Please tell me that stories of nekkid PETA folk are exaggerated

[LittleClarkie]

Saying they'd rather be nekkid than wear fur? At the Inaugeral protest? What would that have to do with the Shrub?!

Why do I get the feeling we didn't exactly have a unified message out there in DC protest land.

And folk complained about the Kerry campaign's lack of focus. I sometimes wonder if our entire side has a focus problem. How do you listen to several million voices saying "The environment! You have to say more about the environment!" "No! The war!" "No! The economy!" "No! Stem-cell research!" "No! Women's issues!" "No! Minority issues!" We yelled at him to get a message, and then we all shouted a different message for him to get.

We need unity. We need focus. We need a traffic cop at the very least.

[skylarmae]

1. kinda hard to pick only one issue to flash

as he has fucked up so many!!!!

[LittleClarkie]

2. Heh... flash...

Oh. THAT'S what the PETA folk were doing.

I know what you mean, but perhaps it was a bit to anarchic.

[ChiciB1]

3. I Donate To PETA... but I've

heard some strange stories about them. Wasn't there one about 6 or 8 months ago regarding one of them urinating on a statue or something. I've forgotten just what the whole story was, but seems like it was in Washington state.

I'm really big on the environmental issues, but this type of thing DOES NOT help!

And these IDIOTS have made a mockery of almost every worthwhile program that's helpful to anyone but themselves and their greedy friends!

[ClassWarrior]

4. Who says that PETA speaks for me?

And have you read "Don't Think of an Elephant?" The Progressive value of responsibility covers the issues of the environment, the economy, stem cells, women's issues, minority issues, etc.

Check it out.

NGU.

[justiceischeap]

5. Bush received or commissioned a beaver-fur cowboy hat

For the inaugural and being that they are a non-profit organization, they are not allowed to hold public political views.

But I agree, there needs to be a more unified message.

[despairing optimist]

6. Just what can PETA folk wear with a clear conscience anyway?

Fur and leather are out. Plastic (including polyester, rayon, nylon, acrylic, etc.) requires fossil fuels to produce. Cotton and linen require the mutilation of plant life. Seems like nothing's left.

Naturally shed corn husks, maybe?

[justiceischeap]

7. That's why they were naked...

You have to admit, that's some dedication getting naked during yesterdays temps, whether you agree with their message or not, I didn't see anyone else getting naked for their beliefs and getting news coverage for it.

[Piperay]

11. PETA is not an environmental group so

fossil fuels are not an issue and plants are not sentient, fur was the issue.

[Wrinkle_In_Time]

8. Not everything is about you...

Saying they'd rather be nekkid than wear fur? At the Inaugeral protest? What would that have to do with the Shrub?!

It means whatever they want it to mean. Just because you or I don't understand/approve it doesn't make less important. Maybe they should be more clear about their message, but it doesn't lessen their right to express themselves. I have no idea what they were trying to say and I don't really care: I am more concerned with you trying to corral their message to support yours.

Why do I get the feeling we didn't exactly have a unified message out there in DC protest land.

I have no idea why you get this feeling. Define "we". Who do you claim to represent?

And folk complained about the Kerry campaign's lack of focus. I sometimes wonder if our entire side has a focus problem.

Some do. Some don't. Speak for yourself and don't pretend to speak for others.

We need unity. We need focus. We need a traffic cop at the very least.

Do "we"?. The only time I like to see a traffic cop is when the traffic is fucked up. In this situation, I like to to see the expression of peoples' ideas rather than the suppression of ideas. Before anyone decides to take me to task for this criticism, I do not consider LittleClarkie's posts in this thread to be an expression of ideas: they seem to be nothing more than a negation of someone else's.

Robotic recitation of dogma is not a position, it's an abrogation of rational thought.

On edit: I'm the DU poster known as "Wrinkle_in_Time", and I approve this message (because I fucking wrote it).

[LittleClarkie]

9. I am the all powerful POSTER GODDESS

I have the power to corral, abrogate and recite robotically. Fear me and my remote keyboard. Huzzah!

[Carolab]

10. I just figured it was to protest all the full-length furs on the Bushies.

eom

[retread]

12. Oh great! All the things the repigs

have done and are going to do that are truly horrifying and disastrous for this planet; yet you choose to start a bash PETA thread?

[drbtg1]

13. Unfortunately, I don't think it's that simple

Earlier this week, Bill O'Reilly had Ingrid Newkirk on his show. O'Reilly kept making the point that killing animals is not equal to the Holocaust, a comparison PETA likes to make.

It came off like "Here's O'Reilly putting another of those LIBERAL whackjobs in their place."

I don't care for liberals to be equated with PETA. I believe separating the two serves an important purpose.

[ynksnewyork2]

14. Jimmy Carter

They're after Carter now because he goes fishing. Big billboard with carter fishing and PETA saying put the fish back where they belong. IMHO, they go a little too far sometimes!

[w4rma]

15. They're PETA. They may vote Democratic, usually, but they have no say at

all about how the Democratic Party is run. And the rest of us Dems have no say, whatsoever, about how PETA is run.

Let them do whatever they want to do, because they are going to do it regardless of what anyone here says.

They bring attention to to their own issues that are narrowly defined within the scope of animal rights. That's all they do, and nothing more.