PETA activists staged an alluring protest in the heart of downtown Tucson earlier this afternoon. The animal rights organization rounded up some local members to encourage Tucsonans to stop eating meat and “Go Vegan” in the most visually attractive way possible. What’s the best way to get people to stop eating animal products?
Using half naked women to pretend they’re dead animals seems to be pretty effective.
Young female protesters were holding signs that read “Try to Relate to Who’s on the Plate” and “Animals Have the Same Parts: GO VEGAN” on the corner of West Congress street and North Stone Avenue. The animal rights activist stood in front of Michelle Rios, while she laid on the ground topless, curled up next to a bed of salad on a giant white plate with an over-sized knife and fork. The blonde woman uses her arms to to shield her breasts and nipples that were cover with band aids. There was barbecue sauce splattered on her pale skin and almost see through underwear. Her shivering legs were tucked against her bare stomach. She closed her eyes and tried to lay still while pedestrians and drivers were taking pictures and staring at her semi-nude body in broad daylight.
PETA Campaigner Matt Bruce, 31, came down from Los Angeles to stage this peaceful protest. “This is part of a national PETA campaign. We are hitting cities all over the country during this season of giving to encourage people to give animals a chance and leave them off their plates,” Bruce said.
“Factory pigs have their teeth, tails and testicals removed without pain killers,” Bruce said right before a rear end collision occurred behind us. “Accidents happen, but not as often as you think,” Bruce chuckles. Bruce said once a driver jumped a curb and almost hit an exhibit.
Bruce says you can save up to 100 animals a year by going vegan. “The most effective thing anyone can do to help animals is simply stop eating them,” Bruce said. “The kind of abuse that happens in the dairy industry is the same that we find in the meat and egg industry.” If people want to save animals, help themselves, improve their health and better the environment.”
“It’s never been easier to leave animals off your plate,” Bruce said. “Vegan products can be found in any major grocery store.” We found this was a very eye catching and provocative display. It’s a good way to get people that normally wouldn’t stop and talk to us. The exhibit displays that animals feel pain and terror just like we do.”
“Our brave volunteers chose to speak up for animals this way. She feels that bring attention this way is very important because billions of animals are slaughtered on factory farms. Cows are branded, castrated without with out pain killers, they dragged kicking and screaming to slaughter, their horns are ripped from their skulls and their throats are cut off while they are fully conscious and able to feel pain. Facts and figures just don’t work for everybody,” Bruce said.
- Photo by Henry Barajas
- Priscilla Serna is a 22 year old University of Arizona student from Los Angeles. Serna went vegetarian eight years ago because she saw a documentary called “Meet your Meat.” She’s getting a double major in environmental studies and journalism.
The activist were handing out propaganda that featured celebrities like Paul McCartney, former President Bill Clinton (the same former President that has a dished named after him at Mi Nidito) and Natalie Portman talking about how and why they are vegan and or vegetarian. There are some vegetarians that aren’t fans of this type of extreme protesting. I interviewed Gabrielle Gordon before she went to Brugers Bagels for lunch. Gordon, 23, has been a vegetarian since she was five years old. Gordon is from Illinois and every winter her neighbors hunting skills encouraged her diet change. “One day I saw my neighbors drag a dead deer through the snow and hang it on their swing set. It was really scaring.”
//instagram.com/p/iJ89R2ACxn
“I think this is incredible stupid,” Gordon said. “People are welcomed to eat whatever they want, so I don’t judge people for eating meat.” Gordan says it would be more effective if the protests encouraged the health benefits instead of posing naked in the cold.
PETA will be in Phoenix on Monday, but will their efforts encourage this “Red State” to change its ways?
This article appears in Dec 19-25, 2013.
Great. More self righteous pricks trying to tell me that i am wrong for eating meat. GO BACK TO SAN FRANCISCO!
I don’t tell you what and what not to eat.You should respect other people’s rights. As we do yours, shame on you for infringing on the rights of others. Don’t eat meat it’s ok with me. Really!
Carnivore, the spokesperson was from Los Angeles. C’mon, bro.
That said, I’m right there next to you at Diablo Burger. Mm, flesh.
I demand that A & E fire her. That’s hate speech and she’s meataphobic.
OK, so the point of this stunt was to encourage people not to eat mean? I don’t get it; she looks pretty appetizing to me. Mixed message at best.
“All animals have the same parts” – really PETA? Does that include pit bulls? How about the animals you take in your front door that people think are being adopted out? Are they included in “all”?
How few people realize that there is little that is ‘ethical’ about PETA. They advocate for breed specific legislation to outlaw pit bulls, along with the euthanization of them immediately upon intake to a shelter anywhere, and have a kill rate of over 90% IN THEIR OWN “SHELTER”. I’d rather go naked than donate to PETA. For more information see Nathan Winograd on Huffpost: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-j-winograd/peta-kills-puppies-kittens_b_2979220.html
I am a homo sapien sapien. I have evolved on this planet into an omnivorous mammal. I have eyes facing forward like any predator to make me a more efficient hunter. I love wildlife. It’s delicious.
What do we do when the animals overrun us? Smile and be happy? Shove your vegan lifestyle up a cows anus, kill it and serve it to me medium rare.
Barney littletree narcho, you say “as we do yours”, it just isn’t true. People do NOT respect my choice to be vegan, they make jokes and try to make me eat meat all the time. I’m so happy that you don’t step on other’s rights to chose what they put in their body, but most people sadly feel entitled to when someone’s diet is different from the “norm”. That said, PETA is definitely not my favorite organization and I don’t support this protest. I support vegans being normal people that respect others.
I’m happy to be vegan, and I absolutely can’t stand PETA. They give us all a bad name with their head-bashing techniques. Their cruelty to innocent passersby should inspire an organization of protestors the way factory farms inspired them. And for the record, not all of us are self-righteous jerks who think we have the right to tell other people what to eat. If it interests someone I’ll talk to them, maybe even cook for them, but I’m not high and mighty enough to wander the streets touting my diet choices. Puh-leaze.
I’ve been vegan for 25 years and consider it one of the best decisions of my life (my doctor agrees). Here’s a video to help everyone understand why so many people are making this life affirming choice and why the number of vegans has doubled in the US in less than 3 years.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKr4HZ7ukSE
Also, here’s a link for everyone who wants to join the revolution: 21-Day Vegan Kickstart http://www.pcrm.org/health/diets/kickstart/kickstart-programs
You should respect my choice of what to eat.
Respectfully,
Jeffrey Dahmer
Would it been wrong to take a bite? Meat is tasty!!!
On a serious note… If you think plants are tasty, eat them… If you think meat is tasty, eat it… So no worries about that. We can eat farmed animals… We can hunt and eat wildlife…
No one is eating nobody’s pets.
it’s “Mi Nidito” gosh
It’s about the cruelty. When chickens and pigs ran free on farms before their demise, it didn’t feel so bad to eat meat. Now that we know the putrid conditions that factory farmed animals spend their lives, we should try to do something to change it. Factory farming of ANY animal is just wrong. If you’re going to eat meat, look for animals that are humanely raised. That’s not the meat in your supermarket.
Whether I agree or disagree with PETA I still say good for the young lady on the plate for having the courage to do that very clever protest! The good news is we live in a country where she can do that. Did enjoy looking at the dish…ah hem.
With that said, I eat meat and enjoy it. Meat from from grass fed beef, cage free chickens, raw milk from grass fed beef. Healthy unprocessed food like or ancestors did.
I love how the meatheads are so emotional they can’t even get it.
I eat meat, too, but I don’t feel threatened one bit by this. No one’s legislating your diet, fraidy cats. It’s just a clever advertising stunt, and it’s sole purpose is to make you think before you choose. Obviously that’s lost on you.
Relax. This is the meat-sucking center of the earth, and it ain’t gonna change anytime soon…at least until global climate catastrophe causes the total collapse of the food production system, anyway. When that happens, sure, go ahead and panic. Until then, you’re overreacting.
I could eat her brains like jam.
to all the assholes who are defending meat eating… I dare you to watch the movie Earthlings while you are eating your next burger. If you wanna continue eating, you’re probably a sociopath. cool.