PETA’s latest “don’t eat meat or you’re a bad person” ad attempts to guilt trip little kids by asking them if they would eat the family dog for Thanksgiving. (In some cultures, they would.) It’s just the latest headline-grabbing tactic from an organization known more for outrageous and offensive ads than promoting animal welfare. I googled “PETA cannibalism ads” to see if they’ve ever equated eating meat with eating other humans, and of course they have. In 2008 they used a high profile murder on a bus, in which the murderer ate part of the victim, to draw comparisons to the plight of animals in slaughterhouses. They also regularly use human models to pose as potential meat. So this isn’t that ridiculous compared to their other ads. Here’s more:
Thanksgiving may make you feel grateful for everything you have or it may be an insufferable meal with relatives you avoid the rest of the year, but chances are you don’t think it’s a day to fry up the family pet. That, however, is exactly what should be at the forefront of your mind, according to the animals rights group PETA.
Known for shock tactics and in-your-face ads, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, has launched an advertising campaign aimed at the family feasting holiday. The billboard, which pictures an animal that’s a cross between a dog and a turkey, reads: “Kids: If You Wouldn’t Eat Your Dog, Why Eat a Turkey?”
“Kids love animals and if they thought about how turkeys feel pain and fear just as dogs and cats do, they’d trade in their drumsticks for Tofurky in a heartbeat,” said PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “This Thanksgiving, families can give all animals something to be thankful for by sticking to humane, delicious vegan meals.”
According to PETA, more than 40 million turkeys are killed in the U.S. every year for Thanksgiving dinners. Earlier today, Patch reported that HoneyBaked plans to sell 7.99 million pounds of Thanksgiving ham and turkey in Georgia alone.
The group said they plan to run the child-targeted ad in Florida, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee and Utah.
In 2009, PETA produced a commercial it wanted to run on NBC during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, but the peacock network rejected the anti-gobbler spot, saying it wasn’t up to standards.
[From Huffington Post via ONTD]
At this point, my response to PETA is just to roll my eyes and let out a sigh. I want to quote this commenter on HuffPo, atds, that really summed up my issue with them:
“I’m 99% vegetarian. I eat fish once in a while, and will eat bird if I have to for a social situation. PETA’s problem is their absolutism; no one wants to go cold turkey, and a holiday that’s basically symbolized by meat is the worst time you could possibly try to convince someone to start. They could reduce meat consumption a lot more if they took a less harsh, more gradual approach and used a wider variety of arguments.”
One of my favorite campaigns to increase awareness of the benefits of vegetarianism and adopting a less meat-centric diet is “No Meat Mondays,” which just encourages people not to eat meat one day of the week. (I’m not a vegetarian, but my parents are and I do try and limit the amount of meat I eat, mostly for my health.)
The thing is, if PETA was more moderate and reasonable in their approach, we would barely talk about them. As it is, they are experts in pissing people off without doing much for the cause.
Here’s that 2009 ad that HuffPo mentions in the above quoted article. If you think of that little girl as Lisa Simpson, it makes it kind of funny.
This dog turkey is so cute!
Ditto to the HuffPo commenter
Why would eat a turkey over my dog?
Well first of all, the turkey is not my pet.
Secondly, it’s delicious. That is all.
Wonder if this add reaches out to countries that actually eat Fido? Everyday.
Give me a freakin’ break!!
Not all kids buy into the Disney-fication of animals.
I’ve always gone out of my way to explain to my kid that the meat she sees in the supermarket comes from cows, pigs, and chickens that were killed so we could eat them.
She chooses to eat meat anyway, as do I. We eat it in limited quantities for health and environmental reasons, and I try to buy meat from free-range and grass-fed animals on health and ethical grounds, but we do eat meat, and it’s a decision I’m comfortable with.
Generally you don’t eat PET turkeys. Hell, it’s rare for people to even see live Turkeys in this day and age. I don’t think it’s right for them to prey on the emotions of little kids.
An organisation that puts down 97% of the animals given to their shelters doesn’t really have the moral high ground, even if they don’t eat those cats, dogs and gerbils.
Oh PETA, you will never stop embarrassing yourselves.
@CandyKay – that was very well put and I tell my son the same thing about meat! He knows where it comes from, he knows that some people chose not to eat it, and that it’s his choice.
I see no difference between eating a dog and eating a turkey, but then I don’t eat either!
But seriously, think how many people could be fed with the thousands of stray cats and dogs that PETA itself puts down every year.
I don’t get what the problem is. It seems like a fair question to me, why do people eat turkey but not dogs? The only answer I see so far in the comments is that turkeys are delicious. Um…how do you know dogs are not delicious?
And the HuffPo commenter that you chose to include sounds like an idiot. You are not 99% a vegetarian, who eats fish and poultry. You are either vegetarian or you are not. If you are a vegetarian who occasionally eats fish and turkey then you are not a vegetarian. You are a liar.
People get so touchy when anyone dares to bring up the fact that there are alternatives to eating animals. It doesn’t change the fact that asking why you would eat a turkey but not a dog is a fair question.
think this ad is great and didn’t even watch it. i am vegan and think its time the world changed. eating meat is bad for YOU, the environment, and cruel to the animals. do some research and see how the animals are before and during slaughter. ignorance is NOT bliss.
Actually, NOT eating meat is bad for you. A vetetarian diet is unhealthy enouth, let alone a vegan diet. It is very unhealthy. Its time you yourself realised that ignorance is not bliss. Speak to a Dr and see learn what a vegan or vegetarian diet does to you and how it harms your health. Learn and grow.
That huffpo comment is ridiculous. Also I despise PETA, but I think this is a fair question. Why one animal and not another if not for a cultural slant?
@blc
And people get equally touchy when you say that you don’t WANT to eat alternatively.
I personally enjoy eating meat. I don’t eat large amounts of it, but when I eat it I enjoy it. The difference is I know that I wouldn’t eat an animal that I owned. I wouldn’t eat MY dog, or MY cat, or any other dog or cat because to me they are companion animals. But I also wouldn’t eat a turkey or cow, or other animal that I raised.
I understand why people are so against eating animals, but you don’t need to be mean about it. If I, as a meat eater, am not bitching about eating meat, I shouldn’t have to be bitched at about what a terrible person I am for choosing to eat it. I’m also not eating more than small quantities of meat at a time. I’m a bit of a picky eater and it’s easiest for me to get my protein and iron and things like that from the meat that I do eat.
I have a cousin who is a vegetarian. She has never told any of us that we shouldn’t be eating meat, or that we’re terrible people. She has only said that it was her choice to not eat it, and that she’s happy with that. And honestly, maybe people would respect PETA more if they weren’t such wackjobs.
I watched this you tube video of a cow being slaughtered and it was so harsh what that animal went through. People are going to eat meat whether peta or the vegans like it or not, so if they truly cared they would be better off promoting more humane lives for the animals raised for meat ie an alternative to factory farms. Also to have more humane ways to harvest the animals in addition to promoting vegetarianism ie campaign to eat it twice a week instead of every day and things like that so people could phase out their meat consumption instead of being pressured to go cold turkey.
Well do you want to make a change? Give people the arguments to understand and the possibility to make a real change. You want to condemn, and just feel better about your righteous self, then do as PETA claims. This is a cult-like thing, nothing that can be taken serious imo.
Potatoes are still alive when you cook them. Won’t someone think of the poor potatoes!
I don’t care what people eat as long as its not my animal. Why is eating salmon more acceptable than eating dolphin? If done sustainably, I would not hate people for it.
I have a cousin who has a pet deer he has raised since finding it in the woods after a hunter killed a pregnant doe. Yet despite taking care of this deer (named Pip), he still goes hunting every fall for deer and/or elk. PETA needs to stop being preachy on the eating meat side and get more preachy on animal cruelty in an educated, less nutty way.
@ blc, agreed! And, everyone, PETA is “telling” us not to eat turkeys the way the NFL “tells” us to watch on Monday nights, Apple “tells” us to buy IPads, etc. It’s advertising! It’s purpose is to change peoples’ behavior or buying habits. I think if more people knew how badly animals we eat are treated, they’d eat far less of them. I don’t mind the ad at all. And I’m NOT a vegetarian.
PETA tatics are a bit too much, it is really about choice. I don’t agree with any form of cruelty or torture to animals and I think this should be the point of it all. However, there has to be a balance in life and the food chain. If everyone decide to boycott meat then think how huge the animal population would get out there and animals need food to survive as well.
That said, I am still not giving up my meat eating habits, and a lot of my family members are strick vegatarians. I sometimes reduced my intake of meat and may, at times go all veggie but no for long.
I agree with the HuffPost commentator and do the same.
I do not ask others to abstain. My husband is a 100% meat eater – that is his choice – I respect that – and he respects my choice to abstain.
Sometimes social settings – outside of just hubby and me – require the eating of meat – which I do to a minimum only to avoid the conflict and tension generated around those who do eat meat – and when I say minimum, I mean one mouthful because then I want to throw up when I picture the suffering that animal endured to provide the food.
It is a choice each person has to make and live with.
@ Kaboom
Where did you get the 97% statistic? Not being snarky–I am very interested in it.
I was actually reading a really interesting paper yesterday about PETA ads and their connection to misogyny (and anti-women sentiment in general), and how this connection essentially undermines the entire purpose of their animal rights movement. It was very academic but interesting. I could email it if you’re interested.
What it comes down to is how are you going to change people’s behaviour? My friend, who is vegan, has done more to turn me to her way of thinking about things by NOT being pushy and explaining and never judging.
PETA is like the annoying vegans who feel they are better people for their eating choices. Moral superiority doesn’t win you anything and if your purpose is to really change the world and change people’s eating habits than doing it slowly and with common sense is going to win more battles. PETA is by far the most annoying group … I don’t know anyone … vegan or not … who actually likes anything about them.
The turkey business IS disgusting though-as are all animal killing businesses. . . People should know how thier food comes to them, but Peta is way too sanctimonious about how they choose to do this.
That Turkey-Dog is adorable!!!
@blc, as someone who is an “at home” vegetarian, who once or twice a year, will eat some seafood (no land animals) while traveling, as a treat or out of necessity, I fail to see why people are so in knots over what people want to call themselves. I tell people I’m a vegetarian because it is easier to convey to people that I don’t eat meat that way.
It is not a world title that people have to compete for, and the way I see it, ANY move towards less reliance on animal products, particularly factory farmed animal products, is a GOOD thing.
Seriously, is there no room for grey areas in this discussion or does it have to be “vegan or GTFO” ? No room for harm reduction at all?
Why make people feel bad about making BETTER choices? Even if that choice is eating one meatless meal a week?
I am trying to go vegetarian, but it’s hard! Specially when you don’t like vegetables, but I can agree with some of the points PETA makes, but I really dislike the use of half-naked women to promote veganism, why denigrate one being to help another?
The first paragraph of this article reminds me of a project I did in an art class, it was a comparison between pictures of murders and bull-fights, I tried to question people on why seeing dead people bothered them so much, but seeing a bull being murdered brought them joy.
PETA’s campaigns are meant to be provocative and to get people talking and THINKING about what they’re eating. That’s a good thing.
The fundamental point is why do we as a culture think it is ok to slaughter and eat some animals while we would never dream of doing that to our pets. It is worth pondering.
because a frigging turkey won’t catch a frisbee in the air.
and its a generally known fact that to eat other meat eaters can result in the harbouring of deseases- i.e HIV probs. contracted from Gorillas, and Chimps. who eat meat.
meat like beef, which contributes to the world methaine reserves, and requires a vast amount of grazing, should be cut down on, but animals such as turkeys, and chickens even when farmed ethically, are relatively inexpensive and easy to raise.
PETA, go back to campaining about fur coats. you don’t sound so stupid then.
“The fundamental point is why do we as a culture think it is ok to slaughter and eat some animals while we would never dream of doing that to our pets. It is worth pondering.”
@MK821
You raise a great point!
This culture is focused on how things LOOK, so with animals, it is also about the “cult of the cute” (i.e., puppies are ‘cute’). . . Nobody wants to eat the “cute”, but will eat those who are deemed to be “uncute”.
They should ask PETA how many dogs and cats they put down a year(a hell of a lot). So, PETA’s solution is what? Just set all these turkey’s free to get run over by cars and suffer? The only solution would be to put them down because there would be too many to do anything else with. After the almost 40 million turkeys are slaughtered, not for meat, but just because, then I guess everything would be alright in PETA’s eyes because then wouldn’t need to produce more. Nevermind all those people without jobs now. I agree with the HuffPo commenter, PETA needs to be more realistic in their expectations and the results would be better.
If Peta wants to change people’s eating habits they will have to find a more effective way of doing it. Their take-no-prisoners mentality is just turning people off.
There is a woman in my office who is a total vegan. She’s welcome to eat whatever she wants, but she’s a pain in the ass lecturing everybody else about what they eat and trying to convert everyone to veganism. She makes me want to throw a Big Mac in her face.
@wunder
To me it’s not about what’s cute and what isn’t. Deer are cute, and I have no problem whatsoever eating them. Cows, to me, are cute, and I eat them too.
I do feel bad on occasion, but at most it makes me cut down my meat consumption a little.
Some of it is where you’re raised. I have been raised in a small town where local farmers raise animals. I have spent a lot of time on a dairy farm where they milk twice a day and then sell the milk to a larger company. The cattle on that farm are treated with care. But some people believe that it is terrible that people milk cows.
I understand that it is upsetting the way animals are killed, especially in big factory farms. But nobody seems to be upset about the kinds of conditions people live in while harvesting crops in huge companies either.
That’s one of my main problems with this. I don’t think it’s right to care more about how one species is treated than another, especially your own.
For a group so concerned about the welfare of animals can someone please tell me why then, they euthanize over half the animals the rescue instead of finding homes for them? Slash your advertising budget, do some good and back off this current approach. It turns more people off than it turns them on to your cause.
Hell I know people who eat more meat and buy more animal products every time PETA launches a new campaign (smear, print or otherwise), and part of my doesn’t blame them.
@Obvious, couldn’t have said it any better myself.
So wrong to prey on the emotions of kids, god this organization just gets worse and worse with their ads. People can damn well choose whether they want to eat meat or not, it’s their decision. The ad itself isn’t the problem, it’s the tactics being used in the ad to convey the message that I have a problem with. I have no problem with vegetarians and vegans. My favorite actress is one who’s actually modeled for their campaigns before and I do wonder why they have to use half-naked women to promote animal rights. I just choose not to become one, because personally I love eating meat too much. That’s my personal decision and yes, I am informed about where my meat comes from and what happens to the animals for them to provide my food. I could get into a whole debate about the food chain, but it’s so not worth it. It’s fine and dandy to try and influence children to go vegan, there’s nothing wrong with that. But, using their emotions to do so is wrong in my personal opinion.
@blc: “I don’t get what the problem is. It seems like a fair question to me, why do people eat turkey but not dogs? ”
The ad clearly says YOUR dog. Nobody would eat their own pet…because well people love their pets.
And Im sure in other countries they do eat dog.
I am a vegetarian, and this ad is dumb. I’ve taken my kids to an animal zoo that has turkeys. This has in no way made my kids NOT want to eat, pet, or even be around a turkey except to make fun of how dumb they are. Out dog protects and plays with us, is loyal and would kill for us. We are not killing pet turkeys for TG. Now if they approached it for health,that maybe it would have had an impact.
@Midnight Dreary, they do. China is one example.
@ ana, @ obvious, @ jamie:
This is the article that I was talking about – it essentially reinforces the points that you are making. Some of it is a little overly “academic-speak” but it makes good points:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:45v6IubN-ScJ:www.brocku.ca/brockreview/index.php/brockreview/article/download/333/339+brock+university+PETA+ads+article&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShkji7hE984Mgh40CtQUXdz8UNQV2XBjAtBb5Ss7C7h7tp95Ctv7VP2wSqraEth0mVvtfBU85X9QTFGOiH75v3D59HWPBe20C_nbYea43-bcawtxRSL3oMAJBD_k7rKEc3zIfsk&sig=AHIEtbTqGfaM46tl7lReeNB0Ytd5g53avA
Oh and a comment on the “cute” factor: We eat rabbits, lambs, piglets etc. I consider them cute but would have no problem killing and eating them. I was also raised on a farm, around farmers, so I think I have a different viewpoint than most. That being said, all my meat is sourced from local farms where I can see and interact with the animals I will eventually buy & serve.
There’s a VP at PETA who’s a diabetic. I wonder how the insulin is produced that she needs.
Plant based? From soy, like Tofurkey?
@ MK821: People have been hunting animals and eating meat for millennia, so it’s nothing to do with “our” culture.
Our culture farms animals, the way crops are cultivated, or the way fabrics are factory-made. Of course people should protest the way animals are treated that are raised for their meat, or the way the environment gets polluted by e.g. fertilizers.
But these PETA campaigns are fear-mongering, even borderline disrespectful, especially when they ridiculed the Holocaust in their ads a few years ago.
PETA kills the majority of the animals that end up at their shelters. http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/04/27/peta-and-euthanasia.html
They say they don’t have the funds to take care of them yet they spend millions every year with these overbearing ad campaigns.
PETA=Domestic Terrorists
If I had a pet turkey, I wouldn’t eat it either.
@jamminatorr:
Thanks a lot! I downloaded it so I can read it properly!
I also have a similar experience to yours, regarding farms, my uncle raised pigs so I saw everything, and I mean everything, done to them! So it’s hard for me to have a permanent effect after watching videos of slaughter houses, no matter how upset it makes me after I watch them.
Although the cute factor stops me from eating “baby” animals, like bunnies, and when he cooked a piglet for New Years I couldn’t get myself to even taste it, couldn’t even look at it, even if I had no problem eating a grown pig.
Who wouldn’t want the turkey dog hybrid as a pet?
Aslo kids, if you don’t eat your dog, PETA will take care of it for you
http://www.petakillsanimals.com/
view with caution, strong stuff.
PETA President Ingrid Newkirk — in a Machiavellian moment — explains how killing more than a thousand animals PETA accepted for shelter in 1999 is “ethical,” because it frees up more money to mount offensive “press slut” campaigns:
“It is a totally rotten business, but sometimes the only kind option for some animals is to put them to sleep forever… It sounds lovely if you’re naïve. We could become a no-kill shelter immediately. It means we wouldn’t do as much work.”
–The Virginian-Pilot, August 1, 2000
@kaboom, logged in to say just that.
This one is my favorite: PETA Senior Vice President MaryBeth Sweetland on her use of insulin, which was tested on animals:
“I’m an insulin-dependent diabetic. Twice a day I take synthetically manufactured insulin that still contains some animal products — and I have no qualms about it … I’m not going to take the chance of killing myself by not taking insulin. I don’t see myself as a hypocrite. I need my life to fight for the rights of animals.”
–Glamour, January 1990
I just wonder how many people that cry about turkeys were complaining about the Duggars?
PETA is more offensive than productive, but I guess that’s how they choose to be. I’ll support the ASPCA over PETA any day. (And I am an ASPCA supporter.)
As far as the meat thing, I’ve said it before but bears repeating:
Hubs eats red meat (although he eats less now that he’s been with me longer) but I do not. He calls me a “chicketarian,” as I choose chicken as my primary source of protein, along with vegetarian beans or chili, and some dairy. I’ll buy him a steak, and he’ll grill me chicken when he BBQ’s.
That’s what works for us.
(How about eating all those extra Duggar kids?)
Turkey-Dog say:
“Gobble, gobble, woof, woof!”
Wunder, just bring the A-1 sauce.
first of all,if you eat meat”socially”you’re not a vegetarian!
second,who ever decided which animals were pets and which ones were ok to eat?
But do you think the Duggars will taste more like chicken or pork?
I think all turkeys should don cute puppy masks this year, and pass out menus with the Duggar kids on it.
The Duggars strike me as being pork, with some cheddar cheese mixed in.
Easy. Because I’m not emotionally attached to turkeys, and they aren’t to me. Besides, I’ve eaten dog meat and while it was interesting, I wouldn’t dare to include it to my everyday food. Too bizarre for me.
I was 8 years old the frist time my dad took me out in the back yard for the killing of the turkey. I had bunnies, we ate them. I got a lamb foe Easter, we ate it. That’s how it’s been done for ever. Peta(in my house) equals people eat tasty animals.
Happy Turkey Day everyone!
My family has spent four generations building a company that supplies top notch USDA Prime beef to restaurants all over our nation. We have yards and we have a processing plant, of course our standards are higher than most because of the product we sell, and I assure you there is no reason to feel guilty when buying any meat that is labeled USDA Prime. We are farmers, we have steer, dairy heifers, chickens, turkeys, ducks, pigs, and a huge plot of fruits, veggies and flowers at the family ranch. My kids (at 4 and 18 months) have already seen more than most people do in a lifetime. While I choose not to live my day-to-day at the big farm, I am a homemaker in every regard on our acre. I probably eat more home-grown organic veggies than most vegetarians I know. PETA needs to get over themselves. I respect personal choice, if you choose to be a vegetarian, good for you (and your heart probably). At the same time, please respect my choice. I love me some steak, and I own 3 purses that were made with hides from our own herd. Maybe you think I’m gross, but I think it’s awesome. These PETA posts always get me rambling, sorry, it’s just in my blood to be supportive of the agriculture industry.
“But seriously, think how many people could be fed with the thousands of stray cats and dogs that PETA itself puts down every year.”
Oh, @tapioca, HOLY CRAP that was hilarious! Baaaahahahahahahahahahahaha! 🙂
The human being is a carnivore, end of story. Everything else is dogmatism, ideology and intolerance towards live and let live. Or medium and scorched.
I am a vegetarian and to me personally there is no difference between eating a cow or a dog. Im not a huge PETA fan but i do agree with this ad. An animal is an animal just like all humans are equal.
Desert Rose. My personal feeling is there is nothing wrong with farming your own animals for meat. If you raise them humanely and dont pump them up with drugs you are getting the best meat available. I personally dont have the time or land to raise animals myself the way i would want them raised & fed hence why i dont eat them.
Like jamminnator above said – that is a perfect scenario that he/she gets to see the animals and where/how they are being raised because
the problem i have with meat is factory farming(very different from individual farms), the cruel & extremely dirty standards the animals are raised under and most importantly the drugs they pump these animals up with that are killing humans and giving them cancer at alarming rates.
I totally agree we need to support the agriculture industry BUT we also need to make them adhere to the upmost standards for the animals and our health (no drugs).
Turkey tastes better than dog meat. Peta is a pain in the ass it’s not going to convince anyone not to eat meat.
Madison – when is the last time you tasted dog?????
Hey, thanks for the “No Meat Mondays” idea; I’m going to try that…
the dog-turkey is really cute. we’re dressing up our dog as a turkey this Thanksgiving 🙂 she’ll hate it but she wont care when she gets all the table scraps…
so does this make my dog terrible too for eating meat?? I’m not sure if she can become a vegetarian, but she does like french fries 😉 I wonder what PETA and their supporters feed their pets? Oh yeah that’s right, they dont have pets cause that would mean they own slaves.
We humans shouldnt get a ‘free pass’ as a menu item either. . .
@Danziger
You ate a dog for real? Was this a tofu dog I hope? . . . If not next time, pour some A-1 on a Duggar brat-worst.
Growing up very poor I was a glad we had something to eat on Thanksgivings Day and we would be able to eat for the next week. We couldn’t afford a dog anyways. We were eating dog food already. I guess chocies are for the rich.
PETA STFU up already!
@Orange Cone
So your clever dog is going to MOCK turkeys by dressing up as a turkey who will then ‘wolf’ down turkey scraps?
Hey, just be careful to cook the right one!
It would be hell trying to peel a burnt turkey costume off a perfectly good dog casserole.
Yah,whatever peta.It’s not ok to eat turkey,but your bullshit club has no problems putting animals down,because it fits your needs.Oh,and I like my turkey with gravy.
Also,I think that some factories are disgusting and abusive to the animals that sustain us.I raise my own chickens for eggs and buy meat locally from farmers,and my husband hunts.I think that it is important to respect the welfare of our animals meant for food.The livestock in our area live on pasture and actually have the chance to bask in the sunlight and feel the breeze.I watched a segament on Oprah about beef factories,and if I didn’t live rurally,and were able to make the changes that I have,for the principal,I wouldn’t eat meat.(These are my choices and beliefs,and I don’t judge others for theirs)Edit:Except peta,I think they are absurd.
Easy answer: my dog would also eat the turkey but wouldn’t eat me, so I’m just reciprocating and respecting my dog’s culture.
And reason your dog wouldnt eat you is. . . ?
(whatever the reason is, enough butter and garlic WILL change your dogs’ opinion!)
certain things are good for you, other things are not, simple answer.
Here’s a link to dogs in (homemade?)turkey costumes. Warning: It’s too safe for work and overtly cute.
http://www.thatcutesite.com/dogs-dressed-as-turkeys.html
@Jay, “Easy answer: my dog would also eat the turkey but wouldn’t eat me, so I’m just reciprocating and respecting my dog’s culture.”
LOL I was once on a house call where the man was dead for two weeks before he was discovered and his 5 Pomeranians were without food. So, naturally they sampled from the dearly departed. Ah, the circle of life.
@Nanea, you missed my point entirely. It is most definitely part of our modern American culture to distinguish between animals we love and animals we love to eat.
The question is why is it valid to do so. They are all made of meat.
MK821: Well some of it comes from the fact that herbivorous animals were easier to domesticate and farm given that they ate grass and other plants that people didn’t eat; they provided a food source without taking any food sources from the farmer. Naturally this began way back when humans were first starting up with agriculture and predatory, carnivorous animals were harder to catch and keep in large groups. If you were an ancient Egyptian farmer, would it have been easier to catch and keep a bunch of cats or a bunch of goats?
Carnivores, on the other hand, were expensive to keep and took valuable meat from the people who kept them. Humans are also naturally omnivorous scavengers who learned to hunt. What would have been easier to hunt? A lion or a buffalo?
Nowadays we obviously can choose whatever we want to eat but I think that is part of the reason why we chose certain animals to be companions and others to eat in the past and what created our culture of eating certain animals today.
But there is also the fact that a pet can be any animal. I’ve had a pet duck and a pet rabbit. Both types of animals I’ve eaten in restaurants but I would never have eaten my animals because they were my pets. I don’t have any emotional attachment to the rabbit someone killed to make my stew. But if anyone had killed and eaten Pinky I would have been devastated.
The difference is emotional attachment when you are taking about pets vs animals for eating.
Wunder: Cuteness overload!
We are meat, and the animals are meat. . . Hungry pomeranian ‘accessory pups’ are no different than hungry lumberjacks.
We eat them and they eat us.
The French proved that with enough butter, salt, and garlic, ANYTHING can tase good. Hence, ‘escargot’ instead of snails. . .
I love in the add how they start with “Poor turkey’s living conditions, poor turkey’s death” oh, and then if that didnt work, quick, lets just try gross them out “THERES DIRT AND SHIT IN THE TURKEY TOO!”
ffs
This issue was resolved back in 1994:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA_Tl1kvlQU&feature=related
Orion 70, I totally agree. People try to find inconsistencies in your behavior because they feel threatened and so they feel better about their own actions.
Jamminator, thanks for the awesome article.
What happened to the days when people minded their own business?
You like eating meat? Fine.
You don’t like eating meat? Fine.
Don’t tell me how to live my life and I won’t tell you how to live yours.
See? It’s f-cking simple.
@shmoe: since when did anybody ever mind their own business? You’re harking back a to a time that never existed. Just like Republican voters long for a return to an America that never existed.
Dogs LOVE turkey!
And any other meat for that matter.
Actually most cute animals like cats and dogs eat meat, so maybe eating meat makes them cuter than animals that don’t eat meat, like cows.
BTW, I’m not a big meat eater, most of the food I cook is vegetarian because I hate touching raw meat. But my husband likes meat and I don’t see the harm in eating a cheese burger once in a while, especially if someone else makes it for me. Mmmm. Plus eating meat is natural for a lot of animals, not just humans. From my understanding carnivores meat tastes bad and most carnivores eat herbivores unless they are starving. Which is why my dog is fine with the kitty cat but if we got a rabbit I suspect it wouldn’t last a week in our house.
PETA is just annoying.
Has anybody ever met a turkey? Those things are mean. They will cut you with their spurs if you go anywhere near them. They are not animals you would keep as pets.
I highly recommend for those who haven’t seen it, to watch Penn and Teller’s Bullshit on the topic of PETA.
I grew up in a farming community and on a farm. I have no issue with eating meat.
First off, yes I would still eat that turkey-dog because you remove its head anyway.
YUM
So after you remove the head, which part will you eat: dog head or turkey body?
Your answer is deliciously ambiguous!