This might come as a big shock to some, but I don’t care too much for PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
It’s not that I don’t care about animals, because I do (and I have a very spoiled 65-pound dog that sleeps with my husband and I every night to prove it), but what I don’t care for are the tactics of the organization or its uneducated accusations about animal agriculture. I typically just shake my head and move on when I hear or read something about PETA. I really don’t think it is worth my time, but a recent PETA blogger drew my attention.
This young woman, who claims to be a former FFA member that is proud of her “Animal Liberation” tattoo, said when she joined up with PETA, she “learned about the horrors of the dairy industry,” and she had to do “something” to help. I guess blogging is her contribution to the world.
In a recent blog entry, the young woman claims that the FFA has a “very hypocritical code of ethics.”
The blog is riddled with the same old videos and photos that we’ve all seen before, as well this woman’s take on the horrors that young FFA members are exposed to and encouraged to participate in, twisting the things taught in agriculture classes and in FFA to suit her own agenda. The blogger attacked animal agriculture and claimed that FFA promotes inhumane actions towards animals.
“(The) FFA holds contests in which members try to identify what body part a piece of flesh came from (like some sick murder mystery game),” she wrote.
I was on the meats team one year. It was cool to learn how to evaluate a carcass and about grading – something every consumer really should learn more about.
“FFA encourages students to raise and slaughter animals for food,” the blogger wrote. “If members are working to develop their personal growth and to do the best they can, they should also hold themselves accountable for the harm that they’re causing when they eat animals or raise animals who will be killed and eaten.”
Despite my differing opinion, I read the whole blog, which concluded with a video about animal captivity being slavery and an online form to fill out to become a vegan. I opted out of both.
I think the blogger took it a step too far in her quest to destroy animal agriculture by targeting children.
If Farm Bureau, the American Cattlemen’s Association, American Pork Producers Council or Dairy Farmers of America targeted an organization made up of high school and junior high aged vegans (maybe something like the Bean Sprouts), PETA would be holding protests, writing more blogs calling for the resignations or firings of officials associated with the offending organization.
It’s just too bad the blogger didn’t like FFA, she might have actually learned something if she had paid a little more attention in class – like thinking for herself, achieving a goal, working with others and real life skills.
I am thankful for the guidance given to me by my FFA advisors at Buffalo High School. Just like my dad and my mom, John Anderson, Gregg Alsup and Terry Halleran taught me how to be a leader, not a follower.
FFA also gave me much more. I was never much of a ball player, never felt like I was part of the “in” crowd, couldn’t sing or play an instrument, and I wasn’t really one of the smart kids, but my ag classes and FFA made me fell like I was finally good at something. I was (an still am) a proud FFA member.
Julie
