I have always been an advocate for vegetarian diets, cutting out red meat or even replacing meat with tofu, vegetables or beans a few times a week. But what I haven’t always been a fan of is one of the biggest voices for vegetarianism and veganism – PETA.
The aggressive, bloody and gruesome pamphlets handed out by equally as pushy PETA reps made my skin crawl. I didn’t want the information, or their views shoved down my throat. I had been fed a certain way since I was born, not by choice, but out of the fact that it was on my table at home.
I vividly remember a pamphlet handed to me during a concert in high school. Abused animals, blood, maggots. It was TOO MUCH. I hated them for making me feel that way. I loved animals and had already been experimenting with vegetarianism. But after being so aggressively approached, my aversion wasn’t towards meat. It was towards PETA. I talked with many people, who had the same reaction. The blood, the gore, the ideas being shoved down throats. It was too much to handle. Especially at age 16.
But I grew older, and so did PETA. I don’t recall when my first encounter with a “friendlier” PETA was, but I do remember actually stopping, reading and listening to the PETA activists at the mall. They still had some pretty bloody and hard to swallow brochures. But they had a new message. They urged people to try cutting out meat from their diets once or twice a week. Their extreme views had moved a little more toward the middle. And it was a whole lot easier for me to swallow. Today PETA still has extreme and passionate views, but they have held on to the middle of the road appeal as well. And I actually follow them quite often online.
My point is, that PETA has found an effective way to appeal to the masses by not watering down their passion, but by making it more accessible, offering more realistic options and asking for support, instead of demanding it. I understood how they were helping animals, urging the human race to be healthier and aiding the environment. Check out the current PETA campaigns here.
Now, this approach worked for me in this situation, I am unsure it would in others.
So, when does a middle of the road agenda work best – and when must we stick to our guns? When do we truly show our anger, excitement or disgust with what is going on with the world? When do we become a Martin Luther King, Jr. or a Malcolm X? I am unsure.
Thoughts?
Tagged as:
activism,
advocacy,
advocacy for the masses,
animal rights,
environment,
extremism,
health,
passion,
PETA,
vegetarianism
