The Fruit Growers News - September 2002

According to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), I haven’t been setting a good example. PETA says we shouldn’t hunt or fish, go to rodeos, wear leather or kill ants. And if we would all become vegetarians we could be more like actress Pamela Anderson, who gained fame in a pornographic video, or flaming liberal actor Alec Baldwin, who said he would leave the country if George W. Bush was elected. We’re still waiting Alec. PETA’s latest propaganda campaign is a traveling art exhibit constructed from a 1955 Airstream travel trailer. On one side is an artist’s rendition of what PETA describes as the grim images of factory farming. On the other side is a sculptural re-creation of Da Vinci’s Last Supper with a morbid twist. Instead of disciples, joining Jesus at the dinner table are famous vegetarians including Paul McCartney, George Bernard Shaw and Louisa May Alcott. Question: Did these people become famous for their vegetarianism? PETA’s catch phrase for the so-called art exhibit is “”Have you eaten your Last Supper of meat yet?” PETA even has a kindness consultant to advise us on how to humanely keep ants and other insects out of the house. Instead of using pesticides, PETA Kindness Consultant Carla Bennett says pour a line of cream of tartar or red chili powder on the ground and the ants won’t cross it. To control mice and rats, Carla says don’t use sticky traps or those brutal spring traps. If you have a rat in your house use a live trap and then release the animal outside. I don’t want to be labeled as some kind of cruelty consultant, but I’ll bet a wheelbarrow full of cream of tartar wouldn’t get near the results as a tablespoon of Diazanon. And live trapping rats seems like a better way to encourage rat reproduction. I suppose I’ll never be a kindness consultant. Such is life. If you aren’t at least partially stunned by the drivel the heavy thinkers at PETA are doling out, it gets better. PETA actually attempts to justify the actions of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), a domestic terrorist group the FBI believes is responsible for blowing up and setting fire to several animal research laboratories. One of ALF’s stated goals is to inflict economic damage on those who profit from livestock production - a noble goal in PETA’s opinion. PETA compares ALF to the French Revolution and the Underground Railroad that helped free slaves in the Civil War era. Yeah, and Pamela Anderson is really a nice, wholesome girl who just got mixed up with the wrong crowd. The PETA propaganda is startling to say the least. After reading about this organization and its goals there are two things I have concluded: First, PETA could use a common sense consultant and second, I’d rather be a redneck than a vegan.