UPDATE: 5/18/05. Those of you who tuned in expecting to hear CCF's Director of Research, David Martosko address the issue of PeTA infiltrating schools and indoctrinating students were undoubtedly disappointed, as was I, that MSNBC changed their schedule and omitted the interview, substituting for it an upbeat monologue by Mr. Scarborough.
TV programs make last-minute changes all the time: years ago, I was interviewed by a local TV station for a story that was never aired. And my wife was interviewed at length by CNN for a story that was cut back to a brief head shot and one brief phrase, clipped from a sentence: total time, 4 seconds, if that.
So the segment I'd hoped to see was just a casualty, I suspect, of somebody charged with trying to balance off whatever considerations drive the show.
That's not a big deal, it happens all the time.
But what really annoyed me was how Mr. Scarborough trivialized a serious story.
SCARBOROUGH: I‘m Joe, I had a burger for breakfast, lunch, but for dinner I had a burger, and I‘ve got issues.
First off tonight, I‘ve got issues with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Well, it seems that PETA, the animal rights activists who never saw protest they didn‘t want to join, are now trying to indoctrinate children.
Now that 12 states have passed laws saying you have to teach, quote, humane education classes, PETA has latched on their web site, TeachKind.org, scare tactics to get people to teach children the PETA way, saying the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer learned his trait by dissecting a fetal pig in school. And it also offers lessons plans, like cut out dissection, and my personal favorite, meet your meat, to say that chicken are people, too.
You know, PETA says they‘re just trying to help kids learn, but I say, kids, listen up to Uncle Joe, and always remember this. A burger is a terrible thing to waste.
Mr. Scarborough's delivery was quickly-paced, wry and chipper, and he mixed silliness with seriousness in a superficial treatment of an important topic. His humor came through, but not much else (he even ended his program with a sequence of bear shots, saying he probably wouldn't have included them except for his PeTA piece). Indeed, the point of the piece seemed to be to entertain the audience with Mr. Scarborough's sparkling wit.
But in effect, he gave PeTA everything they could possibly have wanted: they got the national attention they constantly seek, presented in a light-hearted way which preserved their self-selected and carefully-crafted image of being a bit "kooky," while underplaying, if not ignoring, the danger they pose. And I simply must ask: if PeTA had themselves scripted Mr. Scarborough's piece, what would they have done differently? (It's not like they're overly shy about exploiting horrific events — like the holocaust and the horrible murders of Canadian girls — to push their agenda).
I'd hoped for something more serious, something more thoughtful, something that would be a wake-up call, so you can imagine my disappointment.
Still — there will be other opportunities . . .it's just a matter of time.
Brian
Readers of AC will know that I've long been concerned about PeTA's efforts to indoctrinate and manipulate children into becoming AR clones by infiltrating schools (link link), as has the Center for Consumer Freedom (link).
So it is with great interest that I learned that David Martosko of the CCF will be appearing on MSNBC's "Scarborough Country" tonight at 10pm (EDT), where he will be discussing PETA's attempts to impact children with their propaganda campaigns.
This is not to be missed.
Brian
