VERY interesting.
I think PETA thinks there is still a great need for (in some cases) shock value - for "shocking" many folks out of their numb stance toward taking action in the betterment of animal's lives. I
sometimes think PETA's agenda in many shock campaigns is *just* to get people talking. Unfortunately, many find it all SUCH a turn off - that you have to wonder - even IF people are talking, is the real message really getting through? Or, does that not perhaps matter to PETA, as long as folks are talking? I don't know.
I do know that a bajillion people couldn't care less about what happens to a chicken during its lifetime. And now,
despite PETA's alienating methods, a chicken's life *is* talked about and wondered about - and we wonder if that chicken could live less cruelly. Almost all of that is bc of PETA.
I don't know if (enough) people would give 2 hoots about a chicken if it hadn't been rather thrown in their face, so they almost
had to discuss it. I wish Dateline/Oprah/Primetime/etc. would do more factual stories about subjects such as this, so that maybe people
could talk about it, without also having to be distracted by the delivery of the story/issue.
I don't know what the answer is, at all. I *do* think that as long as we're still euthanizing 3 Million animals a year and animal cruelty is still an issue and people still rip the fur off of living dogs, PETA still has a big role in the animal welfare community. BUT, there are many other animal welfare organizations to support if PETA is not for you.
Even for me, PETA represents about 5% of what I donate annually to animals. Still, I think they play an important role in keeping animal welfare in the forefront, that it has a trickle down effect to other agencies, and they keep us talking, don't they?
Believe me, I SO wish we could all spend *more* time actually talking about how to move forward w/ animal welfare...and less time discussing PETA itself, you know? But PETA causes exactly this kind of controversy - and it truly can be so distracting from the issue of animal welfare itself. Ironic, isn't it?
