Jezebel Calls Vegans “Monsters” Because PETA

In an edition of PETA Is The Worst so Vegans Are Too, one Jezebel writer alleges that children who are exposed to (horrible) PETA paraphernalia will grow up to be vegan monsters- preachy vegan monsters at that.

Apparently parents in Woodland Hills, California allege that PETA volunteers handed out pamphlets containing graphic images about the dairy industry to young school children.

The pamphlet, titled “A Cow’s Life,” was filled with images of mutilated cows, cows covered in feces, injured cows- you know, what really happens at Old McDonald’s Factory Farm.  Parents are outraged.  One said,

They don’t understand what it is, they just see these graphically horrifying images that stay in their minds.  It’s like seeing a bad movie, a scary movie for them and they can’t get it out of their minds.

PETA is an organization that routinely goes out of its way to do the grossest thing possible in the name of “all press is good press because that raises awareness.”  And they’re not wrong, it does raise awareness- about how much people really dislike PETA, and by extension, vegans.

Now, I’m all for explaining to children what happens at factory farms, à la Ruby Roth’s That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals, but I’ve never been a fan of using graphic images in advocacy.  Regardless, talking about PETA tactics isn’t my point here- it’s Jezebel. Specifically, it’s this:

What’s to come out of all of this? The parents say they are considering suing PETA, which sucks for the organization. On the bright side for them, I can totally see some of those children growing up to be vegan monsters who will tell everyone that’ll listen about that fateful day they learned what “A Cow’s Life” really meant.

What the hell? Stereotyping a minority much?  Perhaps someone needs to read up on what people who reject the unnecessary mass brutalization and slaughter of billions of animals (per year) are actually like.  We are not monsters, we are awesome.  We work tirelessly on behalf of animals.  We question conventional thought and tradition.  We educate ourselves to expand our hearts and mind.  We speak out because it’s important to do so.  And you know what else?  Animals love preachy vegans, even if others don’t.

Also, I find it ironic that a website that claims to fight the misogynistic treatment of women completely missed the feminist connection to veganism.  Everyday billions of female non-humans are exploited for their reproductive capabilities.  They are enslaved, manipulated, tortured, and eventually slaughtered for human profit.  Not only is this a vegan issue, it is also a feminist issue.

A monster is defined as an inhumanly cruel or wicked person.  Is the vegan, someone who rejects the belief that animals should die for our pleasure, wicked?  Or is the system, one that routinely abuses and slaughters animals, wicked?  Is it the messenger, or is it really the message?

via Jezebel and CBS News Los Angeles

Photo credit: Alex E. Proimos via Flickr