Commentary: Does PETA have a meat wish?

Editor's Note: The following was written by Mike Barnett, Director of Publications at the Texas Farm Bureau and was originally posted On Texas Agriculture Talks.

I’m either very confused about People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and veganism or PETA is confused about veganism and eating meat.

Most of us have seen PETA propaganda where they douse people with blood at one of their anti-meat events. They’re famous for their advertisements of actresses in various stages of undress promoting their latest cause. Most of us have seen their images of Ronald McDonald portrayed as a raving lunatic clown chicken-slayer.

So it makes me wonder why PETA promoted hamburgers and hot dogs and kabobs on their Facebook page on the Fourth of July. Or go to their website and you can get recipes for “Baby Get Back Veggie Ribs,” “Fire-up-the-Grill Fajitas” and other delicacies such as Grilled Vegan Chicken (now that makes me wonder, was the chicken fed a vegan diet and thus okay; or is it chicken tofu?) Of course, these knock-offs are vegan versions of the real thing.

Seriously, I don’t have a problem with vegans, vegetarians or others with dietary preferences different than mine. To each his own. I do have problems with an animal rights activist group that portrays farmers and ranchers as vicious killers and livestock as victims.

Which brings me back to my point. Does PETA have a secret meat wish? That’s the only thing I can figure out. I find it curious that they scream animal rights on the one hand, then entice their followers with meat imposters on the other. It seems a bit hypocritical to me to disguise vegetables as meat.

But then I’m not privy to PETA’s inner workings. Maybe it’s their attempt to keep the restless troops settled. Maybe it’s an attempt to soothe the meat beast inside us all.

It’s there, you know. It’s been there ever since man first put meat on a stick and stuck it over a fire. The aroma enticed him. The taste made him come back for more.

Somehow, coating bean curd sticks with margarine, peanut butter and a variety of other stuff, sticking them on the grill and calling it “Baby Get Back Veggie Ribs” doesn’t do it for me.

I’ll take Baby Backs from real pigs—grilled to perfection.

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