This time last year, PETA activist Jennifer White went on Good Morning Britain to urge people to stop using the word “pet” to refer to animals they own, because apparently it’s akin to calling women “honey” and “sweetie”.
Featured Image VIA
The whole world mocked their suggestion and literally nobody took the advice on board, but even still PETA are back this year with some more specific suggestions – that we stop using animals as insults.
Words can create a more inclusive world, or perpetuate oppression.
Calling someone an animal as an insult reinforces the myth that humans are superior to other animals & justified in violating them.
Stand up for justice by rejecting supremacist language. pic.twitter.com/HFmMWDcc5A
— PETA (@peta) January 26, 2021
Anti-animal slurs degrade animals by applying negative human traits to certain species.
Perpetuating the idea that animals are sly, dirty, or heartless desensitizes the public and normalizes violence against other animals.
— PETA (@peta) January 26, 2021
Speciesist language isn’t just harmful, but it is also inaccurate.
Pigs, for instance, are intelligent, lead complex social lives, and show empathy for other pigs in distress. Snakes are clever, have family relationships, and prefer to associate with their relatives.
— PETA (@peta) January 26, 2021
PETA urges everyone who believes in equality and justice to take a look at their personal beliefs and the language they use, and break free of this outdated mindset that denigrates other animals.
Always be kind and consider not using insults at all.
— PETA (@peta) January 26, 2021
Welp, they’re persistent if nothing else. What I want to know is if there’s even one person out there who saw this Tweet and has now removed these words from their list of insults? I honestly don’t think they’re getting through to even a single person, and if they are, it’s at the expense of being relentlessly mocked by a million other people.
I would say it’s bat shit crazy but of course they don’t want us using that sort of language either:
Yeah, no thanks. I get PETA making these suggestions is harmless but it’s just annoying that they’re trying to control language so that some activist types don’t get triggered by words like “rat” and “snake”. Sorry PETA but we’re still going to call people pigs if they don’t clean up after themselves, snakes if they’re untrustworthy, chickens if they’re cowards, and rats if they go scurrying off and running their mouths. That’s just the way it is.
P.S. Remember, these are the people who disrespected the memory of Steve Irwin on this birthday because he was ‘harassing a stingray’ when he died. Unreal.
