PETA sucks.

[Redlinerobert]

You believe these people?  Obviously they have never felt the joy of sticking a nice fat bass so hard you make his eyes cross.  

http://www.nofishing.net/

[BASS fisherman]

No, I don't. Gimmie a break. God forbid some goofy activist ever comes within arms distance of me shoving their beliefs down my throat. Thats all I have to say on this matter.

[mjhutch1116]

I just read the information on the site that was listed to be checked out.  I can not believe that they are comparing fishing to a humanbeing reaching into a apple tree and getting hooked on the hand and hauled up into an unfriendly atmosphere.  The people of peta and there ideals never cease to amaze me.  If they had there way the world would be over run with animals.   I just wonder what they would say if they got there wish and then during a hard winter had to watch some of their animals dying because there is not enough food to eat for all of them?  I bet there responses would be very interesting to hear.

Matt

[fishingrulz]

Such BS propaganda...I agree that Comercial fishing goes overboard in most cases. They are trying to stop personal sport angling. They need to get out and stop the real cruelty to animals. They say that fishing is cruelty to animals. If sport angling was really that bad, how come there has been no obvious impact on the Bass population? They are sick sick people. Telling 6 and 7 year old kids, through comic books! Inside it tells these children to hide thier pet dogs and cats because their dad wants to kill them and eat them too. They act as if fishermen set out to slaughter every fish they catch. What a joke. I swear, if I ever see them on the street or anywhere trying to pass this off to little kids i'll flip a stinky.

[VekolBass]

My fondest hope is that all PETA members return in their next life as BAITFISH.

[Raul]

If you happen to stumble on a PETA member and begins trying to "educate" you, ask them how come PETA puts to "sleep" ( euthanize ) 5 more times dogs and cats that the ones they place in adoption.

[justfishin]

The people of PETA are extremist. They are miserable people whom crave attention. The more you buck them the more they react. Anyone with any sense and education does not listen to their extremism. The best way to deal with them is to ignore them. They thrive on publicity and seeing their name in the press. You will not out scream them and having a conversation with them is impossible. Use your heads and fight them by backing legislation that keeps them at bay while enjoying your sport. Fight them on a legislative venue. Do not let them get a hand in your rights as a sportsman. We as sportfisherman put more in the conservation of the fisheries, wildlife, and keeping the lands wild than they could ever imagine. Just tell them , ok, we will quit fishin, boating and hunting but, all the revenue that will be lost will have to come from PETA. They are not worth arguing with. Just keep an eye on them and whom they befriend in the administrative offices. That is were the war needs to be fought.

[fishbear]

A few years ago, members of ALF (animal liberation front) openly supported by PETA, broke into a mink farm in Oregon.  They released all the caged raised mink to the outside, where it was snowing, needless to say 90% of the mink froze to death, and the rest were killed by coyotes, neighbors dogs, etc.....   but it was worth it to them because they were being abused... :o :o :o :o

These people need to get a grip on reality.  I had one member actually tell me that the whitetail deer would not starve to death if we quit hunting them...  ummmmmmm ok, how about in Pennsylvania where more deer are killed on average by cars than hunters, and there is still a population problem..........

I have a salute for PETA members,,,, and it is very similar to Michael Vicks salute last Sunday....

The only way to beat them is to educate the kids.... because PETA preys on kids, like they are candy.

[BASS fisherman]

I came across this stuff doing alittle research:

Hanging up on zealot's call for change by Adam Broder

I have a question for all the zealots of the world. Where has basic human compassion disappeared to? It seems that whenever people get together to support a cause, priorities get misplaced, and they lose sight of what is supposed to be most important to them.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is notorious for these actions. Last June they created Unhappy Meals, a boxed ad meant to resemble a McDonald's Happy Meal, which depicted animal cruelty on the outside and contained toys of Ronald McDonald with a bloody butcher knife on the inside.

Were they out to inform people about the harm caused to animals, or were they out to mentally scar certain children for life? Last August they erected billboards in Milwaukee depicting New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani with a frowning milk mustache and the words, "Got Prostate Cancer?"

I've come to consider the following explanation as a possible rationalization: If they'd go to such extremes to get their point across, it must mean that they equate the harm caused to animals in daily commercial society with the harm that is caused to Giuliani, his family, others with prostate cancer, others who drink milk, dairy farmers and their industry.

Even if you could show that these were equal, all this amounts to is a juvenile "two wrongs make a right" conclusion. It seems to happen often where the fight for change turns inward so that good people with good intentions do bad things. Even on this campus we're not safe from it.

That's why the story on page 5 of The Daily Illini on March 20 about the Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative caught my attention. A rally and march took place in opposition of the recent Board of Trustees meeting concerning the Chief. Along the way, the protesters passed a fraternity house. According to the story, a protester gave the middle finger after a fraternity member expressed some harmless words.

Now the finger itself is harmless as well, but not very nice. And while a simple middle finger doesn't even stack up in magnitude to some of the stunts PETA has pulled, it's similar. It's an expression of anger. And when anger results from the willingness to add love to the world (by removing the Chief, a racist symbol), I can't help but see an inconsistency.

The last time I wrote on certain issues, one of the letters I received suggested that I do more research. So I went to the PRC's Web site to view its mission statement. Sure enough, the following line was there: "We strive to establish more just relationships among all peoples and the environment."

But only a few hyperlinks away was a poem titled "Too Many Chiefs and Not Enough Indians" with the following line: "I'll bet (the Chief) has one huge thingy, the mother raper." I don't care how you try to shroud these words in poetic justification or literary bologna. Words like these do little to establish more just relationships with Chief supporters, who do happen to fall into the category of "all peoples." And I can't even begin to comprehend how the PRC's anti-rape initiates are consistent with such words.

Perhaps the biggest harm that zealots from any group inflict is upon those who are on their side. I'm sure there are many people who support PETA's mission to ease cruelty to animals but see its extreme measures as being destructive to the cause. If only the people who create such mayhem would realize that most people are willing to listen to their ideas, maybe they would stop relying on shock factors to bring change to our society.

Adam Broder is a senior in commerce. His columns appear on alternate Thursdays. He can be reached at opinions@dailyillini.com.

And Also this

Rather than merely hurl verbal javelins, he chooses an active response to the idiocies he encounters, leaving the landscape littered with embarrassed democrats.

He writes about several of these incidents in his book.

When Gallagher decided he'd had enough of the idiocies peddled by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), he pulled off one of his inspired stunts, which got attention not only here but in Europe as well, and left PETA looking like the idiots they are.

It began with one of PETA's more bizarre campaigns a drive to get 18- and 19-year-old kids to drink beer instead of milk because they say that milking cows is too upsetting and uncomfortable for them.

Gallagher writes that PETA kicked off an outdoor billboard and magazine campaign spoofing the diary industry's slogan "Got Milk?" by replacing it with "Got Beer?" and went on to place the "Got Beer?" ads in college newspapers and university communities.

"It was as if they never heard of the nationwide epidemic of teenagers who drink, drive and die."

Noting that he is "extremely sensitive to the devastation alcohol wreaks in America," Mike went looking for a way to beat PETA at their own game.

"I announced that I would buy a cow that was scheduled for slaughter, broadcast its execution' on my radio show and donate the beef to the homeless."

Faced with this challenge, PETA went berserk. After all, Mike explained, "a lot of hungry and needy people were going to be enjoying nice, juicy steaks and hamburgers from the slaughtered cow." Mike's idea of broadcasting a cow's death "really drove them wild."

He encountered a panicked PETA spokeswoman during a broadcast and enjoyed her shock and dismay. "How can you sleep at night?" she shrieked. "Have you really given any thought to what the final moments of the cow's life are going to be like with you and your microphones there."

Gallagher kept his promise and broadcast the execution live, announced somberly after the steer's death, "We are now going to feed hundreds of hungry people throughout the Ohio Valley."

The stunt got wide attention, "spreading the message that many Americans abhor the shock tactics of the animal rights nuts," he wrote, noting that hundreds of needy, hungry people got choice, Grade A beef.

[Replica.]

The people of peta and there ideals never cease to amaze me. If they had there way the world would be over run with animals. I just wonder what they would say if they got there wish and then during a hard winter had to watch some of their animals dying because there is not enough food to eat for all of them? I bet there responses would be very interesting to hear.

Matt

Many of them believe in sterilization or euthanasia to control the deer population. In Wisconsin some of thier friends in the state government wanted to use these tactics instead of letting hunters harvest more deer. Most of the extra venison is donated to food banks. Just imagine what PETA could do if they actually cared about human suffering.

[BASS fisherman]

Here ia an excellent article that beats all the others.

I was going to copy and paste it, but #1 it is copyrighted, and #2 it is about 40,000 words.

http://www.ncfish.org/2001/april/archive1.htm

[Troutfisher]

I did a project back in 8th grade about PETA and ALF. It was entitled "PETA and ALF: Allies in Terrorism." I did my research and dug up so many bad things about them. It made me sick. These people are absolutely ridiculous. I put many facts on things ALF had committed, and the list is as follows, and not limited to, sneaking into a college and vandalizing it, burning down McDonalds, throwing rocks at people with fur coats on, attacking people in restaraunts, and burning homes down built on or near wildlife areas. My project got first place on the school and county level, and earned an honorable mention on the state-wide level.

Good sites to go to are http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

As well as http://www.anti-peta.com/

These people are terrorists. Even if the PETA members themselevs do not carry out the attacks, they fund the A.L.F. to do their dirty work. They must be stopped.

[Redlinerobert]

They are extreme, and I agree with Jim Blair's comments.  God help us if they ever form an alliance with someone in congress that believes their crap.

I've heard that they have attended bass tournaments to try and get their message across?  I can only imagine how their presence was taken.   >

The comics for kids though - that is over the top.  

[fishbear]

Again, the cure for this is to get as many kids out fishing and hunting as possible.  They are the sportsmen and women of tomorrow.  Show them how to have clean safe fun, catching fish, stalking a buck, etc..... and they will continue this tradition.

The other thing is to exercise your voting rights,, this means paying attention and writing congress people if neccessary.

jmho

[VekolBass]

PETA doesn't care about animals, what they really care about is people. They want to control people. They're fundamental argument is in itself senseless if you look at it stripped of all it's rhetorical flourishes: "People shouldn't kill animals."  The obvious answer, that even PETA types understand in a subliminal fashion given their rather limited capacity for rational thought, is that everything dies--and in most cases something else kills it--why shouldn't people kill fish as well? Confronted with this, the obvious answer that the PETA type would have to reply with is that people shouldn't derive any enjoyment, profit, or sustenance from killing animals because it is immoral.

Well I'm sorry, I thought we valued diversity in this country. Why should my morals be the same as yours? And why do you think you have the right to use coercion in order to force your morality on me?

Now the argument has shifted from compassion towards animals to controlling other human beings--and that is what every extremist in the final analyses wishes to do. They have a compulsion to do it like the drunk has to the bottle. My own personal theory is that they (and this isn't exclusive to animal rights types) do it because they suffer from some deep seated guilt complex that has nothing to do with the cause that they espouse--probably from some personal behaviour or past experience that they are trying to atone for. A historical example is Adolf Hitler's well documented conversion to vegetarianism after his alleged complicty in the murder (staged as a suicide) of his lover (and second cousin) Geli Rabaul in the late 1920s. It's this deep seated personal involvement and need to atone that makes PETA types so vulnerable to marginalization and mockery--as one of the previous posters alluded to.

Which is precisely my recommendation as to how we handle them. Beat them at the ballot box, and humiliate them in the public square. This will force them into ever more radical, and eventually criminal behaviour, for which they can be arrested and prosecuted. Which in fact, is what needs to happen to them so they can be institutionalized and get the help they so desperately need

[BucketmouthAngler13]

All i have to say is that anyone who give comics like this....

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/downloads/reference/docs/040726_mommykills.pdf

...to kids becuase their mother wears fur, are cowardly sick people who have no consience of "ethical treatment" to anything.

JM.20

[Rattlinrogue]

To each his own,I guess.I disagree with the message that they are spouting about not only fish but all animals.They are entitled to their beliefs,but they cross the line in their crusade to force their views on everyone.Just one more goofy special interest group that think they know what is good and right for everyone.These people are simply extremists that flirt with ecoterrorism.Many of their methods of "activism" are just plain criminal,and I consider this group,criminal.