Peta compared dairy drinkers to white supremacists and the backlash is real

Animal rights charity PETA are no stranger to fanning the flames of controversy to prove a point.

The latest dispute to engulf the organisation relates to milk, the dairy industry and white supremacy - we bet that’s not how you expected that sentence to end.

PETA tweeted a link to an article entitled “What does drinking milk have to do with white supremacy?”

The link was accompanied by the quote “Cows’ milk has long been a symbol used by white supremacists. One more reason to #DitchDairy”.

The article begins with a film analogy:

As when Christoph Waltz’s character in Inglorious Bastards drinks a glass of milk and a character in a pivotal scene of Get Out sips the cow secretion, dairy milk has long been embraced as a symbol of white supremacy.

Before moving on to an obscure justification for its claim.

Aside from 'lactose-tolerant' white supremacists, cow’s milk really is the perfect drink of choice for all (even unwitting) supremacists, since the dairy industry inflicts extreme violence on other living beings. PETA is trying to wake people up to the implications of choosing this white beverage and suggesting that they choose something else pronto.

PETA also linked to an article which showed white supremacists apparently drinking milk as a way of deliberately insulting people of colour who are lactose intolerant. Which, if true, is obviously pretty ridiculous to any reasonable minded person.

Of course, the ethics of the dairy industry are hotly contested. indy100 encourages everyone to make up their own minds and do their own research on this issue. But even vegans have taken issue with PETA’s attempt to link milk-drinkers to white supremacy.

Unsurprisingly, the tweet and point behind it are being widely condemned. Even those who care passionately about animal rights have berated PETA, saying this is not the best way to get people to put their differences aside and make the welfare of animals a priority.

This isn't the first time PETA has come under fire for its messaging around milk, after it linked drinking milk to autism last year.