USDA Classifies PETA as a Terrorist Threat
TreeHugger reports that the USDA has added PETA to its list of terrorist threats. So, have we seen the last of nude fashion models in cages or slightly offensive billboards? It’s sort of akin to labeling a Koala a dangerous animal. Call PETA several things: innacurate, trite, innefective, for example, and you might be on to something, but a threat to anyone, including their intended targets, they really are not. Still, as this blog points out, “Regardless of how you feel about PETA and their tactics, they are a lawful, above-ground, national non-profit.” It seems the word terrorism means whatever you want it to anymore.
Green is the New Red: “Animal industries are quite open about their desire to use terrorism laws to keep their practices out of the public spotlight. I recently posted about the Animal Agriculture Alliance calling for federal prosecution of undercover investigators. It’s not because the investigators are violent. It is because they pose an even greater threat: educating the public.”
If it’s true that factory farming industrylobbyists are behind the listing over PETA’s supposed undercover investigations, then let’s see more of that from the organization that up until recently was about to close shop. Forget the billboards and phony publicity stunts and get on with the fact finding, and releasing.
It’s more difficult to get publications to focus on issues that are more critical. It’s never been easy, and I think in the last few years it’s gotten more difficult as society becomes more obsessed with entertainment, celebrity and fashion. Advertisers are tired of having their products displayed next to images of human tragedy; they feel that it somehow detracts from the salability of their products.
