Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Morning Roundup / Phillips Morning Roundup: Too Cold for Actual News?
Posted by Betsy Phillips on Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 7:29 AM
Comments (15)
Showing 1-15 of 15
Actually. news organizations are scraping the bottom of the barrel looking for anything that DOESN'T look like a news story...
like
dislike
To claim that PETA is setting out to "terrify" children is absurd, and I fail to see where they are being "coy" about this stunt.
More importantly, the City Paper article makes it seem like the "mascot" will be an actual elephant. I had to read the Tennessean article and the PETA press release to discover it will actually be a person in an outfit. Journalism FAIL.
PETA certainly goes over the line at times with their activities, but I don't this as one of them. And to the larger issue of elephants (and possibly all animals, for that matter) in circuses, it's terrible and should be illegal.
http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=14094
Marvin,
Of course PETA intended to "terrify" the children. Why else use a "bandaged, bloody elephant mascot" except to upset them?
If the goal were purely informational, they could stand outside the circus and pass out all the information they wanted to the adults. Instead PETA is intentionally targeting the children with no regard for how it might effect them.
And, by the way, when circuses are gone, don't you think that PETA will start scaring children about meat?
Just look at this. My God, the horror. How will that poor boy in the photo ever get over the emotional trauma.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20091210/ARTICLE/912101070?Title=A-PETA-protest-against-circuses
Mark, are you against elephants in circuses?
I'd also like to note that in the Herald-Tribune article, it's called a "a large stuffed elephant." Stuffed? It's someone in a costume. Is it really so difficult for these reporters (City Paper and Herald-Tribune) to get an basic fact correct?
Holy cow! (tried to come up with an elephant-related crack, but failed.)
Jack, are you kidding? Those things haunt my dreams. I thought they were going to be like giant brass ghostly forms, but instead, it's like... I don't know. Like the first time a kid gets into her mom's make-up.
Marvin, seriously, of course the point is not to frighten children. The point is to be so hideously grotesque in one's public behavior near an elementary school that the cameras are guaranteed to show up.
It makes a mockery of animal cruelty and is cruel to children, which, coming from PETA is not surprising, since all of their tactics seem designed to frighten and piss off people who might otherwise be their allies.
I find it incredible that anyone would suggest that, in order to oppose animal cruelty, you have to accept PETA's tactics. Those two things don't go together, no matter how much PETA has made repeated campaigns based on the idea that they do.
Animal cruelty can be wrong AND PETA can be a bunch of jackasses who take wrong tactics at every step. Those two things are not mutually exclusive.
I agree PETA can be jackasses sometimes. But is this one of those cases? Really? Is this really "hideously grotesque"? If so, then the bar is very low.
"“Oooh, what happened to you?” said Judit Melo, 10, after releasing Ellie from a body hug and looking up at the costume creature’s bandaged head. The elephant just shook her head."
http://in-humanity.net/circus-criticized-for-treatment-of-elephants/
Marvin,
The issue is that they are targeting the children to make their point. I don't care if PETA places the Swedish bikini team dressed like rump roasts and wrapped in butcher paper outside the Legislative Plaza to make whatever point they want. But children should be off limits.
And if you let this go unchallenged, everyone reading this knows that there will be something more "jackass-like" and them more. Right up to the point where they really do something that will hurt some children.
Regarding elephants, I am no fan of circuses (even with bread). Elephants should be in Legislatures, Governors' offices, Congress and the White House and the Courts not in circuses.
I think many people have written off PETA entirely because of some of their more outrageous stunts, and so whenever they see PETA doing anything, they assume it must be ridiculous and over-the-top. And PETA has no one but themselves to blame for that. I think maybe they have toned down their more outrageous activities in recent years, but I could be wrong.
But if you look at this particular activity and judge it on it's own merits, it's difficult to see how it's very objectionable.
Mark, we agree that elephants should not be in circuses, and that's the main thing (though I am not wild about them in those places you think they should be). I imagine PETA would say that since circuses target children, they have a right to do so also. It's a debatable point. But while they are targeting them, they are not trying to terrify or frighten them. At least not in this case.
And I like your Swedish bikini team idea.
Is PETA doing anything to relieve the plight of the buffalo trapped on the island on Dickerson Road?
And this is a good opportunity to put in a plug for The Elephant Sanctuary, in Hohenwald. Don't like PETA and their ruthless, grotesque targeting of children, but still want to help elephants? Here you go.
http://www.elephants.com/
As to the buffalo on Dickerson Road, the City Paper reporter would probably imply that it's real, while the Herald-Tribune reporter would probably call it stuffed.
All of your portraits regarding the swimwear celebraties are terrific. You've done a great job accounting for the newest fashions for this year. Summer months is certainly going to be at this point well before most of us realize it and all of us can all be shopping for swimsuits which includes versions in your new ınformation. Sports Illustrated basically came out with the actual swimsuit edition and we can almost all be on the lookout for bikinis including the bikinis of this actual story.
