Why do Animal rights activist(like PETA) give vegeterians a bad name?

Question

I've been a vegetarian for 4 years. I personally don't give a crap about Animal rights; I'm a vegeterian for my health and well being.

I'm getting sick and tired of meat eaters bringing me down telling me vegeterian jokes that relates to the kind who are animal activist.

Whenever I bring up a vegetarian topic at school, it always lead to Animal's rights, it's driving me crazy.

Answer 1

I am not a supporter of PETA
Not all animal rights vegetarians are for PETA either...

It's obvious that PETA has other things on their "to do" list, that are more important to them then "saving animals".

Answer 2

First of all congratulations, you should be proud of this accomplishment!
I have been vegetarian for about eight years now. For me, I stopped eating meat because of the animal cruelty issues, the health benefits just came along with it. But the satisfaction in knowing that I was doing what I could to stop cruelty towards animals was so rewarding.

I personally think that PETA has good intentions and is doing a good job in spreading their ideas and campaigns. Although I do believe that some of their ideas are a bit too radical. Still, I support them as they are helping the cause.

So, as for the people that relate being a vegetarian to being an activist -- don't care!! You should do what YOU want, and just ignore them. Who cares what they say!! I bet they couldn't go through becoming a vegetarian, as it takes hard work and will power. Just stand up for what you believe in - Meat and animal products are loaded with fat and cholesterol, which lead to obesity, heart attacks, cancers, cardiovascular diseases, strokes,.. and a lot of other avoidable problems, as you will surely know.
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Here are some quotes that I love:

"If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian." ~Paul McCartney

"To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. I should be unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake of the human body." ~Mahatma Gandhi

"Would you kill your pet dog or cat to eat it? How about an animal you're not emotionally attached to? Is the thought of slaughtering a cow or chicken or pig with your own hands too much to handle? Instead, would hiring a hit-man to do the job give you enough distance from the emotional discomfort? What animal did you put a contract out on for your supper last night? Did you at least make sure that none went to waste and to take a moment to be grateful for its sacrifice?" ~Anonymous

****Well good question anyway..my answer's quite long but maybe it helped. Sorry - Hope I didn't scare you too much :)

Answer 3

No, they don't. It's people who stereotype vegetarians who give us a bad name. People jump to conclusions about what we do and who we are. Most people label us by what the media presents us as. Think about it, every time you see a vegetarian or vegan on TV they portray them as excentric and over bearing animal rights activists. People automatically make the assumption that what hollywood portrays is accurate when in fact it can be far from the truth. Personally I've only found one other vegetarian ever so I find it hard to beleive when all these people talk about how vegetarians are mean to them and they act rude and such. Chances are they've never met a vegetarian and are just basing what they beleive off television and movies. And much of what PETA members do is not supported by the organization. I don't know how many times I try to bring that accross but so many people think that PETA organizes these protests and tell people what to do when in fact protests are organized by individual groups. Some support PETA and some are against it simply trying to give it a bad name. Think of it as Micheal Vicks fans going out and getting a bunch of Pit Bulls and fighting them in the middle of the streets saying, "Vick's is innocent and there's nothing wrong with dog fighting." It's not right but no one told them to do it but themselves. I don't think there is anything wrong with protesting or educating people but I do believe some people are counter productive in their tactics.

Answer 4

Al I has a point--it's the people who stereotype us who give us a bad name, but sadly, PETA and other extreme groups feed into those stereotypes. I'm sure PETA has a good message, but it tends to get lost in their idiotic tactics. There are plenty of other pro-veg groups to support, and I focus my resources on them.

I do believe it is unethical to exploit animals, which is one reason I've stayed vegan. But I believe that whether it's health, environment, the animals, or a combination, there's no "right" or "wrong" reason to be vegetarian.

Howard Lyman, cattle rancher turned vegan activist, is vegan for health and environmental reasons. In his books "Mad Cowboy" and "No More Bull," he gives little attention to the animals and great attention to his health and the environmental degradation wrought by the meat industries.

Ignore the folks who make jokes about animal activists and if that issue comes up in conversation, admit you are doing it more for your health.

Answer 5

There are many animal rights organizations that are better than PETA. Humane Farming Association is a great organization that runs a farm animal sanctuary. This is really the type of thing I hate to see - farm animals being abused and mistreated for the sake of a dollar. Eating meat is one thing, but torturing it beforehand is another.

Answer 6

PETA doesn't give vegetarians a bad name... PETA is against the abuses of factory farming & they say the best way to help these animals is to WWW.GOVEG.COM. However, when you bring up a veg topic at school & ppl start talking about animal rights, just tell them that you don't care about animals & start talking about all the health advantages of being a veg., then tell them about one of the veg sites like WWW.PCRM.ORG

Answer 7

-Minority group-think is easy to ridicule.

-Lots of myths exist about how vegetarianism is "dangerous", how soy products are "risky", etc.; these are often based in fact, but usually cite instances where people don't engage in balanced diets and instead eat two or three particular things by the crapload. In a McDonalds/Cheetos/Coca-Cola society, it's not especially surprising that the notion of a "nutritionally balanced" diet sounds like no more than just a tag on the end of a cereal commercial and nothing that actually occurs in practice. You might as well try to tell the masses that they're better off changing their car's oil themselves, doing their own taxes, or reading an instruction manual rather than lament the complexity of their DVR; you'll have a similar amount of success! :)

-Some PeTA folks *really are* extremist whack-jobs who speak in absolutes (though this is only about as "crazy" as any religious or political factions who pull the same stuff). These folks are *THE* face of vegetarianism to many folks, and they talk up the "meat is murder and it CAN NOT STAND!" angle more than anything else. You could EVEN go as far to state a non-popular vegetarian position, such as that you don't think responsible consumption of meat (i.e. sustainable hunting practices in true hunter/gatherer societies) is wrong and most folks would still be saying, "But you're one of THEM!", because the second they hear the V-word, they're thinking you're going to liberate the animals through extreme measures.

-People are fearful of that which they don't subscribe to themselves and tend to latch on to the most extreme examples as the public image of some belief, practice, or ideal (see gay stereotypes in popular media for a prime example).

-Being on the "winning team" is fun, especially when the minority opposition might be calling some of your practices into question as unethical and/or unhealthy, even if only for themselves.

-Being on the "correct team" is fun, especially when you get to hold yourself higher than other people because you're convinced that you're right and they're wrong (and it goes both ways: see the person chiding you for your particular reasons for being vegetarian above for an example coming from the other end!). A sense of "knowing" one is right while X Y and Z are wrong is an empowering thing that gives people license to be complete bastards like they'd never be otherwise.

-Because vegetarianism isn't "normal". Seriously, if you regularly publicly acknowledged having a foot fetish, had dozens of cats over-running your house, or drank blood for sustenance, I assure you you'd be called a freak at least as much as you are now, if not more! :)

-Even the folks who *understand* and *listen* to your specific motivations sometimes like to joke about it. This is called "ribbing". My meat-eating buds joke about how they don't want to come around to my place because they'd rather "eat real food", while I tell them to have a good time gorging on carcinogenic hormone-infused death leavings, and we all have a good laugh about it. ;) Mind you, this takes *very* special understanding and a particular mutual black humor, so please don't think it's the case in daily contact. :) They actually dig my cooking and have always been conscious to keep an open choice or two when there's some food-related occasion we're all turning up at synchronously.

Either way, though...do you honestly give a crap? You've made your choices and you know why. Anyone who chides you when you're not cramming your points down their throat is likely insecure about some aspect of themselves, and you're better off leaving the sleep-losing game to them. :)

Answer 8

This is not unique to PETA/vegetarians. The exact same thing can be said about al quada and Muslims. Operation rescue and people who are pro-life. Or Earth first and environmentalists.

Often the extremist give the regular folks a bad name.

Answer 9

although I understand petas message the way they try to get it across is not working, naked protests, the "I'd rather be naked then wear fur" posters and haveing people pose naked with animals like dogs and rabbits gives people the wrong idea, many people think peta is crazy because of the way they get peoples atention plus the fact that they euthanize most of the animals they "rescue" and they support the banning of pit bulls they think its right to kill over 10.51 million dogs all the for the acts of .94% of its breed. Your going to have to ignore people, let them know that your not with peta and your not vegetarian for animal rights but for health and well being.

Answer 10

Watch the PETA episode of "Penn & Teller's B.S.".

PETA is viewed by the public as a terrorist group with extreme views. Unfortunately those same people believe you have to be a PETA member to be a vegetarian.

To get people to shut up, tell them you're a vegetarian for religious reasons. Usually people will leave you alone so they won't get preached at.