There's Your Karma, Ripe As Peaches

I got in my office around 6 am today, hoping that with a diligent morning, I could wrap things up and skip town for 6 or 8 weeks. My diligence only lasted 17 minutes before I hit hulu.com. In the 12 hours since, I have watched 5 episodes of Lost, 3 - 30 Rocks, 3 runs of Arrested Development, left once for a sausage egg mcmuffin, again for lunch and had a nap. But lucky for you, I remembered that I have a blog about 10 minutes ago, so I'm going to take a break from sucking at life to negatively contribute to your day.

Today's question: Does PETA actually hate animals or are they brain dead?

I'm not a serial killer, which means I have a fondness for animals and think that they have an inherent worth. And while I don't believe an animal's life has more value than yours or mine, I wholeheartedly believe that groups should exist to advocate for their protection from cruelty, increase social awareness and expose abuses. So in that vein, I'm glad that watchdog organizations like PETA exist. But while PETA's heart always SEEMS to be in the right place - or, at least, the general area, its unabashed stupidity has done more damage to its cause than any other rights group in history. And by the looks of their activity since Eight Belles' death, they have no intention of changing course.

Tangent - am I the only one that thinks this prefer to go naked over fur campaign of theirs is ridiculous? Being naked is awesome. Being naked under something warm and cuddly like a mink on a crisp winter day is even better. Stupid PETA. 

Since horse racing is a sport fueled by greed, the tragedies that have befallen it of late should come as no surprise. To say that the horses aren't as sturdy as they used to be is like saying David Beckham has a voice like a pre-teen girl. Bred for speed and strength, today's animals are majestic, tremendous athletes whose bodies have become too strong and heavy for a skeleton that is still too light and fragile. To put it simply, they have chicken legs like Babe Ruth. And when you have 2 - 4 year old animals with that frame that are mad to compete, mad to win and bred to burn like roman candles that explode like spiders across the stars, career ending injuries and euthanasia are going to be the nature of the beast.

But with racing suffering two casualties in as many years on its biggest stage, this should have been an animal activist's wet dream. With true backing from the public, they could have made a legitimate push toward changes and improvements in breeding rules, track safety and veterinary medicine. What's more, they could have burrowed deep in the ear of the Jockey Club to demand that they spearhead initiatives on changing the nature of an overpriced breeding market. Though it's true that plenty of level-headed groups have been spurred to action, the largest, most influential one of all has only proven itself to be operated by mentally defective, exploitative pods. Again.

In the last 5 days, PETA has done everything from claiming that the jockey whipped the filly so mercilessly that he didn't know she was injured until after the finish to raking Hillary and Chelsea Clinton across the coals for giving a rah-rah in support. Now, don't get me wrong, the Clintons need to be bashed on - and even kicked in the face - but when you go so far off the deep end that even they seem like innocent victims, something in the plan has gone horribly awry.

At this point, I have to wonder - is PETA really an animal rights group? Is it possible that they're actually against animals?

There are really only two choices here -- its people have shoe size IQs like Leon Spinks or PETA is intentionally trying to do harm to animals by operating on a level of self-sabotage previously reserved for James Dolan. But unlike Dolan, these tools aren't just destroying a franchise; they're causing millions to turn a blind eye to the true problems of horse racing with their reprehensible, outrageous behavior. By this Saturday, the reaction to the Eight Belles tragedy won't be "Horse racing needs better policies and regulations." It will be "Meh. PETA sucks. They won't rest until the animals rule us."

Truth be told, I really don't know what I should have expected from an organization whose primary activists are porn stars, bad actresses and a woman whose vagina could've hidden Roger Clemens and his ego from the Senate and still had room to accommodate Tommy Lee's forearm-sized penis.

But whether it's stupidity or sabotage, these people should find a large sword on which to throw themselves.

It's the humane thing to do. 

Posted on 8 May 2008 | Filed under: Racing & Cycling | Comments (5) | AIM Me