I try to update this blog every week, but last Saturday I was at a complete loss as to what to write about. I have spent the beginning of this week trying to decide what to write for an update, and after my daily perusing of articles on Yahoo!, I came across the most perfectly ridiculous thing to write about: PETA Slams Mario.
In the brand new Super Mario game released for the Nintendo 3DS, the iconic Nintendo character Mario is rocking the totally retro tanooki suit which was originally introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES in 1988. However, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) believes that the tanooki suit promotes animal cruelty by sending a message that it’s okay to wear fur. Excuse me? It’s a freaking game, people. It’s purely for entertainment, not to send a message that it’s okay to mercilessly slaughter animals for fur. I mean, kids mindlessly play this game for crying out loud. And where the hell was PETA the first time the tanooki suit was released? Did they piss and moan about it back in 1988? If that’s what they want to do, then maybe they should bitch about Link using the whip on Epona in Ocarina of Time to make her go faster.
This, my friends, is why I do not support PETA. I am such an animal lover, don’t get me wrong. In fact, one of the best jobs I ever had was working at a veterinary clinic when I was in college, but I don’t support PETA because these people spend more time pissing and moaning about stupid rubbish like Mario wearing a tanooki suit and using controversial tactics to promote themselves. They are constantly shoving their vegan ideals down people’s throats. They say that animals are not to be used as food, but that’s why God put animals on the earth to begin with! Since the dawning of time people have eaten animal meat for survival, used animal hides for shelter and clothing, and used animal bones as tools for hunting and cultivating crops. Hell, the Native Americans still use animals as part of their culture.
Now I do believe animals being raised for slaughter should be treated humanely and that there should be humane ways of killing the animals to sell off for food. I also try to avoid personal care products that were tested on animals, and I don’t attend circuses anymore because those people really do treat their performance animals horribly. I can’t stand to see an animal abused or neglected, and I’d love to see puppy mills get shut down, but I’m not so much of a crusader that I turn vegan and start blowing up labs and blasting on kid-centric video games featuring iconic characters. At least the ASPCA puts on commercials of why you should donate money to help them save animals, even if they do use emotional appeal to get you to pony up some donations. And it is for a good cause because that money goes to funding their facilities and programs.
Realistically, however, we can’t save them all. There’s always going to be poachers hunting tigers and elephants. There’s always going to be incredibly stupid people who let their animals die in extreme heat or breed themselves to death because they refuse to be a responsible pet owner and spay and neuter their pets. But I digress. PETA needs to find other more meaningful things to crusade against instead of wasting their energy griping about video games.