Having said that, there are times when I literally and figuratively have to scratch my head and ask aloud, "What on earth were these people thinking?"
Most Canadians are uncomfortably familiar with an incident that occurred on a Greyhound bus on July 30. Vince Weiguang Li, 40, of Edmonton, has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old carnival worker Tim McLean, who was stabbed and decapitated aboard said bus. Many media outlets appeared to take ghoulish "delight" in describing the events that occurred on this late night Prairie bus trip. Perhaps there were some details that were not necessary to be reported to the general public, including moments of alleged cannibalism and other atrocities.
The Canadian judicial system will no doubt deal with this whole trial in its usual inimitable fashion. My money is on a verdict of not guilty due to criminal insanity or whatever the correct legal wording is; in other words, Li was not responsible for his actions. Then who is? Was it not Li that was observed by several eyewitnesses on this bus, by all accounts methodically and without emotion plunged a hunting-type knife repeatedly into the neck area of the sleeping and hapless, unsuspecting victim, McLean? And being charged with second-degree murder, no less?
OK, so that was bad enough.
And now, leading the charge from way left of centre... An animal rights group has tried - and thankfully so far failed - to run a newspaper advertisement comparing the beheading of McLean to the treatment of animals by the meat industry.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, said on its website it would run the advertisement in the Portage la Prairie Daily Graphic. However, city editor Tara Seel said the newspaper had no intention of running the ad, which refers to “an innocent victim’s throat” being cut, in reference to the slaughter of cows, chickens and pigs on factory farms.
And here is what the advertisement looks like.
“Like human victims, animals in slaughterhouses experience terror when they are attacked by a knife-wielding assailant,” Lindsay Rajt of PETA said in a news release. “We are challenging everyone who is rightly horrified by this crime to look into their hearts and consider leaving violence off their dinner plates.” Rajt said the ad was intended to be shocking and is meant to spur people to think about the terror and pain experienced by animals who are raised and killed for food.
Hard to believe. How dare you. Shame on you PETA. PETA's strategies in recent years have often been questionable. This is just the straw breaking the proverbial camel's back. This tactic is deplorable. This intended action has or will likely polarize people against this issue due to extreme and frankly, thoughtless tactics. Rather than people (the general population - meat eaters and veggies alike) feeling sympathetic for your cause, you've caused them to close off from the possibility of supporting it.
I love animals as much as the next person but there is no comparison between the two. Way to lose the fight for humans and animals alike.
5 comments:
Great post!
I read that article on MSNBC and my first thought was who else was on the bus? Did everyone just not hear the sound of the bone crunching knife decapitating someone, I rode on Greyhound and I know from experience the buses are usually packed. I can't see no one objecting to seeing someone getting eaten.
As for a human being compared to an animal with PETA's advertisement that is just bad for the relatives of the victim. I am sure they could sue but I am also reading Thanking The Monkey. I can sympathize with the murder I can also see their desperate attempt to reach out to the public. All life is sacred but I am not entirely a vegan. (as no one would be here without animal flesh) that man should not have been murdered on board a public bus. With the time to be eaten also. Thats a very debatable article you have.
David, I too am worried about Li getting off all charges due to "insanity." However, I would like to think there will be a glimmer of hope (per se), considering he told the judge the last time he was in court, "please just kill me." In my opinion, he knew exactly what he was doing/did.
The media is just giving the public a reason to hate this guy even more by airing the gruesome and grotesque detains of how McLean died. But then again, is what the media reporting any different from what we have seen in horror films? No, and that is why the details hardly phased me. Don’t get me wrong, I feel a sense of uneasiness thinking about what happened, but in the end, I have seen it all before.
Greyhound also just pulled ads and billboards that read "There is reason why there is no bus rage." Holy really bad timing, Batman!
In terms of PETA, I am a vegetarian of over three years, and in my early veggie days, I did a lot of research on PETA and their tactics are so bizarre and harsh that they are laughable. I feel horribly embarrassed for them trying to juxtapose that brutal death with the slaughter of animals. Yes animals suffer, yes some factory farms do not treat their animals the best. I am an animal lover however, I know and understand that animals are below humans on the food chain and there is nothing I, PETA, or anybody else can do about it.
It's time justice started riding on the back of a monster truck
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/supreme_court_rules_death_penalty
Let's try again, this time with a working link.
Supreme Court Rules Death Penalty Is 'Totally Badass'
GR
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