A meat lover’s defense of PETA

Let me just start off by saying this: I am not a vegetarian. I love meat. I love the beautiful and delicious Filipino and Chinese dishes that I come home to every holiday: things that my mother has been preparing my whole life, many of which would be simply incomplete or taste ridiculous without meat. We've established that I'm a self-proclaimed carnivore.

Regardless of my meat-lover status, I found John Gats and Tony DiTommaso's Opinion article "Please End Tasteless Assaults" highly disrespectful. It's not the first time. Opinion articles are a fun place to express oneself, but week after week I find myself either confused or offended at Gats and DiTommaso's misrepresentations or critiques. Don't get me wrong, PETA protests have definitely caused me to raise an eyebrow or two at their choices of what exactly to protest against and the manner in which these protests are executed.

I'm a Seattle native. I grew up at Pike Place Market. Flying fish are normal to me and it's a part of the Seattle culture and tradition. Of course I found it odd that PETA would protest fish tossing. However, the protest that took place at 7th and Pike in 2009 — in which several protesters laid on the sidewalk painted green with their legs covered with shiny fins — was conducted without the use of violence or belligerent disruption.

PETA strives to raise awareness. The forceful, attention-grabbing execution in which they do so may not be the best way to garner support, but the objective is awareness. Sure, PETA supporters don't necessarily need to paint themselves blue and lie naked on the street to make a point. Likewise, Gats, DiTommaso and other meat-lovers alike don't necessarily need to shove that love of meat in PETA supporters' faces. I'm pretty sure you two can find PETA supporters on this campus who are probably not too happy …

Have you two ever taken a moment to learn where your meat comes from? Take a look at "Food, Inc." and you two just may find yourselves disgusted to the point of not craving meat for a while. The amount of cruelty that goes into mass-producing burger patties, chicken wings or packages of bacon is downright sickening. If your meat isn't produced locally and/or organically, your burger patty probably contains meat from several, if not hundreds, of different cows, all of which were fed cheap food and contaminated with fertilizers and pesticides.

These animals are produced as quickly and efficiently as possible, given metabolic steroids and growth hormones. When it comes time for slaughter, these animals are lined up, herded into the slaughterhouse and systematically shot with a stun gun-like machine. You can probably guess the rest from there. Sounds yummy, huh? And that's just cows. Keep on watching for chicken and pork production. These methods are not only inhumane; they are environmentally and economically unsustainable. The issue is larger than simply trying to free some goldfish from a classroom or lobsters from a grocery store.

My point: Your love of meat is not an entitlement. Educate yourselves a little about the issue behind the apparent "PETA madness." Have your opinions about PETA, its mission, its supporters and all that jazz, but do so in a manner that demonstrates empathy and just a little respect. Replace a little of the ignorance in this article with some understanding and solidarity for PETA's cause.