In my observation, PETA has very little regard for facts, and one might even say, less for truth. I think this is exemplified in a minor contretemps with the office of Governor Sarah Palin—who its leaders hate for obvious reasons. PETA claimed that Palin’s office threatened to sue over a parody on line video game. Palin’s office denied any such threat and in a series of frustrating exchanges found out how surrealistic in can be to deal with PETA ideologues. From the story:
Here’s the full exchange as it happened, according to the folks at PETA:
From: McAllister, William D (GOV) Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 11:26 AM...Subject: The PETA Files—Your website claims we have threatened to sue you. What do you base this on? Be specific.
Bill McAllister, Director of Communications/Press Secretary
Office of Governor Sarah Palin
From: Ingrid Newkirk ...Dear Mr. McAllister, We base this on a phone call. Why don’t you ask in your office and be specific as to on what grounds you can sue us? We know that we can use the game as it’s pure parody. I thought people in Alaska had a sense of humor? Ingrid Newkirk
From: McAllister, William D (GOV)...That’s not very specific. Who called? Name and title given? Did you even attempt to verify it was genuine? Or are facts just cumbersome?
From: Ingrid Newkirk [mailto:ingridn@peta.org]... Do they train you to be rude? [Me: PETA should talk!]
From: McAllister, William D (GOV) [Subject: RE: To answer your enquiry: OK, so the bottom line is, you have attitude, but no facts. Sounds about right.
From: Ingrid Newkirkm Subject: So, are you backing down up there? No, YOU have attitude, and it’s a bad one, and so did your legal emissary who must have gone to the same charm school.
From: McAllister, William D (GOV): Our still unnamed legal emissary, huh? Whether or not I’m charming in your eyes, at least I’m accountable.
From: Ingrid Newkirk...You will be when you die, don’t you think? Did someone put Red Bull in your water cooler? Are you now saying that no one called from your office, that’s my question, or did the person who called overplay his hand, or what, not that I really care any more?
From: McAllister, William D (GOV)...
To answer the question in your subject line, yes, you are sorry. I wouldn’t know if the person who (allegedly) called overplayed his (a man, then?—still waiting for more details) hand. No one here knows what you’re talking about.
And of course, PETA provided no facts and promptly sent the e-mails to the press, accompanied by a press release calling Palin names. But note, it made an allegation it couldn’t back up and then used the dust up that followed to get publicity for itself. Ingrid Newkirk and her minions may not be truth tellers but they sure are attention hogs.
