PETA’s ‘Meat Tray Demonstration’ yesterday in Times Square featured bloodied human beings wrapped in meat trays like slabs of beef. The point is a good one. Flesh is flesh, no matter the source. And seeing humans depicted as steaks and pork chops puts the whole concept of eating creatures with faces into grisly perspective. Meat is murder.
Read about the demonstration at the Peta Files.
Say, that blonde looks kinda hot.
Horribly right. I love PETA’s campaigns.
The whole paradigm of meat shrink-wrapped and sold on a bed of styrofoam and a blood-soaking pad is disgusting, in that it lets the consumer never really face what that product actually is.
To quote those who have made the observation before me, “It hardly bleeds.”
I’ve never been 100% fond of PETAs tactics (despite being hardcore vegan) but this is pretty neat. Quite how effective it will be against the ever blinkered and increasingly defensive meat gorged populace, I don’t know.
Awaiting the usual litany of sausage chomper comments:
“That make me all big hungry lol”
“That do reminds me: I’m a gunna eats me a steak tonight lol”
“I am eats what I does am liking and u carnt stops me lol”
But, anyway, A meat murder post should be good for quite a few impressions on that Yahoo banner add up on the right! Cha Ching!
im obviously in the minority here but i remain unmoved. if youre trying to make me think, shock tactics arent the best way to do it (speaking for myself here.)
I not only eat meat, I kill the animal, skin it, and dismember it.
True, meat is murder and the practices of the industrialized “factory” farming practices are largely abhorant. If you choose to eat flesh, either kill & butcher it yourself as humanely as possible, or support local farms using more humane and sustainable practices. It’s possible to choose to eat meat and not be environmentally irresponsible or unnecessarily cruel.
Operating kill shelters for companion animals is murder as well, ask PETA about that…
I’ve been a vegetarian for almost 20 years, but stuff like this is just silly to me. I can’t imagine a meat eater being swayed by this. It’s a cool art project and I’d get a laugh from it if I saw it on the street, but as a political statement it’s sort of too ridiculous to be effective.
I’ve been vegan since I was a sperm. PETA is great. I don’t think they are going to make anyone stop eating meat. I like their pictures and I like their campaigns not for the message, but because most of the environmental movement: save the birds, don’t chop down the trees, make love to the oceans, roaches are our friends people are boring, very, very boring and I like that PETA isn’t boring and granola and patchouli. I like that they take a harsh stance. In this world of “well it all depends, everything is relative” it’s nice to meet some artful people who take a stand.
I don’t care one way or the other what people do, eat your baby I don’t care.
Watch the Penn & Teller Bullshit episode about PETA. That will tell you everything you need to know about these frauds. It’s pretty disheartening that they’ve been legitimised to the extent that they have.
pen and teller tend to annoy me, but i saw that episode and it was pretty convincing.. i think peta do more harm than good when it comes to raising awareness for the issues on their agenda. everythings carried out in this hysterical, accusatory, overly righteous tone..
No, meat is not murder. Killing a human being is murder. Meat is delicious.
If you don’t eat meat; good on you. I’d love to be one of you.
If you do eat meat; learn where it comes from and talk to the supplier. Farmers are people, many of them care about their animals.
It’s true, supermarkets are crap, but there is something about a good slab of meat from a good farm that defies explanation.
Life is murder. I believe Darwin had things to say on the subject.
I don’t come to Dangerous Minds for this kind of holier-than-thou BS. Marc, leave your self-aggrandizing morality and politics at home. We’re here to have fun.
Are you serious? I had to check - I thought I was on the wrong blog… hahahahahaha. Give me a break. HAHAHA, wait maybe this is a joke! Ha! I’m just going to pretend it is.
MMMMMMvegetarian meat.Go over to these stupid fucks with a sharp knife a hot skillet and some seasoning.“Meat is murder”? not if you still live!
I’m having a hard time figuring out how anyone could read DM and come to the conclusion that politics and lifestyle w\aren’t part of what goes on here.
Yes, meat is flesh. Whoever is unaware of that is a moron.
Humans live because we consume life. That broccoli was alive before someone chopped it up for you.
The fact that something needs to die for you to live should only make the fact that you are alive more precious. If you eat meat or not, something has died so you can live.
Be aware, live your life and don’t be such a puritanical purist.
Yes, we do have to consume life. But not necessarily life that contains a nervous system. Trust me on this - I’ve been vegan for 17 years now, and can bench press more now, at 42, than I could during my 20s.
Please do not attempt to equate taking the life of an animal like, say, your dog with taking the life of, say, a carrot. That’s an extremely uneven comparison.
Just because something doesn’t have a nervous system or move about or have big cute eyes doesn’t necessarily preclude life.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_in_the_Dark
Well done on being healthier now by the way. Perhaps that’s just down to doing more exercise.
Nice reference, Dan - though my memory of that particular episode is foggy ...
As an omnivore, I don’t find meat to be murder. I do think the way our culture gets it’s meat is undignified. I have total respect for someone who hunts their own food, although, I am bothered by all the crap that seems to come with the gun/hunting lifestyle. I try to be mindful of where my food comes from, but it’s not always that easy, especially since I have to travel a lot. This Soylent Green culture is dictated by economics and population. The question is how to realistically go about it in a healthier and more humane way.
I believe it was Mr. Cobain who said “Yes I eat cow - I am not proud.”
“Marc, leave your self-aggrandizing morality and politics at home. We’re here to have fun.
Anyone who pays attention to Dangerous Minds know that it features quite a bit of political content. And who says politics can’t be fun. I think the PETA demonstration is a perfect example of politics as entertainment.
I’m not being holier than thou by blogging the PETA event. I’m justbringing people’s attention to something I consider newsworthy.
By the way, I’m not a vegetarian. I occasionally eat organic meat from humanely treated animals. But, the bottom line is, killing a cow is murder.
My apologies, I should not have used “your” self-aggrandizing morality, Marc - it’s more the self-aggrandizing morality of PETA and other moral absolutists that I find wholly incompatible with the freewheelin’, nihilistic spirit of DM. And yes, I am a long-time reader and fan, so I’m aware that DM sometimes dips a toe in the political cesspool…but I’m just sayin’, it’s a lot more fun when it doesn’t. IMHO.
People just eat way too much meat. Way too much. As an omnivore (like a pig or gorilla) it should be a tiny, tiny percentage of the human diet as in we eat it only when there’s fuck all else to eat. But, people like to shovel it down their necks sometimes 3 times a day without a thought in the world.
I went veggie for selfish health reasons, then went vegan soon after when I realized that milk and eggs are not without their body count.
There are studies linking meat to not only heart disease, but also cancer and other nasty things. Whether this holds any water (and environmental variables aside) remains to be seen, but a lot of things certainly suggest a modern American diet isn’t as golly gee gosh great as people think. Go read The China Study if you haven’t already.
If you’re a vegan or vegetarian, don’t watch a film called ‘the secret life of plants’. When the Japanese scientist is teaching a cactus to talk, or the Russian scientists prove that some plants can be traumatized by witnessing the destruction of another plant and can recognize different people, you won’t be quite so guilt free about eating them any more.
I think I’m going to figure out a way to be a Mineralarian. Humane, organic and fare trade, of course.
I’m vegan because I’m anorexia. The idea of eating anything repulses me, but saying I’m vegan seems less weird, in Los Angeles.
@Darko:
The China Study has been debunked in a number of places. Here’s a good starting point:
http://bit.ly/abw5iG
@Browne: If you’re anorexic, please, please don’t hesitate to seek help! I’ve had students have to leave our college to combat this issue, and it can be just as awful for anyone.
maccheeze,
I think the PETA demonstration is in keeping with Dangerous Minds overall attitude. It contains naked people and blood. What more could you want?
@ marc: you make an excellent point, sir. I’m all in favor of more naked people n’ blood…but only when they’re detached from an absolutist, humorless, holier-than-thou political philosophy. but that’s not your fault, of course. keep up the otherwise-great work!
Funny how they’re doing this in Times Square.
I wonder how many of them are worried about all the homeless people who don’t even know where their next meal will come from?
I think once a society can figure out how to feed its population, it can then put the ethics of sustenance front and center. I think this brain power and creativity could have been used for more pressing issues.
I am more worried about things like: hunger, homelessness, rape, actual murder, war . . . . .
Why aren’t these folks??
“I am more worried about things like: hunger, homelessness, rape, actual murder, war . . . . .
Why aren’t these folks??”
How do you know that they’re not?
Entertainment, my ass. If they were protesting U.S. involvement in the dirtiest and most pointless war since Vietnam, they might have point. But this is just moronic.
The only thing PETA have ever been concerned about is raising their own profile and making money. They are a cult using empty-headed celebrities to promote their nonsensical belief system. As such they deserve to be debunked.
What kind of animal rights group advocates the neutering and gassing of animals? You could build a 5 lane highway through the gaps in their reasoning. Don’t be a pawn in their game.
Porkchop, I think you’re steering away from the central point that this particular protest was attempting to make.
Yep, PETA is a deeply flawed, attention-seeking organization - sometimes hilarious, sometimes making me cringe with their bad judgment. But people here pointing out PETA’s failings, then trying to expand it out to debunk veg/vegan philosophy strain their reasoning past the breaking point.
For what it’s worth, I’m not even interested in trying to convert people. The very notion smacks of the sort of door-to-door proselytising I abhor. But I will speak up in discussions such as this about my opinions on the matter. But dietary choice is just that: a choice. You decide what is best for you, your health, the environment, and, yes, if you give a fuck, the animals.
The way the world is going, we will all be feasting on human flesh soon enough al la Soylent Green, so I will enjoy eating chicken while I still can.
“As such they deserve to be debunked.”
porkchop, start debunking. You know something we don’t?
