Don’t you hate walking by the Memorial Union and being bombarded with images of little piglets having their testicles cut off, some unidentifiable bloody, skinless animal lying lifeless on the ground and little monkeys confined in cages with metal rods penetrating their brains?

Me too, but probably not for the reasons you’re thinking.

If you didn’t get to see, or didn’t acknowledge, the PETA2 demonstration last week then let me bring you up to speed: Volunteers manned PETA2’s “Animal Liberation” display, which depicted the above-mentioned scenes, among others, talked to interested students and requested signatures for ending animal testing at ASU.

I visited one of the volunteers who told me that quite a few students were interested, which was great news.

Most often, though, people I talk to think PETA is too radical. I have even heard of some people call it a terrorist organization.
But instead of arguing about the, in my opinion, false claim of terrorism, I’d like to discuss a very important argument against the group: PETA actually prevents the animal rights movement from accomplishing anything because of its gruesome tactics.

When picketing with bloody or disturbing images or posing naked in protest of the use of fur, PETA alienates passersby and makes them less likely to listen to its message.

In other words, its advertising methods make PETA members look like a bunch of crazies that no one takes seriously.

I understand this argument, but I don’t agree with it.

People really hate being inconvenienced. We don’t like facing ugly things, especially ugly truths that might force us to make difficult decisions about such basic things as food, clothing and medicine.

We live in a world where our “stuff” is produced away from our eyes and ears — often to shield us from the horrific conditions animals must endure. When activists try to bring those realities to our attention, it’s easier to scoff at and ridicule or simply ignore.

But the annual slaughter of billions of animals and cruel conditions to which research animals are subjected are even easier to ignore when no one says or does anything about it. I am comfortable saying that this is one of the primary reasons PETA creates such scenes.

Further, why is it PETA’s fault that people can’t handle certain truths about the meat, dairy, cosmetics and fur industries? It’s not.

Instead of getting irritated and dismissing PETA’s arguments, why not just stop and think about our choices? I’m not necessarily saying people should like PETA. I’m saying that PETA’s tactics are probably the reason anyone even knows about animal rights issues. PETA deserve positive recognition for that.

If you actually believe in animal rights, then you should make every effort to establish and strengthen them. Think PETA’s doing it wrong?

That’s fine. Do it a different way.

But contrary to the objection, it’s people, not PETA, that are hindering the animal-rights movement. And regardless of whether or not PETA is wrong, it’s time to take responsibility for the inhumane things we do to animals instead of figuring out reasons to ignore them.

Becky would like to hear how you support animal rights. Contact her at rrubens1@asu.edu.