PETA Riposte

[Guest Chris Plumb]

And a rather good one I thought...

 

Subject: Fw: Scales of Injustice - Rick Reilly's of Sport's Illustrated

 

 

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has new billboards out

that claim fishing is cruel. I totally agree. The last time I went, all I

caught was a sunburn, three hooks in the back of my thigh and hell from my

pals for forgetting the Off.

 

Unfortunately, this is not what PETA means. PETA means fishing is cruel to

the fish. Seriously. PETA plans to put up billboards across the U.S. and in

Canada that show a Labrador retriever with a hook in his bloody lip. IF YOU

WOULDN'T DO IT TO A DOG, the signs say, WHY DO IT TO A FISH?

 

And, of course, the answer is: Because fish do not bring me my slippers.

Look, I wailed for the whales. I fumed over fur. I emotionally clubbed

myself over the baby seals. But I'll be damned if I'm going to weep over a

walleye.

 

PETA says fish feel pain and that to snag one with a steel hook, drag it

along for 50 yards or so and then haul it out of the water so it suffocates

is sick. "Why do we throw a Frisbee to some animals and a barbed hook to

others?" PETA asks on its website.

 

And, of course, the answer is: Because fish really suck at catching

Frisbees.

 

PETA thinks it's evil to eat fish, too. But why should we stop eating them

when they eat each other? Besides, they had their chance to evolve. They

could've crawled out of the primordial ooze with us, but they didn't. They

decided to stay behind and swim in the water they pee in and go around

never blinking. When fish lift their scaly butts past us in the food chain,

they can eat us. Until then, pass the tartar sauce.

 

PETA even says catch-and-release is cruel. They say the harm and stress

caused by being caught and released is sometimes enough to kill the fish

later on. As if the fish go straight into therapy after being caught.

 

Fish: I'm telling you, Doc, I was just minding my own business when I got

hauled into the sky, examined by some weird beings and then thrown back!

 

Fish psychiatrist: Lemme guess. A UFO, right?

I mean, what's PETA going to do? You'll be sitting at the counter in the

deli, and suddenly, the PETA police will come running in, shouting, "All

right, back away from the tuna melt and nobody gets hurt!" My God, we're

talking about fish here. Fish have a brain the size of a corn kernel.

 

Professor James Rose, a University of Wyoming neuroscientist, studied fish

for years and determined that they lack a neocortex (parts of which process

the brain's response to pain), much like Cubs fans. Besides, if fish are so

smart, why can you catch a fish, throw it back and then, two hours later,

catch the same fish? I mean, do you really want to save something dumber

than Robert Downey Jr.?

 

Didn't Jesus fish? He seemed like a pretty sensitive guy. When He zapped up

all those fishes for 5,000 people, what do you think He did with them,

throw them back?

 

I know, I know-I hate hunting. But sitting in the back of a pickup,

taking a rifle with an infrared scope and killing a deer from 1,000 yards

away is not nearly the same thing as standing up to your spleen in icy

rushing river water, trying to cast the perfectly tied fly into the perfect

eddy to catch a rainbow trout. Is it our fault that the trout falls for it?

Tell you what: I will get behind hunting when hunters come up with a

shoot-and-release program.

 

Why does PETA stop at fish? Where does PETA stand on the plight of the

worm? And plankton? And the 1,000,000 micro-organisms that are crushed by

your boots every time you go on a nature hike? Have these PETA vegetarians

ever gotten close to a broccoli to hear its screams as it's violently

yanked from its birthplace and boiled to death?

 

Fishing is cruel? I always thought fishing was one of the most peaceful

things you could do. What are fathers and sons supposed to do together,

knit sweaters out of each other's navel lint? What are we supposed to read,

Hemingway's Old Man and the Parking Lot?

 

I'll tell you one thing. Before I agree to this whole fish-human truce,

somebody had better have a long face-to-face with the sharks about it. I

say we send a bunch of PETA members down right away.

 

With apologies to those that have already seen this on the IAC - beat you to it Keith!!!

 

 

Chris

 

 

 

 

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"Study to be quiet."

[Guest Newt]

Good thoughts - well spoken.

 

Don't know about the rest of you lot but I enjoy being at the top of the food chain.

[Guest Zaphod]

These PETA people have got thier proiritys so out of whack it's rediculous.

With so much poverty, torture, famine, disease, war, child abuse etc going on in ther world, they are worried about bloody fish.

If they had an ounce of humanity/christianity in them they would be addressing these issues. And not poncing about worrying about simple life forms like fish.

 

How do they expect anybody to take them seriously...

 

Del

 

P.S. howdy to our friends across the pond

 

Del Boy

 

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Zaphods just 'zis guy, you know..!

[Guest paul mc]

Hi Chris

Well said mate

I think that most of these PETA type things are just ANARCHISTS who rebel against anything and use whatever tactics they see fit to voice thier opinions,wether it be nail bombs,releasing dangerous animals or generally just being a nuissance.

 

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Regards Paul Mc(ANMC)

[Guest Keith]

Originally posted by Zaphod:

How do they expect anybody to take them seriously...

 

Unfortunately though, people do take the b*ggers seriously.

 

These are the same ones doing the schools now to try and turn kiddies off drinking cow's milk on animal welfare grounds!

 

IMHO they do it as a sop to their conscience.

 

PETA is a notably middle class, affluent organisation - and this is a way for them to feel better about the evils of conspicouous consumption - without actually doing anything that would really help the World's problems.

 

It's nothing more than a bloody hobby charity for people who are too arrogant, indolent and lazy to address the real issues - they can make themselves feel better by pontificating about "cruel anglers" - then go to bed smug and secure that it's all someone else's fault.

 

Unfortunately, this same middle class affluent target audience includes "celebrities": and in this day and age the Cult of Personality means that if someone famous speaks in support of PETA, they are taken seriously purely on account of their celebrity.

 

And regardless of the truth.

 

 

------------------

Keith

 

Blyth,

Northumberland

 

mailto:keith@go-fishing.co.ukkeith@go-fishing.co.uk

http://www.wacac.co.uk

[Guest euan pink]

like the idea of sending them to negotiate with the sharks!!!

 

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ANMC FOUNDER MEMBER

SAVE MONEY ON YA FISHIN JOIN TODAY

[Guest Zaphod]

Would'nt that be cruel to the Sharks..?

 

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Best Fishes

Del

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Zaphods just 'zis guy, you know..!

[Guest Chris Plumb]

Keith - got up on the wrong side of the bed today did we?

 

 

Chris

[Guest Keith]

Originally posted by Chris Plumb:

Keith - got up on the wrong side of the bed today did we?    

 

 

Chris

 

Chris,

 

have a look when I posted - I hadn't even been to bed!

 

PETA are just one of my biggest pet hates - they're everything that stinks about ignorance, dogma and hypocrisy.

 

I'd turn them into an endangered species at the drop of a hat, mate!

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by Keith (edited 30 June 2001).]

[Guest Graham E]

Keith, where did they get the feathers for their beds.........Asked a duck nicely I guess.

 

If you see one ask them about their leather shoes/belts, the rape of silkworms for their ties, the painful and bloody shearing of sheep for their cardigans and the damage done to the environment through toxic fumes to make their plastic buttons.

 

That usually gets them of the subject of fishing.

 

Ps how many hops were killed to make the beer they are drinking. Pathetic isn't it and them.

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by Graham E (edited 30 June 2001).]