Fat Guy on a Little Bike

and shows yet again who stupid and misinformed they are.  In fact, I would go so far as to say they are not much more than a publicity seeking whore who tries to take advantage of situations for their advantage, even if they don’t know what the hell they are talking about.  (In case you don’t know what’s up follow this link to the PETA release)

Here’s the deal.  Sometimes PETA does amazing things and brings great awareness to a great many issues.  Their stance on CAFOs is great.  It’s the result of tons and tons of investigative reporting, and it’s great.  Their heavy promotion of a vegetarian (or vegan) lifestyle is OK, even if they do misconstrue and apply their data in their own specific way.  All special interests do that.  (I don’t enjoy how militant their people are though.  In fact, I would compare them to the conservative right in their inability to see any side to a situation but their own)  But they have done a lot to further this cause, make it more acceptable and show how our food choices impact the earth.

But most of the time they don’t do their research before they rush forward with their stories, which is really too bad.  This lack of consistent reporting is what makes it easy to write them off when they do publish suspect stories.

Their recent release about horse racing is no different.  PETA wants the jockey and the owners of Eight Belles suspended.  What about the other 2 horses a day that are euthanized in America?  Should those owners be suspended?  You can’t single out a specific instance and ask for special treatment.  You have to single out the whole group.  Imagine if PETA had said that we have to avoid CAFO beef from Tyson but IBP is OK.  Huh?  They are saying that this jockey and this owner are the problems when they are simply by products of this system.  You have to attack the system, like you did with CAFOs.

They further state that these horses suffer horribly at the hands of these owners.  Really?  You think it’s in an owners best interest to treat a horse badly that’s worth hundreds of thousands of dollars?  Is that logical?  I heard a horse racing analyst on ESPN state that in almost every situation the horses are treated better than the trainers.  They are pampered and treated like royalty.  Hmm, I guess maybe I’d like to sign up for this type of horrible suffering.

Here’s the thing PETA.  Instead of rushing out a poorly worded statement that is uninformed take some time and do some research.  Talk to experts about the real situation and how things really happen behind the scenes. Don’t judge horse racing by the 2 minutes you see on TV.  If you had done that and then released a list of things that need to change with horse racing it would hold a lot more water with me.

Oh, and if you have a spokesperson go on the radio to defend your actions make sure they can think clearly and talk about the issues more than just spewing verbatim from the press release.  It’s disgusting, insulting and ridiculous to have someone represent you like that.  Especially when this person is asked a question that requires actual thought and they just sit there and yammer trying to find an answer, I assume on your press release, for this question.

I do agree with them that the whipping of the horses has to stop.