Whoops... sorry. Still stuck in Hemingway mode.
Anyway, I highly recommend it, but not on an empty stomach, because the array of delicious pies they show will drive you nuts. Oftentimes after I see a good movie I like to visit Rottentomatoes.com to see what consensus the reviewers reach, whether or not we agree with each other. (We usually do.)
While I was investigating other highly reviewed movies currently in release, I noticed that "Ten Canoes" has finally come to America. It's a movie about Australian Aborigines which I originally saw on the plane to Sydney. Excellent, excellent. Try to find it if you can.
But then I saw another one listed in the must-see category, a documentary called "Your Mommy Kills Animals." While the documentary is a balanced take on the animal rights/animal welfare movements, the 2003 PETA comic book on which it is based is decidedly not. PETA activists apparently waited outside of performances of "The Nutcracker" nationwide and handed the comic book to kids whose parents, I can only assume, came wearing fur. The cover of the comic shows a brightly colored June Cleaver-type mom gleefully stabbing a horrified bunny. And inside, as if that wasn't bad enough, the "story" goes something like this:
"Do you have a puppy or a kitty that you love? Everyone knows that it's fun to play with our animals friends. But how would you feel if someone took away your animal friend, stomped on its head, and ripped off its fur for a coat? You would feel sad, wouldn't you? There are terrible people who kill our furry friends like that every day. And guess what? One of those terrible people is your mommy. Your mommy kills animals! I bet you didn't know that."
It gets worse and worse, ending with, "Keep your doggie or kitty friends away from mommy - she's an animal killer!"
Far be it from me to even begin to touch on the animal rights debate, but reading this comic incited me to the point of wanting to jump up and down and gesture wildly at the pure idiocy involved in such a campaign. Maybe this is old news for most people. I think I was out of the country for much of 2003, and therefore out of touch with mainstream news, so I hadn't heard of it until now. Could PETA pick a more inept approach to conveying their message? Yeah, let's alienate little kids from their parents. What loony in marketing thought this was a good idea?
It's frustrating that passionate people with a good cause at heart can become so focused on a single issue as to lose track of, well, reality. For me, it's a wake-up call to carefully choose which organizations to support. The documentary "Your Mommy Kills Animals" has been receiving acclaim for delving into the workings of animal rights activists, their tactics and why the FBI has labelled them a threat to the national security. Can't be good for the cause, can it?
People abusing animals... people abusing people who abuse animals. Can't we all just hug a bunny and be happy?
4 comments:
Hmm, yes, hug a bunny. Then stop on its head, rip off its fur and make a coat! Or, I suppose we could keep cows as pets and then east them when they get sick and underproductive. The whole animal rights debate throws me for a loop; I never know what I think about it. Some things just don't make sense to me, while others seem glaringly obvious, but I guess that's why there are different camps.
Oh, I could go on and on and ON about PETA and why I do not like them. While I'm sure there are members who only want to help animals and educate people, it seems the over-zealous (not sure if that should be hyphenated) hate mongers control the group and the message they spread. Me no likey PETA. A lot.
That bunny is super cute though! Since I can't hug it I think I'll go find the cat. :)
It's so weird that you have PETA folks who publish sick comics and then PETA folks who organize great programs like the one that donates furs to orphans and widows in Afghanistan.
The sad thing about pro-animal activists is that they usually come in two camps: people who think animals are our friends, and people who can only make friends with animals.
No matter what kind of activism you are doing, you are only making the world worse if you are not coming from a loving place in your heart. Nothing good can come from a motivation to cause harm!
I won't lie I love meat...eating it...but I would never eat my dog...NEVER. There are some things that one should not eat. To quote Pulp Fiction, "A sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I wouldn't no because I wouldn't eat the filthy mother *****er." Some words to live by...I refuse to eat rats too.
Post a Comment