On the first day of my current job, I was talking to my manager about food(I don't remember how we got on the topic) when I mentioned that I didn't eat meat. He asked me if I was a vegetarian, and I proudly answered "Yea, I have been since I was 8 years old." He laughed. When I asked what was so funny, he said that everytime somebody said they were a vegetarian, they immediatly followed it up with how long they've been one for. It had never occured to me before, but it was 100% true.

I started wondering why this was. After all, when somebody asks you whether your a democrat or republican, you don't give your answer and then say "And I have been for 15 years", because nobody really cares-all that matters is that's who you are. After doing some research, I came to the conclusion that the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is to blame for the vegetarian image as seen by meateaters- that is liberal, outspoken, a little psychotic, very proud, and desperate to convert anybody that they can.

Before this conversation occured, I was a member of PETA. I had the "Meat is Murder" stickers on my car, I had the "Animals need their fur more than I do"shirt, me and my friends put the "Kentucky Fried Cruelty" stickers all over our local KFC, and I always commented at meals that whoever was eating meat was eating a dead animal. At the time, I thought I was doing my part to convert everyone in the world to vegetarianism. And when you really do care about animals, like I do, you want to do something to help them so desperatly that your willing to make an idiot of yourself while fighting for them. While I'm not against this all, I finally realized that doing all those things wasn't getting my point across at all, it was just making anti-vegetarianist laugh.

I compare my PETA protesting years to the protesters that stand outside Planned Parenthood everyday. No matter what side your on, it's obvious that these people are a little off their rockers (who else has the time to stand around yelling at people all day and not work?). I always thought that they were crazy people, until I realized that PETA does the exact same thing.

When I first signed up for PETA, they sent me a bunch of stickers, a DVD and a graphic booklet about animal abuse. I felt like throwing up after reading it. Although there are real facts and pictures in it, the way they present them is very unproffessional. The cover was bloody and had a knife, and the inside wasn't much better. The DVD had images of dead animals, injured animals, and the devastating environments that they live in. Don't get me wrong, this was all true and very sickening, but if you want something to be done, using the gross factor isn't going to work, just like how holding up pictures of aborted fetus' isn't going to outlaw abortion.

Recently, I saw a picture of Janice Dickinson and some models from her agency holding signs that said "I'd rather go naked than wear fur." This was a little surprising to me. I'm pretty sure that these models ate meat(especially the guys with six packs), so why are they at a PETA protest? Sure they may not wear fur, but now PETA is so desperate for people that they have to get semi-animal activist to protest for them?

I understand the idea of PETA and completely support it. However, having your ultimate goal be converting the entire world to animal activists is, sadly, not going to happen. Especially when your main form of protest is nudity(the Janice Dickinson case is just one of many incidents). Think about it-what do these people look like to a sophisticated person who eats meat? To my freind, they look like a bunch of brainwashed spoiled college students with nothing better to do but strip down to 'fight' animal cruelty. And although these people will say this is completely not true and call somebody closed-minded for thinking that way, it's true. They arn't thinking about what they look like in the eyes of the people they are trying to convert. The only people they are getting support from our people like themselves, who have no clue as to how getting something done actually works.

Of course, PETA has done a lot to help animals. The research they have done has put laws into affect and helped vegetarians and vegans learn to eat healthy without meat. Their website even features vegan-freindly recipes(and the food is actually good!). But they also seem like a very hatefull group. When Al Gore didn't stop eating meat after being asked by PETA, they made an ad saying "Too chicken to go vegetarian?" With a picture of Al Gore eating a chicken wing. They mentioned how if you stopped eating meat, you'd actually be doing more good for the planet than if you drove a Prius. That's great news. But this guy has done so much, and they have to pick on his one flaw? It sounds like high school all over again.

I could go on and on about different examples of how immature PETA has acted, but I'm not going to waste your time. I highly reccomend visiting their website (www.peta.org [1]) and learn for yourself. I know they mean good, but somebody really needs to teach these people to grow up and take legal action instead of getting meat eating celebrities to protest for them.