PETA stays classy: Shark attack edition

Once again illustrating the utter cluelessness of ideological vultures:

According to the Daily News, PETA hasn't yet found a home for the ad, and are currently trying to get it up on Anna Maria Island in Florida, where a man was attacked by a bull shark on Saturday. A PETA spokeswoman says, "With sharks in the news, we thought it would be a good time to bring up the fact that sharks are not actually the most dangerous predators on the planet—we are. We hope that after this painful and horrible experience he and other fishermen will consider the pain that fish feel and we hope they will consider taking up another pastime." On their blog they describe the ad as "biting," and say that the man in question "found out what it was like to be speared by a fish when a shark bit his left thigh actually." Stay classy, PETA.

I can’t tell whether this is more offensive because of its complete tastelessness or its sheer idiocy. It’s hard to say whether PETA actually believes in the oogie-boogie nonsense that nature is supposedly capable of intelligently retaliating against perceived threats (about which George Carlin had it right – the only thing threatened by environmental issues is human civilization, which the Earth at large probably couldn’t give two shits about), or whether this is just the group’s idea of a yet another effective PR stunt. Because past ones have obviously worked so well in their favor, what with not making them look like a bunch of abject cretins in the slightest and everything.

What’s more, it’s also as counter-productive to their cause as virtually anything they do. As commenter Marco at Joe. My. God. notes, all this billboard would accomplish is to further demonize sharks as rampaging monsters out for human flesh. Because when you’re trying to protect animals, the best way to do it is to get everyone both angry at and terrified of them. That’s not gonna have any negative effects on shark conservationism at all.

Why is it that so many groups who espouse erstwhile noble causes are such flaming morons? The goal of any advocacy group is to garner people’s support, not their condemnation. What in the world is so bloody difficult about this to comprehend?

(via Joe. My. God.)

Tags: PETA • sharks • shark attacks