P.E.T.A.: Animal Rights, Human Abuse

With over 850,000 active members, the animal rights organization People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has blossomed into an exceptionally powerful speech community. Their main goal is to enlighten others about the prominent existence of animal cruelty in the world, hoping to gain enough power to abolish it, or at least prevent it from happening as often as it does. PETA uses language as a tool of power, verbalizing its message through controversial ad campaigns, rallies, marches and protests. PETA has also been very successful in using this tool in courts of law, filing lawsuits against those who they believe to be treating animals immorally, and pushing to get proper legislation passed to help their cause. After using language to create and maintain power, the burning question is, "How is this acquired power going to be used?" Despite the innocent intention of giving a voice to abused animals and trying to ameliorate their living (and dying) conditions, the PETA organization is guilty of abusing their acquired power by insulting and exploiting the public and manipulating thousands of minds with biased information and deceiving campaigns, while failing to take responsibility for the negative effects of its actions.
PETA was founded 25 years ago in order to protect the rights of animals, specifically in places where they are commonly abused (laboratories, food-producing factories, the clothing and entertainment industries). Over the years, they have used the power of language to achieve success through informative films, speeches, public education, advertising etc…. In order for any organization to have power and influence, it must first discover and follow the idea of "strength in numbers," gathering as many followers as possible. One way that they attract many members is by exploiting the presence of pity, which becomes present, for example, after witnessing one of their shockingly graphic films in which animals are slaughtered and tortured. They also