Post by shoreman on Oct 10, 2005 14:55:25 GMT -5
Hooked on fishing? Look out for PETA
Sunday, October 09, 2005
J. MICHAEL KELLY
OUTDOORS WRITER
www.syracuse.com/outdoors/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/112867418753950.xml&coll=1
Whenever I feel like treating myself to a diatribe, I just browse through my e-mail or poke around the Internet in search of the latest proclamation from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
That lamentable organization is a sitting duck for my righteous indignation.
You remember PETA. That's the group whose president, Ingrid E. Newkirk, denounced "species-ism" during an interview by saying "a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy; they're all mammals."
On another occasion, Newkirk famously compared raising chickens for the mass market to the extermination of six million Jews by the Nazis.
PETA's latest stroke of marketing genius is a publicity campaign against fathers who fish.
It began Sept. 24, which PETA marks as "Fish Amnesty Day." The major component of the ongoing drive is a leaflet resembling the cover of a comic book. The headline: "Your Daddy KILLS animals."
Below the header is a portrait of a demonic-looking man, wearing a hat festooned with odd lures and a clashing gray sport coat and red tie. He's using a ludicrously large knife to eviscerate a live fish with a hook in its mouth. Another fish, already gutted, flops grotesquely on a table splattered with blood.
The cover urges kids to "ASK YOUR DADDY WHY HE'S HOOKED ON KILLING!" It suggests visiting a PETA Web site, www.fishinghurts.com, for "more info."
The back of the lurid leaflet will further appall the more than 60 million Americans who enjoy fishing and, I suspect, most non-anglers as well.
Although serious researchers have established that fish have relatively primitive nervous systems and do not feel pain in the same way that humans do, PETA's copywriters ask kids to imagine themselves being impaled on a huge hook stuck in a piece of candy. They warn, "your daddy plays the same wicked trick on fish!"
The leaflet further states that fish "learn from each other," "eavesdrop to get info" and "can even use tools!" An accompanying press release cites dubious studies purporting to show that fish are smarter than dogs and chimpanzees - let alone most fishermen.
The propaganda piece concludes with a paragraph intended to scare little children and pit progeny against parents.
"Until your daddy learns that it's not 'fun' to kill," the pamphleteers admonish kids, "keep your doggies and kitties away from him. He's so hooked on killing defenseless animals that they could be next!"
These malicious missives were passed out, not coincidentally, on National Fishing and Hunting Day, which celebrates the contributions of American sportsmen to conservation.
I doubt a single father will put his rods and reels away in response to the campaign just described. In fact, PETA and other fanatical pro-animal, anti-human organizations don't know it, but they are just as good at making friends for hunters and anglers as they are at creating enemies for themselves.
I hereby vow that I will respond to PETA's attempt to divide families and slander anglers by taking my tackle wherever I roam, and hooking and landing as many fish as possible. My three granddaughters are going to tag along on some of those trips, and when one of them catches a nice bluegill or trout, I'll teach her how to dispatch it humanely on the spot, and how to clean it and cook it when we get home.
If PETA doesn't like that, they're welcome to publish a fake comic book about grandfathers who fish, too.
Sunday, October 09, 2005
J. MICHAEL KELLY
OUTDOORS WRITER
www.syracuse.com/outdoors/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/112867418753950.xml&coll=1
Whenever I feel like treating myself to a diatribe, I just browse through my e-mail or poke around the Internet in search of the latest proclamation from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
That lamentable organization is a sitting duck for my righteous indignation.
You remember PETA. That's the group whose president, Ingrid E. Newkirk, denounced "species-ism" during an interview by saying "a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy; they're all mammals."
On another occasion, Newkirk famously compared raising chickens for the mass market to the extermination of six million Jews by the Nazis.
PETA's latest stroke of marketing genius is a publicity campaign against fathers who fish.
It began Sept. 24, which PETA marks as "Fish Amnesty Day." The major component of the ongoing drive is a leaflet resembling the cover of a comic book. The headline: "Your Daddy KILLS animals."
Below the header is a portrait of a demonic-looking man, wearing a hat festooned with odd lures and a clashing gray sport coat and red tie. He's using a ludicrously large knife to eviscerate a live fish with a hook in its mouth. Another fish, already gutted, flops grotesquely on a table splattered with blood.
The cover urges kids to "ASK YOUR DADDY WHY HE'S HOOKED ON KILLING!" It suggests visiting a PETA Web site, www.fishinghurts.com, for "more info."
The back of the lurid leaflet will further appall the more than 60 million Americans who enjoy fishing and, I suspect, most non-anglers as well.
Although serious researchers have established that fish have relatively primitive nervous systems and do not feel pain in the same way that humans do, PETA's copywriters ask kids to imagine themselves being impaled on a huge hook stuck in a piece of candy. They warn, "your daddy plays the same wicked trick on fish!"
The leaflet further states that fish "learn from each other," "eavesdrop to get info" and "can even use tools!" An accompanying press release cites dubious studies purporting to show that fish are smarter than dogs and chimpanzees - let alone most fishermen.
The propaganda piece concludes with a paragraph intended to scare little children and pit progeny against parents.
"Until your daddy learns that it's not 'fun' to kill," the pamphleteers admonish kids, "keep your doggies and kitties away from him. He's so hooked on killing defenseless animals that they could be next!"
These malicious missives were passed out, not coincidentally, on National Fishing and Hunting Day, which celebrates the contributions of American sportsmen to conservation.
I doubt a single father will put his rods and reels away in response to the campaign just described. In fact, PETA and other fanatical pro-animal, anti-human organizations don't know it, but they are just as good at making friends for hunters and anglers as they are at creating enemies for themselves.
I hereby vow that I will respond to PETA's attempt to divide families and slander anglers by taking my tackle wherever I roam, and hooking and landing as many fish as possible. My three granddaughters are going to tag along on some of those trips, and when one of them catches a nice bluegill or trout, I'll teach her how to dispatch it humanely on the spot, and how to clean it and cook it when we get home.
If PETA doesn't like that, they're welcome to publish a fake comic book about grandfathers who fish, too.