I think your theory is very interesting - that PETA is a patsy for the meat industry. There is quite a history of COINTEL PRO and other infiltrations of movements, I don't see why the "animal rights and/or vegan movement" would be any different. It's clear that vegans and animal rights activists pose a serious threat to the profitable status quo; capitalism, consumerimsm, exploitation, and oppression. Between PETA desperately attempting to, and often mirroring, the status quo and "animal rights activists/strict vegans" (from the descriptions in the news) making it to the top of the list of domestic terrorists, I'd say that a movement founded on non-violence, non-exploitation, anti-oppression, and compassion has been seriously compromised. Intentionally? Well, I look forward to you working through your theory in order to explore that topic some more.
Great stuff!

Laterz

 

Yes, and the way COINTELPRO got activists fighting amongst and against each other is another great example of what PETA does. I haven't seen them dividing and inflaming the conservative community -- they really actually unite them. But by being an enormously misogynist, racist, transphobic, homophobic, ableist and classist group, and because animal rights is more often embraced by progressives, they really, really divide the community. If you think about it, PETA is a conservative's wet dream, because it gets progressives attacking each other every time PETA comes up with a new campaign, and at the same time their campaigns add more hateful, stereotypical representations of oppressed people to the world, so it's a great win-win situation for conservatives -- progressives are busy throwing punches at each other, and more people are exposed to hateful images of the groups conservatives dislike (women, trans people, black people, Jewish people, etc).

This also really crystallized in my mind after reading the threads on this ad at Shakesville and Feministe. In both cases, the comment threads turned into a clusterfuck of anger and misunderstanding, with opportunistic PETA trolls coming in to inflame things, and eventually comments on both threads were closed down. At Shakesville, Melissa hasn't been around since then; if she ends up closing the blog because PETA's bullshit put her over the edge, I swear to Isis and every Goddess in history that I am going to get PETA shut down. This is too far. It is way, way too far; not only are they destroying animal rights, they're destroying the entire progressive movement.

 

I don't know about PETA being a patsy for the meat industry (entirely possible). I think that PETA really has just fallen in love with celebrity. Its willingness to exploit tragedies, women, GLBT, and the poor, as means to that end. Makes me wonder if they view animal rights the same way, as a means to get on TV. Rather then pursue methods that might actually work to change people's minds, PETA does some stupid, offensive, stunt and signs up five teenagers looking for an excuse to hide their eating disorders and offends tons of people who might be persuaded to change some of their eating habits.

This love of celebrity only makes it harder for attention to go to groups that really are pursuing effective strategies to further animal rights and change people's eating habits. I think it all comes down to PETA really loves seeing PETA on TV. It cares shit about animals. That is just a means to an end.

 

Hi Topher! Yeah, those are definitely good points as well. I'll fully admit there are plenty of things that don't fit with the possibility of PETA being a meat industry pawn, such as the fact that Ingrid Newkirk was there at the beginning when PETA really did good things, yet she's the one who's at the helm now and most of their really bad ideas come from or are enthusiastically supported by her. Of course, her background in law enforcement and past position as a deputy sheriff also make me a little suspicious -- not that all law enforcement people are OMG TEH EVIL, but, well, a lot of them are pretty awful, and it also means that she could have some contacts from her old world who might have persuaded her to use PETA for not-so-vegan ends. Plus she's so super secretive about her life and hardly ever even lets anybody come to her apartment and doesn't appear to have any real friends. Maybe I think this is typical of an FBI agent because I've watched too many movies about FBI agents, though! :)

In addition, I also know the depths of misogyny and racism and other bigotries that many progressives paradoxically harbor. Sometimes I wonder if my PETA theory isn't also rooted in my own disbelief that progressives could be so mean and bigoted, when I know perfectly well that they can, just like anybody else.

And I was just thinking the same thing the other day re: PETA's true attitude toward animal rights -- if they really view human lives so callously and as being so disposable, how can they possibly view animal rights seriously? Compassion is compassion, period. Seeking attention for the sake of attention does nothing to further compassion generally or animal rights specifically.

 

I don't like PETA, and the choice of location seems very bad taste. But I do see the logic in general behind the slogan.