The other day I passed a KFC on the way to lunch, and PETA, I believe, was protesting KFC for “the killing of live chickens”.
An appropriate way to demonstrate this they felt, was by pantomiming a chicken slaughtering Colonel Sanders, complete with enough gore to make Wes Craven nauseous.
So my question to PETA/animal rights activists is this; how do you propose we sanitarily kill chickens, and, how is it morally permissible to allow for the killing of a human but not chickens (even jokingly)?
Needless to say, any future support I may have provided was lost with this sick display.
{ 18 comments }
Amber 03.22.07 at 3:46 pm
“the killing of live chickens”
As opposed to the killing of dead chickens?
Erick 03.22.07 at 3:46 pm
I feel the same way about abortion protesters who hold up pictures of aborted fetuses. It is disgusting and makes me less supportive after being grossed out.
rugby_fan 03.22.07 at 3:53 pm
Amber, my thought exactly.
Jeff Emanuel 03.22.07 at 4:25 pm
Erick, there’s been a 15-foot high display of just that at UGA’s student center for the past two days.
This is a very graphic reason of what I hate about “activism,” and why. Ugh.
Ronin 03.22.07 at 4:43 pm
People still eat at KFC?
Andre in Atlanta 03.23.07 at 4:57 am
I just want everyone to know that I’m a member of PETA…People Eating Tasty Animals.
garule62 03.23.07 at 6:31 am
PETA is just one example of another fringe organization that struggles to get credibility by being largely a PITA. Funny how all I did was change one letter to get a whole different meaning!
jsm 03.23.07 at 8:06 am
Poor chickens.
Demonbeck 03.23.07 at 8:07 am
Erick,
Were there protesters outside of your Chik-Fila?
Nicki 03.23.07 at 8:07 am
Please don’t equate PETA with animal rights activists in general, or animal welfare peopel in general — they’re far further out there, and their tactics aren’t used by more mainstream groups.
PETA believes that as long as we eat chickens, it’s inhumane and should be protested. I don’t believe that, but I rarely eat chicken because it’s not produced under ideally sanitary conditions and conditions could be more humane. There are dozens of ways to do this and KFC is not interested because all of them involve slowing down production to varying degrees.
Erick 03.23.07 at 9:59 am
Demonbeck, up and down a main thoroughfare in town.
jsm 03.23.07 at 12:58 pm
Did they moo and carry signs that say, “Eat mor chikin?”
Doug Deal 03.23.07 at 1:53 pm
Nicki,
KFC does not produce chicken. KFC only handles chicken that comes to them in pre-marinated pieces. It’s the same way at your grocery store. Why not protest Gold Kist in Alpharetta. Those are the people who actually handle the birds.
waterboy 03.23.07 at 2:29 pm
Are the “free range” chicken killed in a different fashion from farm raised chickens? They all taste good fried and on a bun!
PETA is for losers. Chicken is for lovers!
Nicki 03.23.07 at 4:26 pm
Doug, who am I protesting? My only protest is not eating as much chicken as I could. Which, you know, is simply voting with my feet.
PETA’s issues are with YUM foods, which is the supplier, but they picket KFC because it’s the primary purchaser and gave the facility where YUM Foods employees abused animals in addition to slaughtering them their top award for quality production. A good equivalent would be Wal-Mart/Kathie Lee Gifford and the third-world sweatshops.
And Doug, depends on the producer. Sometimes.
Nicki 03.23.07 at 4:27 pm
Make that second comment to Waterboy. Oops!
Doug Deal 03.23.07 at 5:11 pm
Nicki,
It was more or less to direct my response to what you had stated, not to reply directly to you. Mainly my questions were rhetorical.
Anyway, as far as Yum! goes, if that is PETA’s thinks Yum! is, they have no idea what they are talking about. I used to work for Gold Kist Corporate and my family had a long history working for the corporate KFC. Yum! is simply the parent company of KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, A&W Rootbeer and I think Long John Silvers.
It is a business entity, not a supplier of chicken. Gold Kist (here in Georgia), as well as Tyson, and a couple of other suppliers produce all of the chicken that KFC uses. The incident in question happened at a Pilgrim’s Pride plant (the second largest producer, behind Tyson, above Gold Kist.) If they have issue with the treatment of the chickens while they are alive, they are protesting the wrong people.
Why they choose to pick only on KFC is a mystery. Publix, Kroger, Winne Dixie, and every other grociery store gets it’s chicken from the same few places. If going after the consumer is such a great thing to do, they should be picketing each and every shopper who has purchased a chicken.
Anyway, they are not interested in humane treatment of animals, they simply want to force everyone else to be a vegan.
rugby_fan 03.23.07 at 7:51 pm
Free Range tastes much better.
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