The thing people misunderstand is PETA isn't a monolith, there are always going to be outliers that the media can hold up as an example of why people shouldn't support them.

Sometimes PETA (intentionally?) overshoot, that happens when you try to move the border of current perceptions (i.e. animals are objects to be used for food, clothes, entertainment). I am not here to defend their tone or (lack of) tact, and there are a number of (sometimes downright stupid) PETA-campaigns I disagree with. I'm not trying to convice you to become their friend, but at least judge them for what they are doing, not for what they are said to do.

it might be against Reddit blind circle jerks but PETA has done heck a lot to fight against animal cruelty and they are extremely effective at passing legislations Here are just few examples.

1980’s

PETA’s first undercover investigation resulted in an end to crippling experiments on monkeys, the first-ever police raid on an animal-testing laboratory, the first animal experimentation case ever heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, and the first-ever prosecution and conviction of an animal experimenter on cruelty-to-animals charges. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Spring_monkeys

A PETA undercover investigation results in the first conviction of an experimenter for animal abuse and the first withdrawal of federal research funds because of cruelty to animals.

PETA exposed and shut down the U.S. Army’s plan to shoot dogs at an indoor firing range, leading the military to ban the use of dogs, cats, and primates in wound experiments and training.

1983

PETA gets a U.S. Department of Defense underground “wound lab” shut down and achieves a permanent ban on shooting dogs and cats in military wound laboratories.

1984

PETA closes down a Texas slaughterhouse operation in which 30,000 horses were trucked in and left to starve in frozen fields without shelter.

1985

After PETA publicizes the gross mistreatment of animals at City of Hope in California, the government suspends more than $1 million of the laboratory’s federal funding.

1986

As a result of PETA’s campaign, the SEMA research laboratory in Maryland stops confining chimpanzees to isolation chambers.

1987

PETA stops a plan by Cedars-Sinai, California’s largest hospital, to ship stray dogs from Mexico to California for experiments.

1988

For the first time, PETA conducts a year-long undercover investigation at Biosearch, a cosmetics and household product testing laboratory, uncovering more than 100 violations of federal and state anti-cruelty laws.

1988

PETA President Ingrid Newkirk addresses some of the 35,000 people attending PETA’s Animal Rights Music Festival at the Washington Monument on June 11, 1988. It’s a breakthrough event that puts PETA on the pop-culture radar screen, with extensive coverage on MTV, thanks to headliners The B-52s, Natalie Merchant, and Howard Jones.

1989

PETA persuades Avon, Benetton, Mary Kay, Amway, Kenner, Mattel, and Hasbro to stop testing on animals. Note: Many of these companies have started testing on animals again in order to sell their products in China.

1990

After PETA exposes the backstage beating of orangutans by Las Vegas entertainer Bobby Berosini, his wildlife permit is suspended and his show closes.

1990

PETA’s first sensational vegetarian commercial is “Meat Stinks” with Grammy winner k.d. lang in July 1990. The spot gets her banned on country radio networks but draws such massive coverage that her album goes gold! Her gold record still adorns the walls of the Sam Simon Center, PETA’s Virginia headquarters.

1991

PETA’s “Silver Spring monkeys” case marks the first animal experimentation case ever heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.The court gives a unanimous, positive ruling

1992

PETA’s undercover investigation into foie gras production prompts the first-ever police raid on a factory farm. PETA convinces many restaurants to stop selling the vile product.

1992

PETA’s “Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign is launched on the streets of Tokyo outside a Japanese fur expo on February 18, 1992. Led by PETA staff member Dan Mathews and Julia Sloane, the protest makes headlines around the world and leads to PETA’s iconic naked celebrity ad series.

1993

All car-crash tests on animals stop worldwide following PETA’s hard-hitting campaign against General Motors’ use of live pigs and ferrets in crash tests.

https://www.peta.org/blog/25-year-anniversary-peta-ends-car-crash-tests-on-animals/

1994

A California furrier is charged with cruelty to animals after a PETA investigator films him electrocuting chinchillas by clipping wires to the animals’ genitals. In another undercover exposé, PETA catches a fur rancher on videotape causing minks to die in agony by injecting them with a weedkiller. Both fur farms agree to stop these cruel killing methods.

1994

Less than a month after PETA supporters occupy Calvin Klein‘s office in New York—an action that leads to a meeting between the designer and a PETA representative—Klein announces that he will no longer design with fur, the first major fashion designer to do so.

1995

PETA persuades Mobil, Texaco, Pennzoil, Shell, and other oil companies to cover their exhaust stacks after showing how millions of birds and bats have become trapped in them and been burned to death.

1995

PETA’s efforts lead to the first-ever cruelty charges filed against a factory farmer for cruelty to chickens for allowing tens of thousands of chickens to starve to death. The president of the company ultimately pleads guilty.

1996

Following PETA’s campaign, NASA pulls out of Bion—a joint U.S., French, and Russian experiment in which monkeys wearing straitjackets were to have electrodes implanted in their bodies and be launched into space.

1996

PETA convinces Gillette to observe a moratorium on animal testing after a colorful years-long campaign, including the presentation of shareholder resolutions at Gillette’s annual meetings and support from compassionate celebrities Paul McCartney, Lily Tomlin, Hugh Grant, and Elizabeth Hurley.

1997

A PETA investigation that documented the anal electrocution of foxes leads to the first-ever guilty plea by a fur rancher to cruelty-to-animals charges.

1998

PETA succeeds in getting Taiwan to pass its first-ever law against cruelty to animals after the group rescues countless dogs from being beaten, starved, electrocuted, and drowned in Taiwan’s pounds.

1999

Undercover investigations into pig-breeding factory farms in North Carolina and Oklahoma reveal horrific conditions and daily abuse of pigs, including the fact that one pig was skinned alive, leading to the first-ever felony indictments of farm workers.

1999

PETA conducts an undercover investigation into the Nielsen Farmspuppy mill in Kansas, which reveals extremely small enclosures and rampant sickness, abuse, and death. Our investigation leads to the closure of the facility and a $20,000 fine from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Nielsens are also “permanently disqualified from being licensed” by the USDA.

1999

PETA’s grassroots campaign, Congressional testimony, and scientific documentation drivethe White House and the EPA to spare 800,000 animals from chemical toxicity testing in the high production volume chemical-testing program.

As many as 4.5 million animals were sparedfrom chemical tests in a massive European Union testing program after PETA provided documentation of duplicative testing. This may be the largest victory for animals that has ever occurred.

https://www.peta.org/blog/victory-45-million-animals-spared-toxicity-tests/

PETA kinda sucks sometimes but their opposition are almost always bad faith neo-nazis or sheep reactionaries

Now that's a reasonable take lmao

I wouldn't say their opposition is always bad faith neo-nazis, but the anti-vegan/anti-PETA movement definitely has a few bad seeds they should be burning out. There is no reason to combine ethical meat-eating with neoconservativism. It's bloody stupid.

It's also as often false as it is true. There is still such a massive demand for rescue dogs that people will pay a premium for them. There are foster households that are far from overfull. There are high-risk dog ranches that have room for more aggressive dogs, even human aggressive dogs.

Yes, there are times where you just cannot logicially find a match for a rescue. But there are also times where they put down a pet just miles away from someone who would foster or adopt them.

Unwanted animal euthanization rate in the US is arguably at an all-time low. And yet, PETA's euthanization rate is still high, high enough that groups like the AKC are openly criticizing them for it.

That's why it's important to reuse the scotch fillet, backstrap, topside roast and brisket.

Professionals have standards.