This past Tuesday, I had the opportunity to listen to the PETA vice president Dan Mathews speak out against the Senate Bill 1246. This bill was created by Tampa’s own Jim Norman (R) to make it illegal to film or photograph within factory farms. Similar bills were proposed in states such as Colorado and Texas, but “went down in flames” according to Mathews, due largely to public outcry.
I love it when people aren’t apathetic and realize that activism does work!
I have previously given my conflicted thoughts about PETA, and I certainly do not retract them – I still disagree with some of their advertising platforms – but as Mathews repeated that evening, the advertisements are only the shell of what PETA does, and although they aren’t perfect, in many ways they have helped more than others. They have brought countless cases of animal AND human cruelty to court.
Did you know, that factory farms are one of the most dangerous places to work? In fact, Mathews recalled receiving a phone call from a man at a farm whose job it was to render the animals unconscious before slaughter. The methods used in most factory farms are cheap and easy, and in most cases – ineffective. So when an animal is hung up by its legs for slaughter it may still be conscious and thrashing about, thus seriously injuring workers.
Sorry if that was graphic. Of course, PETA didn’t disappoint in what they’re known for; graphic videos. I know, it’s the truth but I’m already vegan. I don’t want to see more suffering than I already have! I cried like a baby, I won’t lie.
Thankfully the rest of the speech was more down-to-business about the bill and then there was some Q&A about PETA. Someone asked about the advertisements (thank you, guy sitting behind me! I am too painfully shy to ask for myself). His response is that PETA is an equal opportunity sexual exploiter (he said this jokingly, of course), and that most was a sort of tongue-in-check response to other advertisements. It was basically a “you gotta do what you gotta do” response to being noticed amongst a slew of sexualized advertisements for everything else. Would a picture of vegetables be noticed? Not really. Would dead animals and graphic images? Yes, but it would put people off more. I guess sex and humor was the only approach left, and I understand that but I still have some complaints. (i.e. EVERYONE IS SKINNY IN THEIR NAKED ADS!!!)
I was, however, surprised to find out that the “I’d rather get naked than wear fur” campaign started with him getting naked as an impromptu peaceful protest in Japan, when he had no other resources or support.
Dan Mathews seemed like a generally really cool guy that you’d love to hang out with. He was kind and funny and not in-your-face-rude as many expect anyone from PETA to be. He realizes that the world won’t suddenly be vegan, so he works towards minimizing cruelty rather than following an “extreme” abolitionist approach (this page is not graphic, fyi). He was ranked 37th in Out magazine’s “50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America”, which I hadn’t known, and he’s been with PETA since the mid-80s.
Despite appearing in slacks and a button down blue shirt, he had a very “I was a punk once” attitude about him. He said he lost count of how many times he was arrested, and spoke about the time he interrupted a fashion show in Milan by wearing a priests’ robe and holding a sign that said “thou shalt not kill”. (He was pushed down flights of stairs, and older women followed the security guards, hitting them and shouting, “Stop hurting the priest!!!” I’m sorry, no matter what your views are on animal rights, it’s still pretty amusing to imagine this situation.)
He then got back to how animal rights became important to him. His father drove a chicken truck, and he was exposed to animal cruelty and the dangers for workers in slaughterhouses very early in his life. He mentioned how in Europe, much less cruel and much safer methods of slaughter have already been implemented. It would be easy to change things here if everyone would just speak out. We need to be able to expose these issues of cruelty and lack of safety for workers, and Bill 1246 is horrible because it could danger human lives as well.
Even if you eat meat, please speak out against this bill. For human safety, for less cruelty.
Here is an easy form you can fill out.
And here is “Glass Walls”, which we watched, and which made me cry. (It is graphic, but I’m posting in case you want to know).