Whacked-out
April 28, 2003 8:50 AM Subscribe
NUTS! While we should all strive to appreciate diversity of opinion, this (via NandoTimes) just goes to prove that idiocy knows no bounds. Comments are probably superfluous...
I think it's a great PR stunt. Half.com already did it, though I'm not sure how helpful its been to them.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says the name Hamburg conjures up images of slaughtered cows and unhealthy meals.
PETA isn't PROTESTING the town's name because it conjures up hamburger images. They're offering to MAKE A DONATION to the town, because of this reason.
Idiocy? Absolutely not. They have press coverage all over the place and got enough exposure that you posted it to MetaFitler.
Whether or not the town changes its name, PETA has gotten more than its money's worth out of this.
posted by VulcanMike at 9:05 AM on April 28, 2003
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says the name Hamburg conjures up images of slaughtered cows and unhealthy meals.
PETA isn't PROTESTING the town's name because it conjures up hamburger images. They're offering to MAKE A DONATION to the town, because of this reason.
Idiocy? Absolutely not. They have press coverage all over the place and got enough exposure that you posted it to MetaFitler.
Whether or not the town changes its name, PETA has gotten more than its money's worth out of this.
posted by VulcanMike at 9:05 AM on April 28, 2003
No doubt it gets their "message" out cost effectively due to the furor it may generate, and to that extent may be good tactics - I question, however, how this furthers their organization's credibility. Ain't America grand?
posted by Pressed Rat at 9:18 AM on April 28, 2003
posted by Pressed Rat at 9:18 AM on April 28, 2003
Comments are probably superfluous...
As is yet another post restating the point that PETA seems to care only about getting as much publicity as possible - thereby supplying them with still more publicity.
posted by soyjoy at 9:20 AM on April 28, 2003
As is yet another post restating the point that PETA seems to care only about getting as much publicity as possible - thereby supplying them with still more publicity.
posted by soyjoy at 9:20 AM on April 28, 2003
Good lord, they're even crazier than I thought.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:42 AM on April 28, 2003
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:42 AM on April 28, 2003
mr_crash-davis
I surrender, and will be assimilated - all resistence is futile
posted by Pressed Rat at 10:01 AM on April 28, 2003
I surrender, and will be assimilated - all resistence is futile
posted by Pressed Rat at 10:01 AM on April 28, 2003
Interesting New Yorker profile on Ingrid Newkirk, the organization's founder and president, a couple of weeks ago. (Let me once again curse the New Yorker for having a crappy website, by the way.)
posted by Vidiot at 10:13 AM on April 28, 2003
posted by Vidiot at 10:13 AM on April 28, 2003
PETA cracks me up. If they do this stuff for anything other than free publicity, however... pick your battles.
posted by gramcracker at 10:24 AM on April 28, 2003
posted by gramcracker at 10:24 AM on April 28, 2003
[topic drift]"Let me once again curse the New Yorker for having a crappy website, by the way"
But such a damned good magazine. Priorities Priorities.[/topic drift]
Peta cracks me up. They consistently come up with new ways to keep their name in the news. Love 'em or hate 'em, they're good at what they do.
posted by Outlawyr at 10:25 AM on April 28, 2003
But such a damned good magazine. Priorities Priorities.[/topic drift]
Peta cracks me up. They consistently come up with new ways to keep their name in the news. Love 'em or hate 'em, they're good at what they do.
posted by Outlawyr at 10:25 AM on April 28, 2003
Anyone else remember this little PETA-ism? If I was the judge I would summarily find for the plaintiffs and order the State to issue more hunting licenses as a remedy.
But that's just me.
posted by Cerebus at 10:36 AM on April 28, 2003
But that's just me.
posted by Cerebus at 10:36 AM on April 28, 2003
Just curious, Pressed Rat, is the wording of this post a Battle of the Bulge reference?
posted by Cyrano at 10:36 AM on April 28, 2003
posted by Cyrano at 10:36 AM on April 28, 2003
Meat is murder. Even pressed rat.
posted by birdherder at 10:41 AM on April 28, 2003
posted by birdherder at 10:41 AM on April 28, 2003
Love 'em or hate 'em, they're good at what they do.
Yes, they are. What they do is keep veganism and animal concerns firmly entrenched in the public mind as a loony, marginal idea that has no basis in rational, logical thought. They're very good at that.
But I don't think that's what they want to do. It's sure as hell not what I and a great many people who take this stuff seriously want them to do. But yeah, they consistently come up with crap like this and Pavlov's pundits consistently slobber all over it. And it becomes . . . . . yet another MeFi post.
posted by soyjoy at 10:44 AM on April 28, 2003
Yes, they are. What they do is keep veganism and animal concerns firmly entrenched in the public mind as a loony, marginal idea that has no basis in rational, logical thought. They're very good at that.
But I don't think that's what they want to do. It's sure as hell not what I and a great many people who take this stuff seriously want them to do. But yeah, they consistently come up with crap like this and Pavlov's pundits consistently slobber all over it. And it becomes . . . . . yet another MeFi post.
posted by soyjoy at 10:44 AM on April 28, 2003
I question, however, how this furthers their organization's credibility.
Don't think of PETA as an actual organization; think of them as a radical fringe PR machine that makes the mainstream organizations look reasonable by comparison. Every political movement has one of these, a group that simultaneously discredits and promotes the movement's ideals, but keeps them in the news and gives the mainstream leaders someone to point to when they claim to be the voice of reason and compromise.
posted by Mars Saxman at 10:55 AM on April 28, 2003
Don't think of PETA as an actual organization; think of them as a radical fringe PR machine that makes the mainstream organizations look reasonable by comparison. Every political movement has one of these, a group that simultaneously discredits and promotes the movement's ideals, but keeps them in the news and gives the mainstream leaders someone to point to when they claim to be the voice of reason and compromise.
posted by Mars Saxman at 10:55 AM on April 28, 2003
I think if PETA announced that the sky was blue, it would get a FPP.
posted by gwint at 11:23 AM on April 28, 2003
posted by gwint at 11:23 AM on April 28, 2003
There was a fascinating profile of the PETA founder in the New Yorker a few weeks back but I doubt it's online.
posted by muckster at 12:26 PM on April 28, 2003
posted by muckster at 12:26 PM on April 28, 2003
...it's a hobby for rich people who wuv their pets and can afford all-natural toilet paper.
As for me, I welcome our new ... oh, screw it.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:39 PM on April 28, 2003
As for me, I welcome our new ... oh, screw it.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:39 PM on April 28, 2003
Opps. Meant to say "I, for one, welcome our new ... oh, screw it."
posted by ZenMasterThis at 2:03 PM on April 28, 2003
posted by ZenMasterThis at 2:03 PM on April 28, 2003
Oops. Meant to say "oops." Damn!
posted by ZenMasterThis at 2:03 PM on April 28, 2003
posted by ZenMasterThis at 2:03 PM on April 28, 2003
I don't think PETA's that funny. I was at a dog show two years ago with a friend of mine at which PETA "activists" dumped antifreeze into some of the dogs' water bowls. Six dogs died.
Way to fight for animal rights, assholes.
posted by LittleMissCranky at 3:39 PM on April 28, 2003
Way to fight for animal rights, assholes.
posted by LittleMissCranky at 3:39 PM on April 28, 2003
The only real idiocy, of course, is the consumption of meat....for which there is no need, and which generates immense suffering. Frankly, just about anything PETA does in the face of that continuing, indefensible, lazy crime is a Good Thing.
LittleMissCranky, I wonder if you could point us to some links or give us some details that would otherwise support your assertion that "PETA 'activists'" killed six dogs with antifreeze. Seems that would have made the news somewhere, if it were true.
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 5:37 PM on April 28, 2003
LittleMissCranky, I wonder if you could point us to some links or give us some details that would otherwise support your assertion that "PETA 'activists'" killed six dogs with antifreeze. Seems that would have made the news somewhere, if it were true.
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 5:37 PM on April 28, 2003
That New Yorker profile on Newkirk, in the April 14 issue, should one be able to find it, is quite fascinating, and examines both the quite real nuttiness and the quite real political efficacy of PETA (much a la Mars' comment above). Many in the more mainstream area of agricultural reform (working for better and healthier treatment of livestock, for example, which has benefits even for humans who don't give, pardon the expression, a rat's ass about animal rights) credit the organization with helping keep these issues from being absolutely swept aside by the rightward tide.
Just found: this pro-PETA summary of the article in question. No substitute, but pulls out some good representative quotes.
posted by BT at 7:01 PM on April 28, 2003
Just found: this pro-PETA summary of the article in question. No substitute, but pulls out some good representative quotes.
posted by BT at 7:01 PM on April 28, 2003
Frankly, just about anything PETA does in the face of that continuing, indefensible, lazy crime is a Good Thing.
Yes, the end justifies the means, as long as the end is a politically correct one.
Meat may be murder, but it's also really tasty. I've got a great chicken fajita marinade you're welcome to try, foldy.
posted by deadcowdan at 7:22 PM on April 28, 2003
Yes, the end justifies the means, as long as the end is a politically correct one.
Meat may be murder, but it's also really tasty. I've got a great chicken fajita marinade you're welcome to try, foldy.
posted by deadcowdan at 7:22 PM on April 28, 2003
Six dogs died.
Oh, scuse me, I have to sneeze.... ah.... ah....
ah....
....Bllsht!!
Sorry but, um... Date, Location? Dogs' owners? Google sure couldn't "scare up" any such incident.
You say you were right there, and yeah it does fit that cartoon version of PETA that they try so hard to achieve, and I guess it's not impossible, but ... Well, like Foldy said, it seems like it might have made, you know, the police blotter or something. "PETA Comes To Town, Kills Six Local Dogs" - that kinda thing. ....?
Or is it that they hold such sway over the USDA and America's Kennel Clubs that they were able to get this hushed up right quick?
BTW, I have this friend who's a bishop, and one time the Pope told him point blank: "I'm only in this racket for the money, ya know."
Way to fight for Jesus, asshole.
posted by soyjoy at 9:17 PM on April 28, 2003
Oh, scuse me, I have to sneeze.... ah.... ah....
ah....
....Bllsht!!
Sorry but, um... Date, Location? Dogs' owners? Google sure couldn't "scare up" any such incident.
You say you were right there, and yeah it does fit that cartoon version of PETA that they try so hard to achieve, and I guess it's not impossible, but ... Well, like Foldy said, it seems like it might have made, you know, the police blotter or something. "PETA Comes To Town, Kills Six Local Dogs" - that kinda thing. ....?
Or is it that they hold such sway over the USDA and America's Kennel Clubs that they were able to get this hushed up right quick?
BTW, I have this friend who's a bishop, and one time the Pope told him point blank: "I'm only in this racket for the money, ya know."
Way to fight for Jesus, asshole.
posted by soyjoy at 9:17 PM on April 28, 2003
On the other hand, f_and_m, I can't quite buy into that "anything PETA does in the face of that continuing, indefensible, lazy crime is a Good Thing," because there are some things they do that I believe are counterproductive in terms of stopping that crime - in other words, by choosing to do one thing over another, they may be, however unwittingly, helping to perpetuate the crimes instead. Branding AR as the province of juvenile, sex-obsessed ad-hoc moralists doesn't help to speed anyone's conversion to the cause, IMO.
PETA does do good work with organizing boycotts and pressuring food titans in back rooms; but they seem to have convinced themselves that they have to keep up these ridiculous controversy-chasing campaigns in order to be taken "seriously" in the boardroom. I dunno, either that or they have to have something colorful to tell the people that are giving them money.
posted by soyjoy at 9:35 PM on April 28, 2003
PETA does do good work with organizing boycotts and pressuring food titans in back rooms; but they seem to have convinced themselves that they have to keep up these ridiculous controversy-chasing campaigns in order to be taken "seriously" in the boardroom. I dunno, either that or they have to have something colorful to tell the people that are giving them money.
posted by soyjoy at 9:35 PM on April 28, 2003
An animal rights group says it will donate $15,000 worth of vegetarian patties to area schools if officials change the borough's name to Veggieburg.
How much to change the name of the town to Pressed Rat?
posted by LeLiLo at 11:01 PM on April 28, 2003
How much to change the name of the town to Pressed Rat?
posted by LeLiLo at 11:01 PM on April 28, 2003
Obviously, some of you question the provenance of the moniker as if it was selected just to fustigate the PETA crowd- let's try a test. Step with Mr. Peabody and Sherman into the way-back machine....Where's this from (no fair Googling)?:
Pressed Rat and Warthog have closed down their shop,
They didn't want to - 'twas all they had got.
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat,
And Pressed Rat's collection of dog legs and feet.
Sadly they left, telling no one goodbye.
Pressed Rat wore red jodhpurs - Warthog a striped tie.
Between them, they carried a three-legged sack,
Went straight round the corner and never came back.
Pressed Rat and Warthog have closed down their shop.
The bad captain madman had told them to stop
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat,
And pressed rat's collection of dog legs and feet.
The bad captain madman had ordered their fate.
He laughed and stomped off with a nautical gate.
The gate turned into a deroga tree
And his pegleg got woodworm and broke into three.
Pressed Rat and Warthog have closed down their shop,
They didn't want to - 'twas all they had got.
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat,
And Pressed Rat's collection of dog legs and feet.
Correct answers will win a noprise.
posted by Pressed Rat at 5:42 AM on April 29, 2003
Pressed Rat and Warthog have closed down their shop,
They didn't want to - 'twas all they had got.
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat,
And Pressed Rat's collection of dog legs and feet.
Sadly they left, telling no one goodbye.
Pressed Rat wore red jodhpurs - Warthog a striped tie.
Between them, they carried a three-legged sack,
Went straight round the corner and never came back.
Pressed Rat and Warthog have closed down their shop.
The bad captain madman had told them to stop
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat,
And pressed rat's collection of dog legs and feet.
The bad captain madman had ordered their fate.
He laughed and stomped off with a nautical gate.
The gate turned into a deroga tree
And his pegleg got woodworm and broke into three.
Pressed Rat and Warthog have closed down their shop,
They didn't want to - 'twas all they had got.
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat,
And Pressed Rat's collection of dog legs and feet.
Correct answers will win a noprise.
posted by Pressed Rat at 5:42 AM on April 29, 2003
A: ...your user page!
(At least that was the answer for me, to "where did I just see this?")
posted by soyjoy at 7:11 AM on April 29, 2003
(At least that was the answer for me, to "where did I just see this?")
posted by soyjoy at 7:11 AM on April 29, 2003
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
The facts.
What I'm talking about is, that PETA, in no way, shape, or form, can be anything but a comical organization.
The president must be drawn with thick black lines around the outside of his being, and when he speaks, clouds appear around his head.
For real.
posted by angry modem at 8:58 AM on April 28, 2003