PETA is being slammed for comparing anti-animal language to racism and homophobia

5 December 2018, 16:48 | Updated: 5 December 2018, 16:50

By Sam Prance

PETA sent out two controversial tweets about speciesism and the internet is not here for them...

It's no secret that 2018 has thrown us some wild news stories and memes. Stormy Daniels compared Donald Trump's penis to Toad from Mario Kart. We're still recovering from this one. Bootcut jeans are allegedly making a surprise comeback. Who wants this? Reveal yourselves. And, perhaps strangest of all, "they did surgery on a grape" became one of the the biggest memes of the entire year. It slaps.

2018 keeps getting weirder though and it is all thanks to PETA. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is famous for its provocative animal rights campaigns and its efforts to promote veganism. Celebrities including Khloe Kardashian and Bella Thorne have got involved in its anti-fur campaigns. However, the organisation has just caused a huge controversy for multiple tweets about speciesism.

What is speciesism?

Peta comes under fire for speciesism tweets
Peta comes under fire for speciesism tweets. Picture: MTV // Twitter

Speciesism is "discrimination in favor of one species, usually the human species, over another, especially in the exploitation or mistreatment of animals by humans". PETA sparked debate for its tweet about speciesist language: "Words matter, and as our understanding of social justice evolves, our language evolves along with it. Here’s how to remove speciesism from your daily conversations." Okay.

The list includes phrases like "bring home the bagels" instead of "bring home the bacon". It's their next tweet that went viral though. PETA wrote: "Just as it became unacceptable to use racist, homophobic, or ableist language, phrases that trivialize cruelty to animals will vanish as more people begin to appreciate animals for who they are and start ‘bringing home the bagels’ instead of the bacon."

Check out the controversial PETA tweets below.

It goes without saying that this is not okay. While there are perfectly valid arguments to speciesism, it shouldn't be conflated with racism, homophobia or ableism. They are in no way the same thing and shouldn't be treated as such. Unsurprisingly, the internet is not at all impressed by the tweets and people have been dragging PETA for them. Here are just a few of the reactions.

Some people are saying it pure and simple.

Points were made.

Make it make sense.

Who okayed this?

When you put it in words it still sounds stupid.

WTF?

Everyone is tired.

Come on.

Conspiracy theory Twitter is having a field day.

Seriously though? They could be onto something.

And then there are those who are stuck on the idioms.

No comment.

It is all so bizarre.

Like 'fetch' it's never going to happen, is it?

Now people are making up their own.

Ffssss.

And last but not least there are those who are exposing PETA for some of the controversial things they do.

Mic drop.