There's a new "Greatest Show on Earth" and it ain't the big top show you're thinking of. No, the new circus features PETA and Take-Two Interactive. PETA has called out Take-Two's CEO Ben Feder, and now they're working on getting the developer to cease and desist development their upcoming Ringling Bros. title for Wii and DS, says Joystiq.
You see, PETA is not a fan of the circus and how this specific one allegedly treats animals. PETA's blog post points to a "lengthy history of animal abuse and neglect," and now they're asking supporters to send their own personal message to Feder via this handy mail form.
Here's part of PETA's pre-written letter that you can opt to edit:
I was shocked to hear that Take-Two is partnering with Ringling Bros. to create a circus-themed video game. Video games might be a fun way to pass the time, but circuses are no fun for animals. Ringling has a long history of animal abuse and neglect. To get elephants to "perform," Ringling Bros. rips babies away from their mothers and stuffs them into poorly ventilated boxcars...
I'm all for protecting animals, but no animal can be harmed in a videogame. PETA is just acting crazy here. A press release from Take-Two describes a two-player, famly friendly game with tightrope walking and such. It's doubtful that Take-Two would depict animal violence. And I hope they're not trying to connect purchases of this game with animal cruelty. Hell, biting the head off of circus animal crackers is probably more cruel than buying or even making this game.
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
5:20 PM on 05.13.2009
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http://www.consumerfreedom.com/pressRelease_detail.cfm/release/258
@Styles B LKV - wow, damn
Also, watch the PETA: Penn and Teller's Bullshit episode, it has a ton more tid-bits, especially regarding the enigmatic leader of PETA.
I remember the first thing I ever heard about PETA doing was throwing red paint onto people with fur coats, and giving little children gruesome pamphlets that said "your mommy kills animals" (which says a lot about their reputation).
I hope someday a smarmy lawyer finds a way to bankrupt them for tax evasion, or harassment or some shit.
PETA is full of extra chromosomes. They should be saving animals from receiving inhumane treatment and preventing them from being extinct. That's all.
I pretty sure their non-profit and tax except, but we might be able to stop them with syphilis. The real way we got Capone.
ok I'm not the game will probably suck
That was one of P & T's best episodes.It's really amazing that so many people still believe PETA is a company with good intentions.It really is a shame the amount of ignorance people possess these days.
That said, Peta STFU please, if I still eat at KFC after all the horrible things it does to the yummy yummy food then I sure as hell wont base my decision to buy/not buy this game based on animal rights...
Yup, nothing beats getting people to your cause than naked wimminz on all fours.
HA!
@Holiday: or when Activision released Cabela's Big Game Hunter, which was solely to kill for sport. Perhaps they should come out with a "Hunting Mama" where you kill, clean, and cook the food. Mmmm...deer jerky
"And I hope they're not trying to connect purchases of this game with animal cruelty"
Umm, if Ringling Bros. receives royalties for the sold games, that's a pretty good connection right there.
This article is very biased, in my opinion, but since I don't pay anything to read your news I won't bother to get worked up about that.
The article takes this document out of context. If you actually look at those numbers, most animals are returned to their actual owners, while some are replaced or moved to shelters. Animals you find on the street are often in very bad shape, and you can't just give them a shot of magic medicine to fix them. They cost a lot more to treat for serious diseases and disabilites as results of improper treatment and inability to live by themselves than any normal human does. I know this out of experience. Sure, PETA might have a 32$ million budget, but money can't fix everything. People die all the time because they can't be treated for their illness; AIDS, HIV, cancer, etc..
I'm not pro-PETA, mind you, at least not blindly. They have their flaws, and I do not like the way they fight for animal rights all of the time. I still find it sad how people tend to bash them without knowing anything other than what the mass-media reports about them. The meat industry is without any doubt a corrupt monetary business that has outgrown itself a long time ago, and it has ties to a disturbing amount of media corporations. You don't need to believe in conspiracies to acknowledge its influence, you simply have to logically think how one industry can supply all of the millions of people it serves with meat and still be an ethical and "clean" business...
Man, is context so hard to grasp? Is a valuable and perhaps even worthwhile reply too much to ask?
Maybe one day the sane environmentalists can drown out the voices of the nuts and we can all do something actually productive for the environment. Until then we have PETA bitching about a video game.
I don't sit on a lot of research on euthanasia rates from the US, but I know over here it has been between 19 and 30 or something. I live in Norway so the links would probably be irrelevant. Either way, this article in Seattle Times might be somewhat relevant: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004276339_euthanasia12m.html
About meat conspiracies and whatnot; bad choice of wording from my part. It is indeed quite irrelevant for this topic. But if you think having been alive for a long time (I can't help but wonder how old you actually are, but it doesn't matter) automatically proves all conspiracies that haven't been proved yet are false, then I'm afraid you're pretty wrong; most conspiracies that have ended up being true up through the ages have usually taken a century or more to be proven, and by then nobody cares anymore. It doesn't mean every conspiracy is true, but there is often at least a grain of truth in more than we would probably like to admit.
On the sanity of environmentalists; those who scream the loudest are the ones who are usually heard, and to scream out loud means a lot of people will hate you for it. If the sane environmentalists are those who go after the things that really matter, who won't throw paint at people wearing fur and calling people murderers for eating meat, then I know a lot of these people. But they don't end up on television because they can't be called nutjobs, and they won't scream the loudest because it's not their way of doing it.
On a side note, I find it funny that you compare contrasting world views with a Disney fantasy version of nature; do you mean that the reality you live in is the bleakest of the bleak, and there is no use in fighting for any ethical equality in the way we treat animals or nature? It might be pointless in the end, but out of experience you need contrast for progression; we have to be able to agree to disagree without calling the other person's opinions total bullocks. That is ignorant and childish at best.
PETA's anti-meat exploits, such as the "your mommy kills animals" comic book, are risible on their own without needing to use their pet-slaughtering ways to build opposition to their anti-meat agenda. And I'll be there with my camera when PETA goes after the Hell's Angels for their leather jackets the way they go after society ladies with their furs (people still wear that? Really?)
In the end, though, their attack on Take-Two doesn't even rise to the level of Jack Thompson craziness; it's just another in a flood of press releases trying to get more attention and therefore more donations, like their request last month that Pet Shop Boys change their name to Rescue Shelter Boys. Yes, they really did make that request.