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Better keep a closer eye on what your kids are reading or the oh so wonderful PETA crew will suck them in.
PETA propaganda machine hits new low
Editorial
Hey, kids! Want to stop mean old farmers from hurting your favorite animals?
Just sign up for petakids.com and see interviews with vegetarian skateboarders and get free instant-messaging buddy icons, E-vegetarian greeting cards and the chance to win a free Nintendo DS video game!
This is the latest come-on by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals aimed at brainwashing kids against animal agriculture.
With it, PETA's propaganda campaign against animal agriculture has hit a new low. By targeting children they have demonstrated -- again -- that there are no boundaries to their off-the-wall brand of anti-farming militancy.
Armed with comic books, cutesy websites, games and offers of free vegetarian "starter kits," PETA is now reaching into the ranks of children to promote its message.
Parents should be up in arms over this propaganda attack on their children. Most parents agree that children should be off-limits to TV commercials, websites, comic books and any other media used to promote extremism, especially when it involves controversies that evoke purely emotional responses.
Over the years, toy manufacturers and food companies have been excoriated for aiming their advertisements at young children. The arguments have been that children, particularly those under the age of 12, are extremely vulnerable to advertising messages.
Author Susan Linn's new book, "Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood," discusses these and other concerns. The Media Education Foundation produced a movie by the same name that lays out the arguments against targeting advertising and other hot-button messages at kids, who at a young age have a difficult time recognizing the validity of various types of arguments and sales messages.
"'Consuming Kids' pushes back against the wholesale commercialization of childhood, raising urgent questions about the ethics of children's marketing and its impact on the health and well-being of kids," the study guide to the film states in its introduction.
In short, the experts agree, kids are too young to be targeted for any kind marketing.
Comes now PETA, whose leaders attempt to draw kids into the animal rights movement with exaggerated and one-sided arguments aimed at the comic-book and video-game set.
Four new PETA Kids comic books tear into cattle ranchers, dairy operators, poultry farmers, circuses and researchers that use animals. In these books, no holds are barred.
"The researchers didn't care about the animals," the comic book "A Rat's Life" says. "Some would throw them into a cooler even though they were still alive, or cut the animals' heads off with scissors. They laughed when they were doing mean things to animals."
The comic book "A Cow's Life" says, "The people at the factory farm didn't want Bailey to grow up big, strong and healthy. All they cared about was turning him into a type of meat called 'veal' and using his skin for leather."
Similar dire stories are recounted in "A Chicken's Life" and "An Elephant's story."
When kids sign up to receive the comic books, they also get stickers and a nice letter from the propagandists at PETA. "We hope that you will read and share these comics with as many people as possible," the letter says. "We suggest that after you read them (and know them by heart!) that you give them to your brothers, sisters and friends so they can learn from them, too."
No matter what you think about animal agriculture, this sort of propaganda aimed at kids is to be condemned. No effort is made to present all sides of the issues, and kids are left with a feeling of helplessness and sadness as they read these stories.
But the really sad story is how low PETA has stooped.
http://www.capitalpress.info/content/cs-peta-editorial-w-cartoon
PETA propaganda machine hits new low
Editorial
Hey, kids! Want to stop mean old farmers from hurting your favorite animals?
Just sign up for petakids.com and see interviews with vegetarian skateboarders and get free instant-messaging buddy icons, E-vegetarian greeting cards and the chance to win a free Nintendo DS video game!
This is the latest come-on by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals aimed at brainwashing kids against animal agriculture.
With it, PETA's propaganda campaign against animal agriculture has hit a new low. By targeting children they have demonstrated -- again -- that there are no boundaries to their off-the-wall brand of anti-farming militancy.
Armed with comic books, cutesy websites, games and offers of free vegetarian "starter kits," PETA is now reaching into the ranks of children to promote its message.
Parents should be up in arms over this propaganda attack on their children. Most parents agree that children should be off-limits to TV commercials, websites, comic books and any other media used to promote extremism, especially when it involves controversies that evoke purely emotional responses.
Over the years, toy manufacturers and food companies have been excoriated for aiming their advertisements at young children. The arguments have been that children, particularly those under the age of 12, are extremely vulnerable to advertising messages.
Author Susan Linn's new book, "Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood," discusses these and other concerns. The Media Education Foundation produced a movie by the same name that lays out the arguments against targeting advertising and other hot-button messages at kids, who at a young age have a difficult time recognizing the validity of various types of arguments and sales messages.
"'Consuming Kids' pushes back against the wholesale commercialization of childhood, raising urgent questions about the ethics of children's marketing and its impact on the health and well-being of kids," the study guide to the film states in its introduction.
In short, the experts agree, kids are too young to be targeted for any kind marketing.
Comes now PETA, whose leaders attempt to draw kids into the animal rights movement with exaggerated and one-sided arguments aimed at the comic-book and video-game set.
Four new PETA Kids comic books tear into cattle ranchers, dairy operators, poultry farmers, circuses and researchers that use animals. In these books, no holds are barred.
"The researchers didn't care about the animals," the comic book "A Rat's Life" says. "Some would throw them into a cooler even though they were still alive, or cut the animals' heads off with scissors. They laughed when they were doing mean things to animals."
The comic book "A Cow's Life" says, "The people at the factory farm didn't want Bailey to grow up big, strong and healthy. All they cared about was turning him into a type of meat called 'veal' and using his skin for leather."
Similar dire stories are recounted in "A Chicken's Life" and "An Elephant's story."
When kids sign up to receive the comic books, they also get stickers and a nice letter from the propagandists at PETA. "We hope that you will read and share these comics with as many people as possible," the letter says. "We suggest that after you read them (and know them by heart!) that you give them to your brothers, sisters and friends so they can learn from them, too."
No matter what you think about animal agriculture, this sort of propaganda aimed at kids is to be condemned. No effort is made to present all sides of the issues, and kids are left with a feeling of helplessness and sadness as they read these stories.
But the really sad story is how low PETA has stooped.
http://www.capitalpress.info/content/cs-peta-editorial-w-cartoon
