Anti-choicers can be accused of a lot of things, but originality isn’t one of them. Here’s yet another example of ham-fisted anti-choice co-opting of popular/well-known causes and slogans, this time PETA and the seal hunt:
Seal pups. Cute, cuddly, fluffy things with black eyes staring forlornly at us from a patch of ice that’s probably melting due to global warming, hoping to avoid the hunter’s club. We can’t help feel compassion. Over at ProWomanProLife, we want to know why such compassion does not extent to people.
(Except by “people”, the writer means “embryos”. Or even “fetuses”, about 10% of the time. Get it? Remember that. Ha.) Onward:
In the hope of extending compassion all the way to our own species, today we launched a new T-shirt campaign to draw attention to the plight of women and children, “People for the Ethical Treatment of People.” Because we believe people are, well, people too.
Women are told by old-school feminists and, too often, their own family members, that killing their unborn child is a valid “choice.” Every day in this country, hundreds of women put their feet up in stirrups and have the contents of their uterus vacuumed out in an act so callous and bloody we don’t even talk about it.
“Old-school feminists” — you know, like me. Like… pedgehog. Oh no, guess not. Or the pro-choicers profiled here. Oops again! Lotta young pro-choice whippersnappers in that article!
The characterization of pro-choice feminists as “old-school” is a propaganda angle that anti-choicers feel might work on younger women, but reality doesn’t bear it out. The pro-choice movement is as young and vibrant as ever, and the anti-choice movement is… still about taking away womens’ reproductive choices. They can wrap that up in whatever T-shirt slogans they want, it’s still authoritarianism and tyranny.
Besides, baby seals might not be the best cause to co-opt given that they aren’t hunted commercially, though their image has long been used by anti-seal hunt activists to rouse sympathy. Ask someone who knows, first hand:
Fact time folks:
- baby seals are not killed as part of the Canadian commercial seal hunt, it is illegal to kill a baby seal in this hunt
- a seal ban will destroy local Inuit economies
- a seal ban will create great personal financial hardship for many Inuit people
- an “Inuit exemption” will not help if the seal pelt market dies
- (and just in case I need to mention it) Inuit are not seals
On the other hand, maybe the analogy is totally appropriate given that anti-choicers do the same thing with images of late-term fetuses as anti-seal hunt activists do with baby seal pictures: disingenuous propagandizing. Certainly the abortion fables anti-choicers disseminate (Old-school feminists! Right up to 9 months! SHRIEK!) have about as much basis in reality as the mythical “baby seal hunt”.
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unrepentant old hippie 
I’ve been saying for years that the anti-seal hunt peeps have co-opted the anti-abortion camp’s rhetoric. Now it’s come full circle. The universe is in balance. 😉
Correct me if I’m wrong, but my impression is that PETA is not exactly the most popular and effective protest group around, with many people who generally believe in the ethical treatment of animals nevertheless disapproving of their methods and messaging.
Dr.Prole – Exactamundo… it’s the Circle Of Life!
RB – You’re right, PETA isn’t a popular protest group. The word I was looking for was “well-known” or something to that effect. I’ll change it.
Well, obviously pix of the cute baby mammals that are post-err…pre-born will go over better with the undecideds out there than the fetus bloodclot splat shots (Although Creekside does try hard in the cartoon).
Except of course, if they want the exact equivalence, they should have to put shots of preborn fetus seals up for display. Does anyone out there have access to biology pix of preborn seals? Or other mammals? Or even birds?
I wish they meant it. Prevention of cruelty to people *and* animals, I mean. Take out the cruelty to the post-born and they’d have their desire for fewer human abortions as a natural side effect. They just can’t seem to get over that mental hump to the other side of their argument. But then, given comments made by usual suspects about birthing a child being due punishment for teh uncontrolled wimmin orgies, I suspect this is another clubbing to death of irony.
At some point, we’re are going to stop being surprised by the outright ignorance and dishonesty of these people.
Maybe.
What a bunch of tools.
Mike
First the moralizing, then lies and scaremongering, and now stupid gimmicks. I guess you have to resort to these tactics when you are unable to deal honestly with the reality of peoples lives to promote your cause.
Oh, JJ, my question wasn’t on your choice of language. I was questioning the wisdom of emulating PETA as a way to influence public opinion.
Niles – It’s all part of a new “non-religious” image anti-choicers are trying to repackage themselves with. They’re really targeting young people lately — universities especially — and trying to get rid of their image as the stodgy old farts and lay that one on the pro-choice movement. Good luck with that.
How I wish I’d thought of that one! 😆
Mike
Not me. I always think they’ve scraped the bottom and they always surprise me.
Calgal
It’s a hard sell — less choice and outside interference in their private lives aren’t generally things people want, so anti-choicers are always looking for new ways to sell that package. Unfortunately no matter how it’s dressed up it always comes down to the same thing: taking away women’s choices and making them slaves to their reproductive systems. Good luck with that.
RB – Oh I know, but after your comment I realized that was a clumsy way of putting it, since PETA is anything but popular. Although, they probably are more popular with younger people, and that’s the goal here, to break out of the “old-guy-praying-in-front-of-a-clinic” image.
O/T, but did you see the slap today? Kari Simpson: wrong and stupid on too many levels to believe!
PWPL has a hate-on for women who are past childbearing age. As for their PETA-envy, I just hope they go for it. I want to see clinic protestors dressed as fetuses. I want to see people dressed as fetuses inside of giant-sized wombs dripping with fake blood. The possibilities are endless – I want to see some creativity, people!
Hahahahaha brebis. I too am in the mood for a circus 🙂
I see this campaign as a sign that they are running out of bad things to compare abortion to. They’ve already tried slavery, the Holocaust and Rwanda. Somehow the seal hunt seems a little pathetic in comparison. What’s next? Mosquito spraying?
Yes I did. I often wish Slap had comments.
I also marvel at how his drawings are appealing despite the simplicity. He can put such expression on faces that are just a couple of squiggly lines.
Slap is my hero. I am often – and shamelessly – inspired by his blogs.
So JJ, am I inspired by you. I riffed on this post of yours.
eh. I just sent an email to PETA, to let them know that PWPL might be may be poaching their logo, violating copyright or trademark laws and co-opting their marketing strategy.
No good deed goes unrewarded.
brebis
Only if they’re feminists 😛
It’s all part of the marketing strategy — re-packaging the anti-choice movement as something other than a bunch of authoritarian busybodies with their noses in everyone’s crotch.
I especially like how at the end of the article it says PWPL is “a grassroots, non-religious, non-partisan group of Canadian women who are against abortion”. “Non-religious”… riiiiiiight. That’s why whenever I link to them, the hits from their WordPress Admin account come from Focus on the Family IPs. Mrozek works for the “Institute to save marriage from the homos” or whatever it’s called, which is an astroturf organization of Focus on the Family.
No religion there! Noper!! 😆
beijing – Me too, I love a parade.
Calgal – Oh, I don’t think they’ll let go of the holocaust analogies anytime soon, as disrespectful as they are to actual holocaust victims. These people have no clue.
RB –
Oh, me too. But I think comments could get a little hard to manage on a blog that popular, and who knows, maybe Mark has a life outside of blogging 😛 I love his cartoons, like you say, he really has a talent for getting a lot of emotion into them.
deBeauxOs
Oh, geez 😆 In a fight between PWPL and PETA, I’m afraid all I could do is sit back with popcorn and hope for injuries… to anyone.