(replies will go to group email list)

Hi Meetup Member,

Thanks to those who offered their opinions about the PETA Thanksgiving TV ad, which was refused by the networks. See ad at http://www.wesh.com/news/21722752/detail.html

I suppose that the bluntness and shock value that often characterize PETAs messages will probably reach some people that a kinder and more gentle approach might not. But I always prefer communications that appeal to the gentle, loving, and compassionate aspect in each of us.

I think that the message that PETAs ad sent through that little girl's prayer was a very angry and cynical one, and expressed an attitude that I hope to never witness in someone so young.

I think the PETA ad also might give some the impression that family gatherings such as Thanksgiving celebrations provide us with a good opportunity to accuse people of cruelty and to vent our anger toward them, and to think that the vegetarian cause would be served by such actions.

We all know what it feels like to be accused of not being vegan-enough, or vegetarian-enough, raw food vegan-enough, or simply not good enough to meet someone else's expections.

How do you react to such critics? That stuff makes me mad as hell, and only makes me want to dig in my heals even more stubbornly! I think it's quite possible that such ads do our cause more harm than good.

I'm hoping that we can find a way to redirect our energies toward being for something, rather than against anything. It all somes down to choosing between love and anger, which is really the same as the choice between love and fear.

Peace, Don Robertson