/73 "2010-03-23T15:43:31Z")
> [@Oscalo](#):
>
> Because they’re basically the teabaggers of the left - a bunch of yahoos whose extreme rhetoric and stunts pretty much obscure whatever legimate concerns they may have.
PETA are not part of ‘The Left’, whatever that might be.
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### Author:  [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/74 "2010-03-23T15:48:35Z")
PETA is particularly annoying for those of us who do support Animal Welfare causes (note Animal Welfare, not Animal Rights) because they are so out there with their insane campaigns, that they tend to paint every activity and organization related to animals with the same crazy brush.
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### Author:  [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/75 "2010-03-23T15:52:20Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#):
>
> 1. They are incredible IRL trolls, and trolls on message boards. Wasn’t there a PETA member on this message board who caused a stir by equating wearing leather shoes with making Jewish skin lamps?
That was **OpalCat** , [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=2072856&postcount=27), where she was questioning whether its ethical for vegetarians to buy leather-bound books or some such nonsense.
Hmm, now I’m hungry for some buckeyes…
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### Author:  [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/76 "2010-03-23T15:52:53Z")
> [@GESancMan](#):
>
> I should clarify that PETA approached me, not the other way around. I don’t know how that came about, I assume a customer got in touch with them. So perhaps in their twisted minds they really were “coming to the rescue.”
>
> I’ve never given this much thought before, but now I’m wondering why the way they presented the story towards the media in San Jose, where my business was located, was so drastically different than the spin they gave the story for Miami. I mean, knowing what I do about PETA now, it seems out of character that they didn’t spread the same lies at home, where they could have hurt my business. Though I suppose it’s easier to make yourself look like the hero in a faraway place, where the “vanquished” aren’t present to counter the story.
I wonder if this is because there were actually two different people handling it in each city - the San Jose guy didn’t really want to antagonize someone who was cooperating/seemed to want what was best for the sharks, but didn’t bother to communicate that to his Miami counterpart:
“Hey. Yeah, I’ve got two sharks here, need some help getting them released into the ocean. You can help me out? Hey, thanks man. Huh? Oh, they were living in a pizza restaurant for two years, and now they’re too big for the tank, yeah.”
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### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/77 "2010-03-23T16:00:56Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#):
>
> Anyone know a PETA member?
I’m sure there are plenty of people, though, who join PETA because “hey, they help animals”, and aren’t really aware of what whackjobs they’re hooking up with.
> [@NinjaChick](#):
>
> I had the misfortune of living in the same dorm as one. She called me a murderer for using honey, and was unable to explain where I was wrong in assuming that honey farmers in fact want their bees alive, not dead.
:eek: Of all the ignorance mentioned in this thread, I think this takes the prize.
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### Author:  [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/78 "2010-03-23T16:55:38Z")
> [@drachillix](#):
>
> Or MADD..
>
> Make those two groups butt heads and they may convert totally to energy and annihilate wisconsin in the ensuing explosion.
[They actually have already](http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-000747.php)- in 2000 PETA did this dumbass ‘Got beer?’ campaign, which it aimed at college students, claiming that beer was better for you than millk ([Cecil actually did a column related to it](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2442/is-cows-milk-the-worst-beverage-on-earth)). MADD got all up in their grill about it and they pulled the campaign, only to try to start it up again a [couple years later in Canada](http://www.canadafreepress.com/2002/tgr82602.htm). I’m they (PETA, that is) were delighted with the extra attention they got from it.
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### Author:  [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/79 "2010-03-23T18:17:39Z")
> [@chrisk](#):
>
> I wonder if this is because there were actually two different people handling it in each city - the San Jose guy didn’t really want to antagonize someone who was cooperating/seemed to want what was best for the sharks, but didn’t bother to communicate that to his Miami counterpart:
>
> “Hey. Yeah, I’ve got two sharks here, need some help getting them released into the ocean. You can help me out? Hey, thanks man. Huh? Oh, they were living in a pizza restaurant for two years, and now they’re too big for the tank, yeah.”
No, it was the same person, the woman who was in charge of the operation to “rescue” my sharks. She played nice with the media in San Jose, but the articles I saw in the Miami press quoted her with the lies I’ve written about.
You have a point, though. She probably didn’t want to antagonize us, as you say, but wanted PETA to come across as “The Hero” in Miami, perhaps thinking we’d never know.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hate-peta/533367/80 "2010-03-23T20:24:22Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#):
>
> > [@Oakminster](#):
> >
> > PETA is real tough when they’re harassing blue haired little old ladies for wearing fur. If they want to impress me, they’ll need to start harassing biker gangs for wearing leather.
>
> I’m going to steal this phrase.
> You fucking nailed it.
I believe the ultimate credit for this bon mot goes to Terry Pratchett.
I agree with much of the grumbling about PETA’s tactics, hypocrisy, attention-whoring, ect. Compared to that, one particular grudge I still hold against them seems pretty minor, but rankles me in the mists of memory. Early in the explosion of the web, one guy registered the domain [PETA.org](http://PETA.org). He put up a web site called [People Eating Tasty Animals](http://mtd.com/tasty/) that featured links to anti-PETA information, as well as a lot of sites of interest to people who like the things PETA hates. When PETA woke up and realized they were missing the bus, they wrested the domain name away from the owner through lawsuits. They were a huge organization funded by the allowances of a lot of gullible 14-year-olds, but the guy who got the domain name first was just a guy holding down a job. Fucking pricks.
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