Failure to Communicate: My beef with PETA

THE CAROLINIAN -- I heard a lot of differing opinions about Morals Week, last week's five-day event held by the College Republicans (CR), though mostly people were different only in their reasoning for hating the CRs. A lot of people thought Straight Pride Day was a silly concept, since straight people are a vast majority and not discriminated against in any way; even PRIDE! welcomes straights. I thought it was funny to put that day celebrating "traditional family values" right before "Support Our Troops" day, however, since it's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" that keeps kicking out soldiers, some of them valuable Arab translators (a Clinton compromise now upheld by conservatives).

But Friday's PETA Barbecue (People for the Eating of Tasty Animals) was the one day that everyone I talked to seemed to be on the same page about. (I'll admit bias; it's safe to assume I don't talk to many Republicans.) The day appeared to be a bit pointless since most people see PETA (the real group) as a bunch of people who simply care for animals, and no part of being Republican means hating vegetarians. But this is the one day where I agreed with the CRs. They reminded me of why I hate PETA.

I could go on all day about the bad things about PETA that overwhlem the good, such as how ridiculous the idea of "total animal liberation" is and why their pet-owning members should read the brochure more closely, or how PETA groups protest shelters that put down animals even though it's been proven that PETA itself has put down thousands of recovered strays, or the group's debatable ties to the Animal Liberation Front - listed by the Department of Homeland Security and FBI as a domestic terrorist group - but it's really all because of one person: Mary Beth Sweetland.

Full column here