PETA exploits bus beheading
posted at 8:10 am on August 7, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of radical advocacy groups, but even in that context, PETA’s latest advertising campaign sets new lows. Last week, an attacker beheaded and cannibalized a man on a Canadian bus, a revolting crime that made headlines around the world. But where human beings saw tragedy and lunacy, PETA saw … opportunity:
An animal rights group has posted an ad on its website comparing the recent stabbing and decapitation of a young Winnipeg man to how humans kill animals for food.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the advertisement is meant to make people understand how animals suffer when they are killed in slaughterhouses. The group posted the imageless advertisement on its blog site Wednesday. …
Tim McLean, 22, was stabbed and then beheaded by a fellow passenger as the two rode an eastbound Greyhound bus across Manitoba last Wednesday. The man accused of second-degree murder, Vince Weiguang Li, allegedly engaged in cannibalism during the attack, which occurred just west of Portage la Prairie.
Designed using large, bold type, the ad compares McLean’s struggles to those endured by an animal being slaughtered for its meat. It then refers to Li’s alleged act of cannibalism before saying, “It’s still going on!”
Yes, for those who cannot distinguish between a cow and a human being, I suppose this makes sense. For those who equate chickens and people, this kind of ghoulish equivalency is second nature. And it’s not like PETA didn’t understand the backlash they would get from exploiting McLean’s death; at the end of the ad, they write:
“If this ad leaves a bad taste in your mouth, please give a thought as to what sensitive animals think and feel when they come to the end of their frightening journey ….”
Sorry, Gaia worshippers. I’m more concerned with McLean’s end and the sorrow of his family and friends. McLean never chose to be a political figure before PETA decided to exploit him for their own purposes. Most of the thinking world distinguishes between humans and animals, although with certain PETA members, perhaps we’re being too generous.
Update: I forgot to hat-tip HA reader Dave Rywall for this story, who says I should note that there may be hope for him yet — but probably not.
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Dear God,
What a bunch of jerks. And I say this as a vegetarian.
Gaurav on August 7, 2008 at 8:15 AM
Only a looney-tune group like the off-the-charts goofy bunch at PETA would take the actions of an even loonier nutcase and use them to promote their equally looney point of view. What the hell a violent murder-decapitation-cannibalism act like what happened in Canada has to do with animal rights is beyond reasonable logic.
But then again, no one has ever accused PETA of being reasonable, or logical for that matter.
pilamaye on August 7, 2008 at 8:16 AM
There goes more credibility, oh wait, it’s not like they had it to begin with.
Static on August 7, 2008 at 8:19 AM
I have trouble deciding if it is actually their love of animals or their extreme self-loathing and hatred of humans that motivates this stupidity.
bbz123 on August 7, 2008 at 8:23 AM
Animals neither think nor feel, at least not on a level remotely close to ours. That’s why they’re animals.
Lee on August 7, 2008 at 8:25 AM
They should be sued by anyone associated with the case because those people are not in the public eye. They should sue them for all PETA’S marbles…..there can’t be that many left.
Dr Evil on August 7, 2008 at 8:26 AM
Off with their heads!
Shy Guy on August 7, 2008 at 8:27 AM
Actually, like most activists, the people of PETA are to be pitied. It must be difficult to go through life without any intelligence.
OldEnglish on August 7, 2008 at 8:29 AM
At least they didn’t mention McLean by name. If I were a family member, I’d have sued.
I’m all for fighting animal abuse. But PETA is out of their minds.
JetBoy on August 7, 2008 at 8:31 AM
As soon as they convince all animals to willingly give up eating other animals, I’ll consider going vegetarian.
And don’t give me the crap about how a portabella tastes like a porter house if you cook it properly!
These people are below a venus fly trap on the food chain. Maybe plants feel pain. Did they ever think of that? Or do they think of all the bacteria they kill simply by breating?
ynot4tony2 on August 7, 2008 at 8:32 AM
I have a suggestion to all of us who are outraged by the attention garnering stunts of groups like PETA. Rather than feeding them oxygen, deny them the attention they seek, and they will go away. Sick of PETA, ignore them. Tired of their outrageous stunts, then pay them no mind. We get all riled about them, and they get buckets of free publicity. These kinds of disgusted tut-tutting posts only serve to feed their agenda. Of course it feeds ours too, because all in the echo chamber stop everything they were doing to collectively tut-tut and shake our fists at the insensitive idiots over at PETA. In the end it is a lot of sound and fury and it all signifies nothing.
The rules they follow suggest that by startling our middle class sensibilities, they will move us into action. This is why people would rather go naked than wear fur. But, PETA seems to have a habit of choosing people who would rather go naked than not. So where’s the shock? In an advocacy group pulling a tasteless stunt? Well there’s a big stunner.
What would happen, if the radical advocacy groups held tasteless protests and we all shrugged and went on with our days? That would scare the excrement out of them. Their simple strategy is to shock the bourgeoisie. And while not shocked, we do give in to the basic human instinct to react. In that sense we give them what they want. Which, like appeasing terrorists, only encourages continued acts.
We can’t make them stop. But we can do our best to ignore them.
Ennuipundit on August 7, 2008 at 8:33 AM
I feel ghoulish, but I can’t resist pointing out the dark irony. “McLean” was the name of the failed vegetarian burger from McDonalds.
I’m going to hell for bringing that up.
ynot4tony2 on August 7, 2008 at 8:34 AM
Ghouls
and fools.
hillbillyjim on August 7, 2008 at 8:39 AM
It defies logic only if you do not consider all animals equal. For PETA all animals are people with the same feelings, dreams, desires and ambitions as humans and eating one is in their minds cannibalism. They see non-PETA types as hypocrites that balk at eating people but think nothing of eating cows which are just a different looking people. About 30 years ago I saw a cartoon that summed it up nicely. It was a rat dressed in a suit sitting at a bar drinking a martini. Next to the rat was a man also drinking and asking the rat, “Can you stay for another one?” The rat replied “No I told the misses I’d be home early and I promised to read a bedtime story to my son.” The caption read “How an animal lover sees a rat”.
As with all liberals I would love to drop them into a real world situation and see how long they last. In other words I’d love to drop a PETA person into a heard of wilder beasts or pride of lions to see how much respect they would get or if the lions really were just like people and debated whether or not it was ethical to eat the human. After all humans are lions too.
It reminds of the “Bear Man” up in Alaska that lived in peace and harmony with the bears right up until the night they ate him.
jmarcure on August 7, 2008 at 8:39 AM
Let’s put all the members of PETA in a large room with some starving wolverines.
The irony will be priceless.
MadisonConservative on August 7, 2008 at 8:45 AM
Palate cleanser.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on August 7, 2008 at 8:54 AM
It’s PETA, what did you expect? They have a long history of making deliberately offensive ads in order to generate controversy (thus generating publicity for PETA).
Did anyone else find it surprising that there were dozens of other people on the bus at the time of the attack, and yet none of them tried to help the victim? In the reports I read, the victim was described as being very young (initially reported as 19, later corrected as 22), and very small (5′4″ and 140 pounds).
I understand that the attack was unexpected and very shocking, and I can understand the women and children just wanting to get away, but I’m disturbed that none of the men on the bus seem to have made any effort to stop the attacker. Yes, he had a knife and it was a small space and it would have involved some significant risk to anyone who attempted to intervene, but surely two or three men could have overpowered him.
Is it unreasonable of me to think someone should have done more to help?
AZCoyote on August 7, 2008 at 8:54 AM
As far as I understand, the only animal slaughters that
remotely approach this beheading are halal ones.
Is there any chance we could get PETA to endorse
Obama?
davem on August 7, 2008 at 9:00 AM
I second that motion. All in favor say “Aye”.
Vic on August 7, 2008 at 9:04 AM
What are the laws involved? Could a person helping or attempting to help be charged? I know that here in the US I was threatened with charges because I tried to alert people that their building was on fire. I was told I was performing a rescue without proper licensing, training or authorization and I was trespassing. They also threw the old I set the fire to be a hero bit at me. It really changed my perspective on helping out others in trouble. I’m not saying I wouldn’t do it again but it may make me think twice before running blindly to the rescue.
jmarcure on August 7, 2008 at 9:13 AM
If you are referring to Timothy Treadwell, he was an unqualified, uncertified, untrained bear expert wanna-be who felt he could live in peace and harmony with the grizzly bears, until one of them saw him and the girl who was with him at the time as a blue plate special, and killed them both.
Since then, people like legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog have tried to make Treadwell something of a folk hero and I am sure he is more than idolized by the goofy gang at PETA.
Bottom line is that Treadwell was a moron and an idiot who got in way over his head and by the time he realized that, it was too late.
pilamaye on August 7, 2008 at 9:19 AM
And in yummy delicious blog-irony, there is a big honkin’ ad for…McDONALD’S…at the right of this blog page. Hmmm…what should I have for lunch…
PETA are [strong language heroically abstained from] jerks. Beef jerky jerks.
inviolet on August 7, 2008 at 9:19 AM
This is totally disgusting and not surprising at all. PETA and their ilk always compare humans with animals…a point I dont agree with since I dont believe animals have souls.
Can they be sued by the family?
becki51758 on August 7, 2008 at 9:23 AM
F***king Soulless bastards.
thekingtut on August 7, 2008 at 9:23 AM
Update: I forgot to hat-tip HA reader Dave Rywall for this story, who says I should note that there may be hope for him yet — but probably not.
Dave, a contribution made… Thanks for that. Maybe there is hope for you. Like they say in the AA world “keep coming back”.
Keemo on August 7, 2008 at 9:35 AM
It’s a bus, and by the time anybody noticed, from all reports, it was too late for the poor victim. Also, if the people closer to the action are stampeding off the bus, you can get swept off with them really easily.
In this age of terrorism, you also can’t be sure that the knife is the only weapon the killer is wielding. was the stabbing due to a robbery, mental illness, or was it a prelude to him setting off the bomb under his jacket? A few seconds is not long enough to figure out which.
Sekhmet on August 7, 2008 at 9:39 AM
People
Eating
Tasty
Animals
jgapinoy on August 7, 2008 at 9:45 AM
I think someone got it right once when they said that PETA types don’t love animals as much as they hate humanity.
Sekhmet on August 7, 2008 at 9:46 AM
veal, yum!
Hazmat on August 7, 2008 at 9:49 AM
At the risk of sending us off on a tangent, I am always amazed on how many PETA/animal rights activities are pro-choice when it comes to killing the developing human animal in the womb of a woman. Even when you explain the contradiction in the two positions they don’t “seem” (or at least will admit to) get it.
Mich_93 on August 7, 2008 at 9:51 AM
Of course not! That would be an inconvenient truth!
OldEnglish on August 7, 2008 at 9:57 AM
They sent me a particularly heart rending fundraising letter some years ago and I sent a letter of my own, explaining I’d be glad to help them out just as soon as all the unborn children were protected first. A few weeks later got back a polite, almost literally mimeographed form letter saying thank you for your opinion about abortion but we are focusing on animals since many people are working on the abortion “issue” [sic]. Translation: we don’t wanna be rude in case you’ll ever donate, but buzz of.
Which taught me two things: 1) Lots of people must write them about abortion and 2) they don’t give a rip.
inviolet on August 7, 2008 at 10:03 AM
Whenever PETA does something stupid, I fire up the smoker and cook up way more meat than I can eat. I pretend that I’ll eat the leftovers by putting them in the fridge but I’m not much of a leftover guy.
Then I drop PETA a line just to let them know that thanks to their latest idiotic stunt, I ate 3 different animals in their honor when normally I would have had just one.
The ignorance of these people is amazing. Insanity is probably a more proper word for someone who thinks this ideology is ever going to win out or that they might make some kind of difference. There are very few hardcore PETA members. Most of the ones I’ve met will “occasionally” have some bacon or a burger or a burger with bacon on it. Then, they’re “back on the wagon for good this time.”
slug on August 7, 2008 at 10:05 AM
My husband has always taken a rather dim view of PETA, and its founder, Ingrid Newkirk. I always thought the whole thing was not much more than a rather lunatic, left wing fringe group…tree and bunny huggers, nothing more. Then, we watched an HBO documentary called “I Am An Animal: The Story of Ingrid Newkirk and PETA”. Newkirk, and her entire bunch of anti-humanity freaks and geeks, are more than just an aberration…they’re actually kind of frightening. Their fervor borders on the kind of thing you see at a revival – they absolutely believe that their defense of animals (and offense at human animals) is absolutely correct. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from this documentary. What a fruitcake. And…here are a few of her more infamous quotes:
“There’s no rational basis for saying that a human being has special rights. A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. They’re all animals.”
— Washingtonian magazine, Aug 1986
“Humans have grown like a cancer. We’re the biggest blight on the face of the earth.”
— Washingtonian magazine, Feb 1990
“I am not a morose person, but I would rather not be here. I don’t have any reverence for life, only for the entities themselves. I would rather see a blank space where I am. This will sound like fruitcake stuff again but at least I wouldn’t be harming anything.”
— The Washington Post, Nov 1983
“Six million people died in concentration camps, but six billion broiler chickens will die this year in slaughterhouses. [emphasis added]”
— The Washington Post, Nov 1983
There are more of these abominations at the following site: http://www.activistcash.com/biography_quotes.cfm/bid/456
So, if any of you wonder for even one second whether PETA is pro-animal, or merely anti-human – there’s your proof.
uncivilized on August 7, 2008 at 10:22 AM
If only PETA had the ability to hear the screams of the Broccoli as they are vioently ripped from the ground and carelessly tossed into a pot of boiling water, slowly draining their life.
Reminds me of Darfur.
Grafted on August 7, 2008 at 10:28 AM
And in related news, weather services across the nation are advising that PETA type smug will be at an unusually high level today.
Dusty on August 7, 2008 at 10:31 AM
Fixed that. Ick.
4shoes on August 7, 2008 at 10:52 AM
No it’s not. It’s beyond me how anyone can stand by and not at least try to help another person.
4shoes on August 7, 2008 at 11:03 AM
Once again, for those not paying attention:
The victim was dead almost immediately. The first person to notice what was happening alerted the driver and passengers; when the bus was stopped, he helped get women and children (a lot of them) off the bus. That done, the initial witness, the bus driver, and a passing truck driver, all of them unarmed, attempted to board the bus, and subdue the attacker. Once in the bus, they could see quite plainly it was far too late for the victim, as they could see the killer holding the severed head. With the killer now advancing on them with his butcher’s knife they decided containment was best at that point, and exited the bus and blocked the killer’s exit until police could arrive, on a stretch of highway in the middle of the night.
Enough with the internet Rambos; you weren’t there.
Frozen Tex on August 7, 2008 at 11:57 AM
I haven’t commented on a Hot Air story in nearly half a year, but this one takes the cake. That ad is absolutely disgusting.
TheThink on August 7, 2008 at 12:42 PM
Whenever ANY of these asshat extremist groups pull stunts like this, I always want to do one thing: hook their leader up to a lie detector and ask – do you honestly believe your actions help your cause?
I’m convinced that just like Michael Moore elects Republicans, the PETA organization is actively harming animal rights. These groups and people do NOT care about their cause; if they did, they’d behave in ways that people would find sympathetic.
Every time PETA does this crap, I eat veal for a week.
They’re like Code Pink: almost everything they do hurts the very cause they claim to support.
It’s all about maturity. With maturity comes an understanding about how the world works, about how to work together to bring about real change; immaturity breeds hatred, divisiveness, and the need for a perceived “enemy.”
Bob Barker’s 10 second spiel to spay your pets after every Price is Right episode did more for animals than PETA will ever do.
They are harming animals with their actions. Period.
Now carry on with the inevitable high-hack about the bus attack.
Professor Blather on August 7, 2008 at 12:43 PM
If that’s all true … how exactly do the PETA crazies handle the idea of carnivorous animals? What’s their moral view on lion and tigers and bears, oh my?
No, seriously. Is there a link somewhere where they discuss it? I’m very curious how they get around the fact that zillions of animals eat zillions of other animals every day.
Professor Blather on August 7, 2008 at 12:46 PM
Thank you for my first out loud laugh of the day.
Professor Blather on August 7, 2008 at 12:51 PM
Hey, y’all: Read the comments under the ad at the link. An awful lot of them, even from PETA supporters and vegetarians, disapprove or are even disgusted by this ad. I suppose that’s reason for hope…
On the other hand, those who think it’s peachy keen come across, as uncivilized suggests, as human-hating creeps who would run over their mother with a lawnmower if she so much as looked at the chicken in the local grocery–or if she did anything else they disapproved of.
Athanasius on August 7, 2008 at 1:23 PM
In a news article I read one man tried to enlist the help of another man to jump the savage. When the latter fled the former decided he could not do it on his own and so he had to flee also.
aengus on August 7, 2008 at 5:45 PM
I was hoping this would move down here from the headlines. I read this last night and I was absolutely speechless. More than anything PETA has ever done, this clearly demonstrates how truly deranged and deluded these people are.
Glynn on August 7, 2008 at 5:45 PM
Ah, PETA, ever the paragons of class.
ZK on August 7, 2008 at 6:35 PM
It’s like I used to tell my peta friends, if hooking a car battery to a gorilla can save one human life, I only have two things to say; red is positive and black is negative….
ritethinker on August 8, 2008 at 12:58 AM
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