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Starlight
Extreme Fanatic   Posts: 618 Registered: 27/9/2002 Status: Offline
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posted on 31/1/2005 at 11:32 PM |
I've been toying with a decision for awhile now, and I've finally gotten
around to making that decision. I am freeing myself from being known as a
Peta member.
I defended them for awhile in arguments, but now I'm ready to let them be.
I didn't want to feel that I'd been made to not like them by other people's
opinions, and that was part of why I would defend them. I wanted to make
sure that I'd formed my own opinions and decided from that.
My decision to become a vegetarian had nothing to do with Peta, as I didn't
really know much about them before deciding to become one. Then I found out
that they were very involved with a particular campaign that was close to
my heart and one of my pet causes. That campaign was to get Lota, an
elephant, freed from the Hawthorne Corporation and moved to The Elephant
Sanctuary in Tennessee.
Here is a link to Lota's story.
http://www.elephants.com/lota.htm
I basically joined Peta because of the Lota situation, because I knew that
my writing to the USDA alone would not feel like quite enough. Now that
Lota has been moved to the Elephant Sanctuary, I was able to step back and
take a good long look at what so many people have been talking about all
along, and I see the same things that a lot of other people do.
I really don't find that I agree with a lot of the things they apparently
stand for, and I knew that much all along. I turned a blind eye to a lot of
things, just so I wouldn't give up on the few things that I did feel good
about with them. At this point, I am seeing things as they really are.
While there still might be a few people here and there that were not
militants in that organization, I think the average member really is a
militant. I've now had enough of it. I'm ready to move on and I feel free
again. You could call it Human Liberation, if you will.
I really don't know if that organization was originally founded to help
animal rights supporters join together, and peacefully support animal
rights causes and campaigns or if there was a hidden agenda all along. I
just know I saw way too much "preaching to the choir" for my own taste. I
didn't need the same propaganda shoved into my face all the time, and I
sure didn't need to be told that every damn thing I did, that wasn't purely
vegan, was some sort of evil.
Some of the things they are against I am against too, but so are a ton of
other organizations and individuals against those same things. While it may
be cute and funny and meaningful to protest the way they
do,(sometimes...other times it's just absurd), I don't like some of their
methods at all. I, also, am now fully aware of the herd mentality they are
interested in propagating. Guess what? I don't go "moo" and I don't live in
a herd. So, I reckon that must not be for me.
I don't think it makes any sense to shove gory literature into a little
kid's face, and have them run away screaming. I can't see how that makes
them not want to eat meat, I think it only makes them think what a mean,
nasty person that was to shove that in their face and make them cry. The
sneak and shock effect is good for movie effects maybe, but not to
peacefully get a point across.
I assume they are still a legal organization, but on the absolute extreme
edge of what is legal most likely. I've, also, now seen comments in places
I didn't expect to see them, about condoning certain actions of
organizations...that are more extreme than them...and I don't think I like
the comfort level involved with that.
I may still buy some of their merchandise such as their "Animals in Labs"
stickers to put on envelopes (unless/until I can find another source of
those type of stickers), and consider them as one of many sources of
information out there on animal situations, or even give a small donation
here and there (maybe/maybe not), but that is no different than what I
would do with any other type of charitable organization.
It seems that most of the causes I am interested in are supported by more
than one organization, and I can always support those same causes of my own
accord. I've given this a lot more thought than even my own husband
realized, and I told him of my decision today. He didn't seem surprised, he
seemed glad for me to have one less thing to be upset over off my mind.
In my newly freed state...I, hereby, declare myself a "Freelance Animal
Rights Activist". That feels really good to say too.
____________________
"When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never
tried before." ~Mae West
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bettie_x
Extreme Fanatic  Posts: 1570 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 1/2/2005 at 01:46 AM |
Good for you! I like "freelance animal rights activist". It's the only
way to be.
I am not a member of PeTA, and it is a fine line they walk. They do a lot
of good, but I don't like their methods or their "propaganda" either. I
know what's going on, thank you, but unfortunately many people do NOT and I
think that is why they've chosen such an "in your face" attitude, which
also unfortunately is counterproductive. I don't think kids should be
shown graffic and terrifying true life material any more than that same
child should watch "hannibal", but I also don't think they should be lied
to like they are by their parents and the dairy/animal products industry.
About happy cows in green fields munching on buttercups in the fresh air,
which is bogus as fuck. But when I have kids they aren't going to be
reading PeTA propaganda. I'll tell them the truth, they don't need the
gory slide show to give them nightmares and guilt complexes.
If all PeTA did was boycotts, protest, and expose abuse and simply tell the
plain truth instead of using graphic militant style down your throat
tactics, I would be a member. They do cute commercials (such as the "keep
your hands off my hide" singsong commercial), and boycotts to improve
treatment of animals by large corporations (safeway and McDonald's both
buckled to their boycott pressure and bad but true publicity and vowed to
use only animal product vendors that treat their livestock "fairly"), but
most of their members and tactics border on crackpot and frightening.
It could be argued that if people would wake up and see for themselves the
REAL side to the animal products industry, then these tactics wouldn't be
necessary, and hence they could feel vindicated in being as "in your face"
as the "other side". But as we all know, when you try to shove something
down someone's throat, they throw it up and have a bad reaction to anything
SOUNDING like that previous experience, even if it's a totally different
group and stance. I think it was Wormwood that said I didn't have a very
"vegan" approach to people eating meat, as in I don't care what you do,
it's your life and if you want to change it I'll help if I can, and if you
really want to learn the truth I'll tell it to you and it won't be pretty,
but I'm not going to stand and yell and scream at what an awful person you
are because you wear leather. I don't have to like it, but it's none of my
business. That isn't PeTA's stand, which is why I'm not a member. I'll
inform, I'll educate, I'll drop hints and make jokes and hold serious
conversations, but I'm not going to make you feel stupid (unless you are
like the fat bitch at tacoma starbucks) or think your a bad person (just
ask meranda_jade), but it is important to me that people at least KNOW what
they're eating, where it came from, and that yes, it feels, and no it's not
harmless.
Props to you kiddo, for having the guts to stand up to the OTHER side of
the "war". And I"m with you! ____________________
Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
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Starlight
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 618 Registered: 27/9/2002 Status: Offline
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posted on 1/2/2005 at 02:42 AM |
Thanks Bettie, that makes me feel really good to hear.
I am very much on the side of letting people come to their own decisions. I
agree that informing, hinting, joking and bringing something up in
conversation are some of the best ways to get a discussion on different
views going. I respect other people's rights to believe differently than
me, and I just expect the same in return. I do the best I can with the
things that I can, and I don't like being bullied or called a hypocrite on
the things I can't or don't want to change. (I can certainly understand
defending oneself...especially against people like the chicky at the tacoma
starbucks you cited) I don't think it makes someone bad if they choose to
live differently than me, but I'd like to think they make informed choices.
____________________
"When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've
never
tried before." ~Mae West
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bettie_x
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 1570 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 1/2/2005 at 09:35 AM |
God that lady....*fume*. Not only did she butt into a personal
conversation I was having about opening a vegan bakery so I could stuff my
face on pastry all day, but then proceeded to tell me how WRONG
vegetarianism/veganism is because "they're here for us to use and if we
didn't eat them they'd take over us". *blink* 
I had that song "cows with guns" running through my head all day after
that. ____________________
Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
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MystryssRavynDarque
Extreme Fanatic  Posts: 648 Registered: 24/9/2002 Status: Offline
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posted on 1/2/2005 at 12:16 PM |
| I never paid a membership fee or donated money to them, but I did get a
Peta membership card and I did get address labels in the mail, so how does
someone get out? Or is it like a gang? Do I have to have my legs broken
to get out? ____________________
"People always say what we are looking for is a meaning for life…I don't
think that's what we're looking for. I think what we're looking for is the
experience of being alive." -Joseph Campbell
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bettie_x
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 1570 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 1/2/2005 at 07:59 PM |
They probably bust your thumbs and then lock you in a room and make you
watch "meet your meat" until brainwashing is complete, making you their new
supersoldier.
Don't get me wrong..."meet your meat" is a movie that more people need to
see, but c'mon... ____________________
Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
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Anonymous
 Posts: 116 Registered: 14/4/2002 Status: Offline
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posted on 1/2/2005 at 09:12 PM |
Well, you do get lots of mailings and some protest invites/literature, and
email. I'm currently working on getting my monthly automatic deductions
from my checking account stopped, but I would imagine that will continue
with the one for later this month at least, but hopefully will get stopped
by next month.
Hopefully they don't show up at your door asking you why you are leaving
the cult.
Although, I did encounter a Lutheran church with those tactics.
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Starlight
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 618 Registered: 27/9/2002 Status: Offline
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posted on 1/2/2005 at 09:14 PM |
One more time, this time with me signed in...I'm such a putz.
Well, you do get lots of mailings and some protest invites/literature, and
email. I'm currently working on getting my monthly automatic deductions
from my checking account stopped, but I would imagine that will continue
with the one for later this month at least, but hopefully will get stopped
by next month.
Hopefully they don't show up at your door asking you why you are leaving
the cult.
Although, I did encounter a Lutheran church with those tactics.
____________________
"When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've
never
tried before." ~Mae West
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bettie_x
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 1570 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 4/2/2005 at 12:04 AM |
| I wonder if PeTA thinks of all they habitat they're wiping out with their
overabundant mailings? Unless they use recycled paper, someone (not me I'm
lazy) should look into that. ____________________
Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
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Starlight
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 618 Registered: 27/9/2002 Status: Offline
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posted on 4/2/2005 at 01:17 AM |
| Yeah, I always wonder about why some of the most frequent and thickest
mailings seem to come from conservation groups. I know some of the papers
from charities do say they are from recycled or partially recycled paper,
but some of the envelopes are so overstuffed that it sort of makes me
wonder why so much...couldn't they say if you'd like some pamplets or
something along those lines? ____________________
"When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've
never
tried before." ~Mae West
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Schizo
Extreme Fanatic  Posts: 897 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 4/2/2005 at 03:55 AM |
If you waste recycled paper, then you're depleting the finite resource of
paper to be recycled, and more will have to be made - from trees! Which
are habitats for the animals they want to protect, of course.
And then you have to think about where all that recycled paper goes - most
people will trash it. And maybe not even recycle it again. Further
contributing to the polluting of the environment.
How very non-environment-concious of them. Naughty PETA. ____________________
"You can tell by the scars on my arms and the cracks in my hips and the
dents in my car and the blisters on my lips that I'm not the carefullest of
girls." - Dresden Dolls, "Girl Anachronism"
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Starlight
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 618 Registered: 27/9/2002 Status: Offline
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posted on 7/2/2005 at 04:24 AM |
| Speaking of wasting recycled paper, I just received a hefty packet from
The National Arbor Day Foundation. I still think if they are going to
solicit, it should be a page or two at the most and ask if you'd like to
receive more. Instead it seems like the packets are weighing more and more.
The envelope may as well of read "We sent you a tree to remind you to plant
a tree." ____________________
"When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've
/>
never
tried before." ~Mae West
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bettie_x
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 1570 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 9/2/2005 at 12:27 AM |
| all my fliers and junk mail go up in smoke into the ozone cuz if I use my
heater instead of my woodstove I'll go bankrupt. ____________________
Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
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