PeTA: It's "Human-Slave-Equals-Animal" Campaign Backfires
Let's establish a point of departure: to Animal Rights activists, the life of an animal and that of a human are of equal worth, and if you treat an animal in ways you wouldn't treat a human (eat it, cage it, teach it to perform in circuses, etc.) you are committing the sin of "speciesism." And to an Animal Rights person, committing speciesism — discriminating on the basis of species — is every bit as reprehensible, immoral and unethical as discriminating on the basis of race.
PeTA's most recent publicity outrage (Are Animals the New Slaves) has been designed to drive that point home, in much the same way their "Holocaust on a Plate" campaign was. But this time, rather than likening the treatment of animals to Holocaust victims, they are likening the treatment of animals to slavery. (I've guessed at why PeTA would undertake such an off-putting campaign here and here.)
Unfortunately for PeTA, the present campaign seems to be in the process of backfiring, and I think things are going to get worse for PeTA, at least in the short term:
A two-hour animal rights demonstration on the Green Monday sparked outrage instead of sympathy from the public.
"This is the most racist thing I’ve ever seen on the Green. How dare you," roared Philip Goldson, 43, of New Haven at the protest organizers at Church and Chapel streets.
Heh. Mr. Godson clearly doesn't appreciate the virtues of the underlying AR premise . . . that the life of a human and that of an animal are of equal value . . ..
And PeTA clearly didn't grasp that the kinds of slurs that didn't draw much hellfire and brimstone when directed at Jews will when directed at Black Americans . . . (PeTA ran their "Holocaust on Your Plate" campaign for 2 years . . .)
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a national animal rights group, posted giant photographs of people, mostly black Americans, being tortured, sold and killed, next to photographs of animals, including cattle and sheep, being tortured, sold and killed.
"I think it is an apt comparison," said Josh Warchol, 26, of Wallingford, president of the Southern Connecticut Vegetarian Society, which is aligned with PETA.
Of course Mr. Warchol thinks it's an apt comparison!
Mr. Warchol — like all AR useful idiots — thinks PeTA's sacred human/animal equivalence should be taken seriously because the argument making that case is based on rock-solid reason!
But logic and reason only work if the assumptions underlying them are valid. Indeed, a logical argument is like a building: if the foundation of a building fails, the excellence of the superstructure is irrelevant — the whole thing will collapse.
And so it is with arguing in favor of a proposition: if the assumptions are faulty, the logic is irrelevant, however pristine, however elegant it might be. (Every tyrant and every hero in history could build a reasonably logical case for doing what s/he did, if we accept their respective assumptions.)
In this case, if you accept the stock AR assumption — that the life of a human and an animal is of equal worth — then you can easily logic your way into agreeing with Mr. Warchol.
But PeTA's problem is not to convince people that one can make such an odious human-slave-equals-animal comparison, but that such a comparisoin should be made.
In this instance, the outrage of their audience unmasked the outrageousness of PeTA's assumption: PeTA's audience went right to the heart of the matter, and left PeTA's logic in the dust, where it properly belongs.
There is a deep and delicious irony here: PeTA, which has built their multimillion dollar empire on their ability to appeal to emotions, has now been wounded by — appealing to emotions!
PETA officials said they had hoped to generate dialogue with the shocking photographs.
"We realize these images are hurtful. It’s hard for me to imagine the hurt the animals go through. We should be treating animals according to their own best interests, not to the best interests of people," said Dawn Carr, PETA’s director of special projects.
PETA wants people to stop eating animals, stop using them for clothing, stop forcing animals to entertain people (as in a circus) and stop animal experimentation.
Carr said she doesn’t want animals sold or treated as property either.
The controversial display, which is on a national tour, is intended to drive home PETA’s point.
Well, PeTA should be happy — "driving home" the point has happened, though not in the way PeTA anticipated, I'd wager. And the more it's driven home the better, at least in my book. And if it takes people being "hurt" by the truth of what PeTA stands for to get the public's attention, maybe that isn't all bad.
PeTA's propaganda and PR antics work fine for them as long as their audience is naive, and do what we people typically do — simply assume the best of a group and give it (in this case PeTA) the benefit of the doubt. It's a virtue that PeTA has exploited very effectively.
But in this case, PeTA offended a community which is very sensitive about its history, a history that the mainstream media is also particularly sensitive to, and none of these folks are nearly as accepting of PeTA's campaign of moral equivalence as PeTA anticipated they would be. Or so I believe.
However, critics said the organization’s demonstration backfired.
One man demanded that the NAACP get involved immediately. Five minutes later, Scot X. Esdaile, president of the state and Greater New Haven chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, arrived at the scene, surveyed the photos and blasted the organizers.
"Once again, black people are being pimped. You used us. You have used us enough," Esdaile said. "Take it down immediately."
"I am a black man! I can’t compare the suffering of these black human beings to the suffering of this cow," said Michael Perkins, 47, of New Haven. He stood in front of a photo of butchered livestock hung next to the photo of two lynched black men dangling before a white mob.
"You can’t compare me to a freaking cow," shouted John Darryl Thompson, 46, of New Haven, inches from Carr’s face. "We don’t care about PETA. You are playing a dangerous game."
Of course, black people have every right to be incandescent with rage, and should be. I applaud them speaking their minds when so many others have been so silent for so long.
But the bottom line here shouldn't be outrage over a "black" issue.
This is a human issue: irrespective of skin color, religion or ethnicity, are the two lives — one a human, one an animal — of equal worth? I don't think so.
I'm sorry that the NAACP didn't see the writing on the wall when the "Holocaust on Your Plate" (op cit) campaign was in full-swing. But they're here now and in full voice, and that's a good thing — a very good thing.
Paul Tomaselli, 46, of North Branford took exception to an exhibit that included a photo of a black man being beaten to the ground by a white man with a stick while a white mob gathers.
Next to that photo was one of a man chasing a seal across the snow with a club.
"I think he’s right," said Tomaselli, who is white, in support of Thompson. "To compare people to animals is an unfairness to people."
Good! Maybe Mr. Tomaselli will help spread the word about what PeTA is all about. I suspect the good folks at the New Haven NAACP are spreading their outraged word far and wide even as I punch out letters from my keyboard.
The display, "Are Animals the New Slaves?" is on a 10-week, 42-city tour that started in early July. Today’s stop: Scranton, Pa., then on to Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
I'll give PeTA this: they do have cajones. Both Baltimore and Washington D.C. have large populations of black people who, I suspect, won't be altogether sympathetic to PeTA's publicity stunt.
It's good to see an organization (the NAACP) take a leading role in revealing the bankrupt values of Animal Rights in general, and PeTA in particular.
But how profoundly sad it is that PeTA could have played this grotesque human/animal equivalence game for so many years, tolerated so completely by people of good intentions who no doubt pride themselves for being open-minded and non-judgmental, and PeTA is only now, in the last few years, having to face effective voices in opposition . . .
The New Haven NAACP, and before them the Anti-Defamation League, are both to be commended for their reaction to PeTA's sick campaigns.
Let's not forget . . . This is not a black issue. It is not a Jewish issue. It is a human issue.
"New Haven is important because of the Amistad. This is a place where slaves were brought. What happened here was very important for abolition. The next great liberation movement is animal liberation," Carr said.
However, the Anti-Defamation League, a national civil rights organization, has publicly condemned PETA’s use of photos comparing human suffering in the Holocaust to animal suffering today; PETA apologized in May for the hurt it caused but stood by the comparisons.
As the reporter says, PeTA didn't apologize for the Holocaust on Your Plate (op cit) campaign. They issued a non-apology apology, and were taken to task by Wesley Smith for doing so — and I added my 2 cents worth here. (The reporter correctly notes that Newkirk apologized for bad taste and for having offended, not for the human/animal moral equivalence.)
That point of disagreement [slave/animal equivalency . . . ed] became a flashpoint in New Haven.
"This is the most hostile audience we’ve had," said PETA volunteer Ben Godwin.
This could become really interesting . . . I doubt the black community has ever supported PeTA or other Animal Rights groups in any meaningful way, either philosophically or financially. So PeTA could continue to offend them and not lose any direct support.
But PeTA's campaign may have an indirect effect. PeTA is way to the left of center and depends for much of its funding on donations from people occupying that part of the political spectrum, a demographic that takes the dignity of black folks and racial justice very seriously indeed. If those folks decide that PeTA's campaign is a racial slur — which, in addition to being anti-human, it is — PeTA could take a sizeable financial hit.
At one point, police hovered at the edge of the Green, across from the demonstration.
Eight of the 12 banners compared the suffering of black Americans to the suffering of cattle, sheep, an elephant, a seal and a rooster. Other banners showed Native Americans exiled from their homes, children in a factory and men in a counter-demonstration against women’s rights.
A photo showing a concentration camp inmate with a number tattooed across his emaciated chest was juxtaposed against a shot of a monkey in a laboratory with a number branded across its chest.
"I have relatives who were in concentration camps," said Alex Reznikoff, 47, of Newtown. "I think this detracts from PETA’s message. It doesn’t make me think about animals at all."
PeTA clearly misjudged the black community's response, and it's good that another group (the NAACP) with clout (the ADL being the first) noticed and became enraged by their (PeTA's) moral equivalency.
Still, I doubt PeTA's "Are Animals the New Slaves" campaign will prove permanently damaging to them.
PeTA is very savvy, and I suspect if they judge their campaign has started to work against them, they'll find a way to become "sensitive" to the hurt they've caused, apologize for it, and sideline the campaign to avoid hurting others (rest assured, even if the mobile displays come off tour, you'll be able to view it on their website).
Indeed, part of PeTA's PR strategy is to push as far as they can, and then ask for forgiveness for some trivial transgressions even as they simultaneously make the very point their non-apolology apology should have addressed, but did not. It's part of PeTA's overall strategy, if not part of a specific plan.
If things continue to heat up, look for PeTA to parade their sensitivity and responsiveness before the world as great virtues, even as they continue with the odious human/animal equivalence.
Even if they find it expedient to cancel their tour, you can count on PeTA saying something like: "We wanted to create a debate about a vital issue; we're sorry we hurt people; now lets have the debate about how close the parallel is between slavery and how humans treat animals . . .".
In fact, I wouldn't be surprised for them to say something like that regardless of whether or not they cancel their tour.
Thanks to David, Lisa and Orac for the tip.
Brian
