PETA called 'ridiculous' after suggesting that the word 'pet' is offensive to animals
The animal rights activists PETA have sparked criticism and confusion after an appearance on Good Morning Britain calling for people to stop calling their pets 'pets.'
A spokesperson from the organisation appeared on Tuesday's edition of the show advocation for pet owners to adopt the words like 'companion' instead for their dogs and cats.
Jennifer White, PETA's senior media officer said:
A lot of people at home who have dogs and cats refer to them as pets and they refer to themselves as owners, and this implies that the animals are a possession.
Presenter Piers Morgan wasn't having any of this and proceeded to tear into the spokesperson, pointing out that PETA literally has the word 'pet' in their name (the acronym stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).
You want to ban the word pet but you want your organisation to carry on being called Peta?
Do you see the problem? But pet is offensive. I’m offended by the use of the word pet.
Another bone of contention was PETA's campaign to have anti-animal phrases eradicated, something which saw them receive backlash in December 2018.
Morgan said:
Oh for God’s sake, you don’t even believe this guff.’ When you refer to animals, not as the living beings that they are, but as an inanimate object, it can reflect our treatment on our animals.
One-trick pony, what’s your problem with that? Tell me why one-trick pony is wrong.
In response, White said:
We don’t need to go through every phrase, we’ll be here all day.
Morgan added:
Actually we do because if you want to change the language, I would like to know why. What is wrong with one-trick pony?
Some ponies love doing tricks. Have you asked them? Have you asked the ponies?
The confrontation had people scratching their heads after they found themselves agreeing with Morgan, who is a divisive and contrary figure at the best of times.
When it was all over, Morgan surprisingly called it his 'favourite interview' during his time on the show while reiterating the point about the name.
PETA did offer some sort of response by asking if people should take the opportunity to use kinder language towards other living beings.
Elsewhere, PETA had found themselves at another storm of controversy after claiming that they had an advert banned from Sunday's Super Bowl which depicted animals taking the knee in the same way that NFL players had done to protest police brutality.
HT Metro
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