PETA has become the laughing stock of the Planet Earth when it called for a change in US government policy regarding the swatting of flies by the POTUS.
From the PETA web site:
Well, I guess it can’t be said that President Obama wouldn’t hurt a fly. The commander in chief was recently pestered by a fly during an interview. He swatted at the insect and killed the little guy instantly.
Believe it or not, we’ve actually been contacted by multiple media outlets wanting to know PETA’s official response to the executive insect execution.
In a nutshell, our position is this: He isn’t the Buddha, he’s a human being, and human beings have a long way to go before they think before they act.
If all this has you wondering how you can be a bigger person (figuratively, as well as literally) in your dealings with exoskeletal beings, check out our handy-dandy bug catcher–one of which we are sending to President Obama for future insect incidents.
The incident was captured on film:
I feel very strongly that I want a president who can kick Musca ass. I applaud the president’s hands on approach in this matter.
Have you read the breakthrough novel of the year? When you are done with that, try:
or Paperback
*Please note:
Links to books and other items on this page and elsewhere on Greg Ladens' blog may send you to Amazon, where I am a registered affiliate. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, which helps to fund this site.
I dunno about that. How about:
PETA remains a laughing stock…
or
PETA reasserts its position as a laughing stock…
Would that he were as quick to start realizing some of his campaign promises to the left.
Good hands, though; got that fast twitch going.
LOL, I saw this story earlier.
To be fair this time PeTA have managed to make a laughing stock of themselves without causing gratuitous offence to anyone…which for them must surely count as progress.
If you’d like to give PeTA and their ilk a slapdown of their own I’d recommend that you sign the Pro-Test petition at http://www.raisingvoices.net
I think the media circus around Obama’s celebrity is absolutely absurd. Why not cover, say, the torture stuff, Gitmo, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, to the degree that we get his love life, his daughters’ lunch schedule, his pet choices, and now his swatting a goddamn fly?
The shameless cruelty of your Chief Executor has been in the news also here in Europe. What will he do next, invade some country?
Jesus what a shot!
The battleships are already heading up the river.
What a complete misrepresentation of the truth.
It is my understanding that PETA did not react. They were asked to make a comment and they did.
People are making way too big of a deal of this.
What a complete misrepresentation of the truth.
It is my understanding that PETA did not react. They were asked to make a comment and they did.
People are making way too big of a deal our of this.
This is a subtle hint for anyone wanting to cause us harm. “Don’t mess with us or I will squash you like a bug.
This is a subtle hint for anyone wanting to cause us harm. “Don’t mess with us or I will squash you like a bug.
Sure, Chris R, but instead of saying, “Whatever, it’s a fly.” They basically said, “use this, don’t kill a FLY!”
Or, you know, they could have just not said anything at all. It was a FLY.
It seems to be a popular hobby to bash PETA, but in this case I think Greg is being unfair. PETA was asked and the response that if you have the choice it is better not killing is perfectly reasonable for someone who cares about all animals. I suppose under similar circumstances I’d have killed it too, but at home when I’m close to a window I prefer to open it and shoo even a humble fly outside without harming it. If nothing else a bit of kindness makes you feel better.
Besides, everyone knows that killing flies only counts if you do it with chopsticks 🙂
Actually, the way I kill flies is by not killing spiders.
Maybe now people will stop accusing him of being a secret Muscan.
Same here Greg. That’s the best way to do it.
It keeps down every other disease spreading insect, too.
Serious question: then how do you keep the spiders from biting YOU when you sleep?
Probably not a spider, real.
Leaving the centipedes alive helps keep down the other bugs, too.
That probably wasn’t a real fly, but an airborne microbot.
Well that, and a flyswatter. I’m afraid I wouldn’t make a very good PETA member.
Once I had a 25¢ piece-sized hunting spider that kept walking across my desk, and I’d shoo it away. A grad assistant (who was from Bangladesh) asked; “What is that?” When I showed him the spider, he became very agitated and wanted to kill it.
Only later it occurred to me that where the grad assistant came from, maybe there were spiders you shouldn’t let walk around on your desk.
I know, I’m late to this party. But here is more information more information on PETA’s actual position.
So, the media try to make a story out PETA’s non-position, and the “scientists” fall for it. Great.