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PETA Condemns Pokemon For Promoting Animal Abuse
SchrodingerZ writes "PETA, the same group that last November protested Mario for 'wearing fur,' has condemned the Pokémon media franchise and video game series. In light of the recent release of Pokemon Black and White Versions 2, the activist group is protesting that the Pokemon game series 'paints a rosy picture of what amounts to thinly veiled animal abuse.' As many of us know Pokemon is about young children who capture wild animals for the sole purpose of having them battle in non-fatal sparing matches. 'Much like animals in the real world, Pokémon are treated as unfeeling objects and used for such things as human entertainment and as subjects in experiments. The way that Pokémon are stuffed into pokéballs is similar to how circuses chain elephants inside railroad cars and let them out only to perform confusing and often painful tricks that were taught using sharp steel-tipped bullhooks and electric shock prods,' says a statement from the group. Ironically within Pokemon B/W 2 there an organization known as Team Plasma , which deals with taking Pokemon and retuning them to the wild. PETA is so up in arms that they have even created an anti-pokemon parody game in which you play as an escaped Pokemon battling your trainer. I recommend trying it, just for the laughs."
One of the funniest headlines I've read all year. Don't need TFA.
sig: sauer
Well, my days of not taking PETA seriously are certainly coming to a middle.
But if you don't feed the trolls they'll die. PETA condemns troll killing.
If anybody at PETA had actually bothered to play Pokemon Black and White for more than five minutes, they'd have met a group of villains named Team Plasma. This group was a parody of real world "revolutionary" groups like the Black Panthers or PETA, who attempt to present themselves as fighting for a worthy cause, when in reality they're just after personal gain and a feelings of self-satisfaction. Team Plasma tries to convince you the player that your treatment of pokemon is cruel, and that Pokemon hate people as a result. Yet the real message of the story is learning that catching a pokemon isn't just about stuffing it into a ball and forcing it to fight: It's about building a bond of trust and mutual friendship between the pokemon and trainer, which if properly fostered allows them to accomplish anything together. If anything, PETA should be commending Pokemon for it's progressive attitude. But I guess that doesn't make for as eye-catching a headline.
The flash game serves as an artistic analogy (see: dictionary), and it's actually a very poignant and well-placed one. Everyone understands the Pokemon universe and yet few have questioned the role of the animals in it. Are battles like cockfights? Or are they like baseball games? What rights does a Pokemon have? We don't think about these questions because we're not thinking about Pokemon (animals), we're thinking primarily about humans in our very self-absorbed way.
You don't condemn or boycott a fucking analogy. Also, you have sympathy for animals, because they actually exist in the real world and computer characters do not and if you don't have sympathy for animals in the real world, you aren't going to have sympathy for computer characters and will never relate one to the other. Also, in such a case, you'd also probably be a sociopath.
OFFTOPIC. But...
You are incorrect, but continue with your political correctness, if you like.
"Retarded" is polite and kinder word the medical community adopted to replace cruel words like "stupid" and "lame" and "dumb" and "imbecile". Those words were hurtful and cruel *and* they were used medically. Since the word "retarded" came to replace the other words, those words have since been brought into every day usage without unintended insult to those who were now clinically "retarded" and no longer clinically "stupid", "lame", "dumb, "imbeciles".
By organizations for the cause, I am told that the correct term is no longer "retarded", but "intellectually disabled". Therefore, "retarded" no longer applies to those who used to be medically "retarded" (and before that, medically lame or stupid or dumb, etc). Therefore, "retarded" now holds the same place that those other words do. No longer applicable to anyone as a medical term and now relegated to a general word slighting another person with regard to alleged intellect.
TL;DR: "Retarded", no matter what some shitty commercial during an episode of Glee tells you, is now linguistically equal to "stupid" and "lame" and "dumb" and "imbecile". If you find one hurtful, then for consistency, you should find them all hurtful.
The "Westboro Baptist Church" style of marketing? You're actually probably a lot more right than you know. Groups like this stay relevant by generating ever more insane news clips. Oh sure, they probably believe (most of them, anyways) their basic message, but they do and say the really stupid stuff like this because it gets them noticed. And they thrive on attention. They're like children throwing temper tantrums (probably with the same level of maturity). The absolute worst thing you can do to them, and the best thing you can do for society, is to studiously ignore them. It might get worse for a while, but it will be vastly better once they learn that saying things like this won't get them noticed.
Of course, I live in a country where the Kardashians are popular, so that'll never happen.
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
Yes, this does seem to be PETA's primary function these days. Anytime a story comes up about PETA people work themselves into a lather. Even when it's about something as obvious as the fact that cramming animals into tiny balls and then making them fight in gladiatorial style combat may be ethically questionable.
But being a target for hate is a valid role, albeit a rather painful one. People expend their vitriol on PETA and other animals rights groups wind up looking better by comparison. "Hey," they say, "we're not PETA. You can talk to us and consider our suggestions rather than just dismissing them out of hand." Ultimately, partly thanks to PETA acting as lightning rod, the goal is furthered.
PETA's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad History of Killing Animals
In 2011, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) behaved in a regrettably consistent manner: it euthanized the overwhelming majority (PDF) of dogs and cats that it accepted into its shelters. Out of 760 dogs impounded, they killed 713, arranged for 19 to be adopted, and farmed out 36 to other shelters (not necessarily "no kill" ones). As for cats, they impounded 1,211, euthanized 1,198, transferred eight, and found homes for a grand total of five. PETA also took in 58 other companion animals -- including rabbits. It killed 54 of them.
NB that in Virginia, stats only need to be kept for animals taken in with the intent of putting them up for adoption.
Think that's a fluke?
Get this:
PETA's "Thank You" for Killing Shelter Pets
When the No Kill shelter in Shelby County, Kentucky, recently announced that they had run out of space -- and were hence going to have to start killing healthy dogs and cats -- officials received a nice basket of gourmet cookies, with a note signed by PETA: "Thank you for doing the right thing for animals."
Surely I'm joking here. This must be a weak stab at satire. Many people have written about Ingrid Newkirk's vicious pet-killing program -- her organization has personally liquidated over 27,000 animals -- but PETA has always responded with hurt and outrage (and lawyers). People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals don't celebrate killing, goes the lie -- they see it as a regrettable necessity.
Surely Newkirk wouldn't be so foolish as to express her ghoulish agenda in this way, as a naked statement accompanied by a gift. No group of self-styled vegans would publicly wed their name to the Pro-Kill Equation: butchery = the right thing.
Well, Nathan Winograd (who developed the somewhat different No Kill Equation) reported on this in detail, and I suggest you examine his photographic evidence. A lovely basket of "Allison's Gourmet Cookies" -- shipped fresh from California -- with a handwritten note signed: "The PETA Staff." If you'd like further evidence, and to read the reverse side of this charming note, Shelby County No Kill Mission has produced an affecting video about the episode.
To understand just how grotesque this is, you have to know a little bit about Shelby. This is not simply one of America's fifty-one No Kill communities. It has a special significance: Last year's save rate sent Shelby County to the top -- it is now one of the most successful examples of No Kill in the nation.
The last animal killed for lack of space in Shelby County was on May 27, 2008. Since then, they've enjoyed a save rate that is almost precisely the inverse of PETA's kill rate. Whereas PETA slaughters 97% of the pets delivered to their hellish "Shelter of Last Resort," in 2011 Shelby saved 98.52% of the cats and 94.46% of the dogs in their care.
Shelby County runs an open admission shelter: They do not turn animals away. They have an impeccable history -- despite PETA's dire predictions, their No Kill community has never been associated with hoarding or animal abuse of any kind. (In fact, none of the legitimate No Kill organizations has been guilty of these crimes, but that's another story.) The Shelby program has a tiny budget: $147,000. Compare that to PETA's annual plunder: over $32.3 million from unsuspecting donors.
PETA needs to turn its attention toward the care and feeding of abandoned Tamagotchi. These were purchased for children who, after having grown up, have abandoned their pets to the bottoms of toy chests or the back of sock drawers. PETA needs to fund a reserve for forgotten Tamagotchi.
Right after they get their Save the Skeets campaign off the ground.
Have gnu, will travel.
Honestly, people, why is this story even here? PETA shits out a turd like this once a week. And Slashdot has given them exactly what they wanted.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Read the rest at the link. If you want to know more get Penn and Teller's Bullshit! on DVD and watch the PETA episode.
The "Westboro Baptist Church" style of marketing? You're actually probably a lot more right than you know. Groups like this stay relevant by generating ever more insane news clips. Oh sure, they probably believe (most of them, anyways) their basic message, but they do and say the really stupid stuff like this because it gets them noticed. And they thrive on attention. They're like children throwing temper tantrums (probably with the same level of maturity). The absolute worst thing you can do to them, and the best thing you can do for society, is to studiously ignore them.
When WBC came to protest at UW-Madison, we gathered sponsors.
The sponsors donated $X for every minute that WBC protested.
The proceeds were used to fund LGBT student organizations on campus.
WBC is welcome to come back and raise more money for LGBT causes any time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism_treadmill#Euphemism_treadmill
That's exactly what the euphemism treadmill is.
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
People forget what PETA really stands for. They want ALL animals to be free, includings pets such as cats, since "owning" a cat is abuse in their eyes.
If you wanted to show the American voter is willing to go that far, you would show laws aimed at REALLY protecting kids most dangerous enemy, the average driver. You don't. The greatest child killer in the USA goes free and unchecked.
People are willing to do a lot of meaningless things to feel good but they won't do anything real. That is why PETA will fail.
And as a cat owner, good riddance to them.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.