My main motivation for writing today’s column is the recent visit of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to our beloved campus. I absolutely abhor PETA and so do a lot of my friends. Let me tell you why before you throw down your newspaper in disgust.
Nothing PETA stands for resonates with me. I say this mainly because of the damning article I read a few months ago that provided evidence that PETA euthanized thousands of animals per year. Hypocritical, right? How can you tell me to stop eating delicious chicken and tasty bacon if you’re out here killing animals?
Remember the whole Stop Kony movement? Whatever happened to that? I’m sure whoever was behind that scooped up your precious dollars and jetted off to some private beach in Barbados. Young people in particular fall victim to this, but that’s not to say that adults don’t have their change snatched out of their coin purses and into the hands of some greedy “charity.”
This is one reason I am so reluctant to donate money to causes, that and the fact I don’t have any money. I’ve seen several stories done on charities that conclude what many people have failed to consider – that a good percentage of your money isn’t going to this wonderful charity you’re so inspired by. Many times, you would be lucky if 50 percent of your money actually went to the cause you thought you were contributing to make the world a better place.
Many people are just not vigilant when it comes to scams. “Hey, this is not a pyramid scheme. You really can make $10,000 a week.” Um, what? Most tech savvy people can spend just a few minutes out of their day to research and see what they’re getting into. If you were so passionate about a cause or movement, wouldn’t you want to find out as much information about that organization as you can, just to see if they do anything contradictory?
PETA directly contradicts and invalidates anything they’ve worked to make you believe. Of course they’ll write on their blog that euthanasia is necessary in some cases, but the New York Times will tell you otherwise. How can you justify supporting this? I’m sure many people will say, “Well, they have a good message; it just gets convoluted.” Call me cynical or skeptical, but killing the majority of animals at a shelter each year seems pretty damn clear.
The point of me writing this is not to say, “Don’t support charities or advocacy groups because they’re all evil.” I simply want to encourage people to know what they’re getting into. Make smart decisions about whom you give your money to and what you spend your time supporting. There are wonderful charities out there that give 100 percent of donations to whichever cause they claim to represent. It just requires a little more effort on behalf of the donator.
Carl Case is a senior psychology and Spanish double major from Brookhaven.
