I feel the same way and I'm no friend of PETA, but I hope I'm not the only
person that is disturbed when someone is labeled as a likely PETA person or
part of some conspiracy simply because they expressed concerns about
inhumane treatment of animals. Stereotyping or speculating on possible
affiliations to groups is a lazy way of dealing with people and issues. It
doesn't allow for the individual to express themself and doesn't require
critical judgement skills.
The reverse is also true: you can't necessarily know how a person in some
group feels about anything until you deal with them as an
individual. Don't judge me by the crowd I keep! For example, I drive a
car, but I'm not among those people who claim cars aren't harming the
environment. I realize totally that I'm contributing to human sickness and
death and environmental degradation when I drive.
Along that line, I agree with the statement above that we shouldn't make
enemies of hunters and anglers. Many of these folks have been valuable
forces in environmental protection. But let's not become too
romantic. Not all hunters and anglers are interested in protecting the
environment. Many just want to protect their hunting and fishing
activities. Many that call themselves conservationists are conserving
their sport. Sometimes this is good for the environment, other times it is
bad, other times neutral, but environmental exploitation has nothing
inherently to do with environmental protection. Okay, done pontificating.
-- Jay DeLong Olympia, WA
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