So I’ve been dabbling in being a vegetarian off an on for a few months now. Not like hardcore style but simply trying to reduce my meat intake to maybe two or three times a week. Mainly for health reasons but also just to try it out and see if I notice any changes. Anyway, every time I tell this to people I always get the same reaction, “OOHHHH UGGHHH…” Which is usually followed by a number of jokes about how animals taste so good, etc. I get asked if I’ve recently watched a Peta video, why am I so crazy, blah, blah, blah.

So as more of a rebuff to all the shit people have been giving me, yesterday I decided to become a member of Peta. Yea that’s right. No, I’m not going entirely vegetarian and no I do not think that ALL animals should never be used as food or otherwise killed. But what I do agree with is the humane treatment of animals for whatever purpose we use them for. I realize the importance of animal testing in medicine (though for cosmetics, it’s kind of ridiculous), the necessity of animal by-products including food, and the reasonable confinement of some animals in zoos and for research purposes.

Yet what concerns me more than what we use animals for is how we treat them in the course of these activities. A grown man throwing foul against metal cages with all his strength, farmers using metal pipes to kill sick and injured animals, people injecting hormones into animals to further economic interests at the risk of animal and human health, farmers walking on animals packed into hoards and breaking bones in the process. These types of things are entirely unnecessary. I do believe that animals have feelings and they obviously do feel pain and that there are other ways to do the things we do while minimizing suffering to animals.

I also find it interesting how people are so quick to criticize Peta for making and showing such graphic and violent videos of animal abuse despite that fact that they are simply showing reality; a reality which plays itself out DAILY across America. Do people really think that this stuff is staged? It’s disturbing for a reason; to get your interest and get you involved.

I’ve also heard people criticize Peta for the recent Superbowl fiasco. Come on people, it was another brilliant move by an under-served activist group to gain attention for their cause. They knew it would never air and in all honesty they probably didn’t have the money to air it anyway. But it got them in the news and got all that attention with out paying NBC for SB airtime. I say good for them; creativity at work.

For those of you who know me, true, I don’t agree with everything Peta stands for. But life is all about balance and right now I feel that the balance is too far tipped in the other direction on these issues. Peta knows that their goals will never be entirely realized. But they exist to maintain a balance and for that idea, I will support them.

Tags: animal abuse, farmers, health, hormones, peta, treatment of animals