COMICSANDS
percolately
georgetakei
secondnexus
george's picks
We know words matter, but this time The People For Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) may have left more people scratching their heads with a new twist on "speciesism".
This week PETA took to Twitter to let people know the harmful effects of language and how important it is to chose your words carefully, even if those possibly offended have no idea what you are talking about.
In an attempt to have people be more mindful of harming animals, PETA would like us to reword idioms to more animal friendly words.
Words matter, and as our understanding of social justice evolves, our language evolves along with it. Here’s how to… https://t.co/X893u2zPhH— PETA (@PETA)1543958601.0
PETA
They went on to explain further why they picked this particular battle.
Just as it became unacceptable to use racist, homophobic, or ableist language, phrases that trivialize cruelty to a… https://t.co/SSWGW1xnuo— PETA (@PETA)1543958638.0
Unfortunately, the explanation really only made things worse.
@peta Did you just compare..... You know what https://t.co/YeHBH01Pg8— KemoSxbe (@KemoSxbe)1544030404.0
@peta It's as if you're so caught in your own crusade that you have no cognizance of its position vis a vis more pressing human issues— Klobuchar2020 (@Klobuchar2020)1544030556.0
@peta @peta - This tweet is extremely ignorant. To compare “anti-animal language” to racism is blatantly irresponsi… https://t.co/Wkb5IykRXc— Shermichael Singleton (@Shermichael Singleton)1544032017.0
@peta This is why one of the reasons that I CAN'T take your organization serious... https://t.co/YQhdFQRcId— Genea mom (@Genea mom)1544026969.0
@peta Your false equivalency here is offensive in the worst way.— Tanita Gaither (@Tanita Gaither)1544029763.0
@peta Don't ever ever compare "anti-animal" language to homophobia, racism and ableism. Those saying don't actually… https://t.co/8hcfRo5TDo— oh ok (@oh ok)1544028726.0
@peta It’s funny how you didn’t say sexist since as a company , in a whole, is super sexist. Weird flex but ok.— Sher-Burt 🍧 (@Sher-Burt 🍧)1544030607.0
@peta Sometimes, you all just embarrass yoursleves. When my cat gets offended by, "there's more than one way to sk… https://t.co/X4uKofs3G8— Rocky 2020 (@Rocky 2020)1544029378.0
@peta Why do you want to feed scones to birds? Are you trying to kill them? What kind of monster are you? https://t.co/xfEeCiBGEE— IBuyYourStops (@IBuyYourStops)1544027933.0
@peta SIS you really didn’t stretch before that reach huh— emma ✨ (@emma ✨)1544029458.0
@peta What about “what’s shakin’ bacon”? Is this also offensive? I will now say “what’s shakin’ bagel”— Hannah (@Hannah)1544027061.0
@peta Though I liked your initial tweet about reshaping our language, it is ill-informed and flat out wrong to beli… https://t.co/MLDK3VTzSY— Kylen Button (@Kylen Button)1544032018.0
Some folks saw the humor in the situation.
@peta What about choking the chicken?? 🤔— Yoms (@Yoms)1544021270.0
@peta Instead of saying “choke the chicken” say “shake the baby maker” https://t.co/2f30dcWOnj— GabeTheBabe (@GabeTheBabe)1543986188.0
Why would anyone grab a flower by its thorns?!?! https://t.co/fVi5VYuiaA— Ian McLaren (@Ian McLaren)1543967560.0
What a load of fallen leaves. https://t.co/Mbw0CRq7qW— Andrew R (@Andrew R)1543966041.0
Others appreciate the time it must have taken to come up with the new idioms.
Whatever you think of PETA, this is really clever h/t @xor https://t.co/yYJwpiSbnS— Jeff Roberts (@Jeff Roberts)1543966747.0
"feed two birds with one scone" has broken my brain i'm going to die laughing https://t.co/dYj9UrYhAx— julia reinstein 🚡 (@julia reinstein 🚡)1543965712.0
BRING HOME THE BAGELS BRING HOME THE BAGELS https://t.co/99AhNIs7a8— Catherine Silverman (@Catherine Silverman)1543967115.0
Don’t put all your kale in one strainer. https://t.co/vzij5UkyNe— Vince Coglianese (@Vince Coglianese)1543965497.0
Some of these are actually kind of clever but I honestly never understood idiom iconoclasm. Just because something… https://t.co/XFk3OPNbZs— neontaster (@neontaster)1543965960.0
I can think of no better way to describe this tweet than to say PETA has jumped the shark. https://t.co/muAwVWretN— MarcyJMiller (@MarcyJMiller)1543965627.0
We're all for the ethical treatment of animals, but PETA may need to learn to pick their battles.
And this just doesn't feel like the right one.
Although...
Maybe in the end, that is all that matters.
H/T: Huffington Post, USA Today