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PETA Using Games To Spread Its Message
Cooking Mama is a series of games for the Wii and the DS in which players go through a number of steps to prepare meals using a variety of recipes. Last week, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) created their own Flash-based parody of the game, highlighting the use of meat products by having a more bloody-minded Mama do things like pull the internal organs from a Thanksgiving turkey. Cooking Mama's maker, Majesco, issued a light-hearted response, pointing out the vegetarian meals in the game. PETA then said they plan to continue making parody games as a way of "engaging the public."
Because as long as they aren't doing the whole "domestic terrorism" thing or going after kids while the parents aren't looking I don't really give a damn.
I know my food used to be alive, and I know it had internal organs. Some of them are quite tasty.
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
I personally don't see a clear dividing line between an animal's right to life and a vegetable's right to life. There is a continuum of intelligence, for lack of a better word, from man down to microbe. Humans should clearly have rights because society requires it; beyond that, the decision to protect or purchase is based on an arbitrary value choice.
I'm not being entirely facetious, either; the bits I've read about the lives of plants (i.e. they communicate, actively respond to their environment, and actively defend themselves) puts them about par with some insects IMHO.
Given this, I don't see why PETA types couldn't be attacked from the left, so to speak, on their callous disregard for the feelings of lettuce.
I agree that PETA is out of control. They've even been parodied in World of Warcraft as the D.H.E.T.A (Druids for the Humane and Ethical Treatment of Animals), but I must refer back to Genesis in this respect. God gave Adam dominion of all life on the earth to use as he saw fit.
As it stands, this original mandate, before being cast from Eden, allows us to do what we will with these animals. Later, in Leviticus, certain restrictions on diet and deviate sexual practices (bestiality) were later forbidden, but the original mandate was never completely rescinded.
For the record, I am an Animal Control Officer for a local city and have to deal with this issue on a daily basis. I deal with cruelty as it is defined by the State of Texas and have to carry out my duties according to the statues. Some of these are lock-step with PETA's beliefs, but we also have laws in place about vandalism, criminal mischief, breaking and entering, trespassing, burglary, coercion and theft. I find that PETA crosses those lines far too often and I personally regard them as a criminal organization.
> There are people out there who REALLY think milk comes from the factory. That
> meat is produced in a machine. They really have no idea where an egg comes from.
Sure, and there are also people who think that spaghetti noodles might grow on trees, that buying a sticker to put on their cellphone can improve the battery life, that homeopathy works, that the government could make us all rich just by printing more money if they were only willing to do so, that they won't need to work for a living or pay their mortgage anymore if Obama[1] is President, and all manner of other nonsense. What's your point?
[1] Note to Obama fans: it's just an example. I'm not blaming Obama for the fact that there are idiots in the world. Obviously, if Obama had never run for President, there would be idiots in the world anyway. That's not his fault. It's an immutable fact of life. And I'm sure you can think of an idiotic claim someone has made in support of a candidate from the other party. As I said, people believe all kinds of nonsense.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.