Day 228

I got a letter ito the TC today. Originally, there was a story about a PETA advocate who stood outside a KFC wearing a bikini made of lettuce (or paper painted like lettuce anyway). A few writers wrote in saying that the girl was the subject of exploitation of PETA's part.

So the girl herself wrote back in, confirming that she does in fact have free will, and that animals are the real creatures being exploited for their bodies... in a manner of speaking.

Enter myself. Here's my letter:

---
Re: "Fake fare spares real chickens," letter, Aug. 7.

I'd like to preface my response by noting that I am a five-year vegetarian, and (at least to some extent) a supporter of the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals' efforts to move our society away from filling its bloated belly with dead animals.

However, I don't believe it a productive measure to send out bikini-clad, gorgeous young women as the "troops on the ground" to win over hearts and minds.

The young women must know their attire will win over neither hearts nor minds, but instead perhaps other organs that operate in ways less rational.

PETA isn't the only guilty party: Walk the streets of Victoria on a sunny weekend and you shall find yourself accosted by swaths of unusually good-looking, even flirtatious, young men and women asking for your money to support one environmental cause or another. This kind of advertising strategy, while successful, is the sort that I expect at restaurants and bars, but not from politically conscious non-profit organizations trying to make a meaningful difference to society.

Is it so much to ask of my fellow vegetarians to put some clothes on and make honest, rational, distraction-free appeals to their fellow citizens? Let's not lose faith in the hearts and minds just yet.

Jared Faber
---

You can find it in today's paper or at http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/letters/story.html?id=0083c96c-7130-4d5f-bc8c-99bd8e3f119c

Comments

Anonymous said…
well put booger
4:08 PM
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