I generally despise "reality" TV shows and normally don't bother watching them at all because I think they're too silly to even be remotely entertaining, but I happened by the TV that my young sister was watching one evening and I noticed that the episode of "Wife Swap" that was on had a raw-foodist vegan mom swapping places with a meat-eating hunting mom and so I just had to sit down and watch it to see what would happen. Much to my surprise, it was actually a pretty decent show, so afterwards I went to the official website to get some more information about the participants and it was interesting enough for me to want to make a post about it here on my own website since it exposed a perfect example of a typical vegan family in America for the world to scrutinize. So, here it is. :)

Jackie Kolpin is a strict raw-food vegan, meaning that she eats nothing but fresh, uncooked plant foods, although she aspires to become a full-time "sun-gazer", which is a person who claims that staring at the sun for a certain period of time every day can give a person enough energy to survive without eating any kind of food. "Sun gazing has changed my life - it suppresses my appetite, gives me mental clarity, and prevents disease. I learned about it through an Indian guru who believes we don't need food to survive. He lives on sun, air, and water alone. Hopefully one day I will be like him and no longer desire food. I believe sun gazing can help with world hunger. If people knew they could look at the sun for energy we would have less starving people in the world," she says. Yeah...right.

In addition, she is an extreme animal rights fanatic and feverish supporter of PeTA (a group that's becoming well-known for its continued waste of donated money, most of which is spent on generating propaganda and funding eco-terrorists rather than actually going to help any animals as they lead people to believe) and regularly participates in public protesting against all types of animal usage by humans, especially eating meat. Naturally, she is extremely overbearing and attempts to control every aspect of her family's life and literally forces them to live by her ways, even when they clearly don't want to. She doesn't necessarily come right out and say it but she makes it quite obvious, especially at the end of the show, that she perceives omnivorous people in general (basically anyone who doesn't choose to live exactly the way she does) as inferior beings who are excessively wasteful and directly responsible for the destruction of the planet - people who deserve to be looked down upon by people like her, who claim to spend every waking moment of their life trying to make the world a better place. Her husband, Harold, is meek and timid and tends to just go along with whatever she says without any real protest, even if he doesn't fully agree with all of her ideals. Even though he's not a real vegan and still eats some cooked foods that include milk and eggs against his wife's wishes, the only time he gets to eat anything like that is on his lunch break at work because Jackie will not allow any cooked foods into their house. She says that she has been constantly struggling to convert Harold into a full-time raw-foodist and even though he loves to cook she made him get rid of their stove. "Harold loved to cook when we had a stove, but he is learning that raw food tastes better and is healthier...Harold eats raw food because it's the only kind of food I'm willing to have in the house, but he still enjoys cooked food...It's a struggle for him, but I know the longer he eats raw, the healthier he will be and I hope eventually he will stop eating cooked food all together," she said.

Furthermore, there is almost no furniture at all in their house and no beds either because Jackie prefers not to spend any money on material possessions that she thinks are not needed and that includes television, radios, newspapers, the Internet, and cell phones. According to Jackie, "I'm a minimalist and live a very simple life. I don't see the need to spend money on unnecessary items like beds, carpets, furniture, decorations, or stoves...We only have one old style phone for the whole house."

She also disapproves of medicine. "We do not take any medicine, not even aspirin, because we don't believe in putting chemicals into our body. We believe feeling pain or being ill is part of being alive and it will run its course through the body naturally. We don't believe in going to doctors," she says. I wonder what would happen, though, if one of them actually developed a life-threatening ailment. Would they allow it to run its natural course through their bodies without seeking any kind of medical attention? Or what about ailments that are not really life-threatening, but can't be cured without medical treatment? Do they just live with it? I don't know, but Vegans, especially ones as fanatic as Jackie, tend to think that they are immune to diseases because their lifestyle protects them from everything that is harmful when actually it's been known to cause some pretty serious ones, including brain disorders, due to lack of vitamin B-12, which can only be obtained from animal products. Some will argue that there are a few rare plants that have been shown to contain trace amounts of B-12 which can be used as a vegan supplement but they refuse to believe the evidence that shows that the vitamin is not present in the right form or in a high enough amount in any truly vegan substance to be really effective in the human body. It's also been proven that unlike natural herbivores, humans do not produce their own B-12 and must obtain it by consuming animal products just like other meat-eating animals do. Even the strictest of herbivores will often supplement their diets by consuming insects and feces (even if it's totally inadvertent) in much the same way that strict carnivores will nibble on grass sometimes for roughage because it gives them vitamins and aids in their digestion. In any case, they simply refuse to accept the fact that there are at least some people in the world who would suffer ill effects from a strict vegan diet, and even when they are forced to accept that fact it doesn't matter to them because they still believe that people should choose to, or be forced to, sacrifice their own health for the sake of animals if that's what it takes to keep people from killing them.

She even refuses to purchase any items from supermarkets (even though her husband works at one) because she believes "they destroy communities" so she only buys locally grown fruits and vegetables from a nearby co-op. "Harold would be more than happy to help with the grocery shopping but he works at a big chain grocery store and because of my beliefs, I don't like him to bring home groceries from there." By her own admission, she forces her lifestyle on her husband against his will. I find that pretty funny since most of the vegans I have talked insist that they do not try to force anything on anyone, even though that's exactly what the animal rights movement is ALL about, and most vegans ARE very strong supporters of animal rights, as I have found it to be something that pretty much goes hand-in-hand with veganism. Some vegans will try to argue that they are vegan mainly for health concerns simply because they believe that animal products will "poison" their bodies and cause cancer, and don't want to be lumped with animal fanatics. However, most of them will admit that they first started their veganism because of their concern for animals, not for human health. I have even had some vegans tell me that even though they believe that their diet is the healthiest diet possible for any human being on the planet, they would not change it even if they found out it really wasn't all that good for them because their concern for animals overrides their concern for themselves and they can't get past the idea that it is "wrong" for people to eat them, even if it is healthy. The reason I bring this up is because many vegans honestly believe that it is ok for them to force their lifestyle on other people simply because it is what they think is best for everyone and they try to convince people (including themselves) that their activism/terrorism against law-abiding citizens is for their own good, even though the truth is their real concern is for the animals, not other people, a fact which is made even more obvious by their perpetual acts of criminal behavior including harassment, theft, sabotage, and arson that have been committed in the name of animal rights. Like all terrorists, they will strike out against everyone who doesn't conform to their ideals with physical violence when they see that their ideals are being rejected by society because they feel that they don't have any other choice. They just can't live with the fact that they have to share the planet with a bunch of meat-eaters.

It should also be noted that Jackie does not work at all while her husband, Harold, works long shifts at the local grocery store to support the family and then he also gets stuck with doing most of the housework at home as well. According to Jackie, "I don't have a paying job, money is not important to me. However, I'm always working - either reading or thinking about world issues - and that's hard work. It doesn't end until I go to bed at night...My days are filled with experiencing life and thinking of ways to save the world from destruction...After yoga, I walk around the yard for about 45 minutes and think about how I can evoke change in the world...I spend about two hours relaxing and gathering my thoughts for the afternoon's animal rights protest...We believe in sharing all the chores in our house but Harold ends up doing most of the cleaning. I'm often too busy to do it and I think there are more important things in life." If you ask me, she is just too lazy to do anything else except obsess over animal rights, and then she as the gall to chastise her daughter, who shares her views, for neglecting to do her own chores. When asked how she disciplines her kids, she said "If Morgan doesn't clean the bathroom, I tell her it's unfair that we have to put up with the mess and we come to an understanding. We talk things through reasonably and rationally and then she'll go do it." Like most people of her ilk, Jackie is a total hypocrite. She claims that she is "too busy" with her animal activism to work or do any chores around the house while expecting everyone else to do them for her because her free time is more important than theirs. Furthermore, she is disappointed by her husband who clearly doesn't want to get any more involved in her cause than he already is. According to Jackie, "Harold doesn't protest with me because it's not something he feels comfortable with and he's too busy working. I would love him to play a more active role." She's actually been trying to get her husband to quit his job so that he can stop being a "slave to capitalism" and have more free time to spend on supporting the animal rights movement with her and their 18-year-old daughter, Morgan, to include traveling around to different protest sites for weeks on end. "Harold and I don't spend much time together because he's always at work. I wish this would change and that he would quit his job so he could be home more with the family and me. We could then travel, going away for a month instead of just a week, and I could protest along the way with Harold's help...I know we can survive; we are very resourceful." Besides the more obvious financial reasons, I think one of the reasons that Harold refuses to quit is job is because he likes using his work as an excuse to avoid being pushed into participating in protests that he doesn’t agree with since he is too shy to just come right out and say so. Remember, he is not a vegan and although he considers himself a vegetarian, he still craves for donuts, pizza, and roasted chicken.

When asked how she and Harold handle their disagreements, Jackie replied, "When Harold and I really disagree about something, we don't talk about the issue for a couple of days. We think about it separately, and then we calmly talk it through. After we talk, we come up with a reasonable solution that works for both of us. But, Harold almost always agrees with me in the end." Really, she is only happy when she gets her way so she takes full advantage of people who are too weak-minded to stand up for themselves and bullies them into going along with her ideas, so the argument is only ended when the other person gives up and caves in to her demands. This is typical behavior of animal-rightists like Jackie and it works rather well to keep them going because it makes them feel empowered. It reinforces their sense that they are right even though the vast majority of the people in the world totally reject their ideas. Sure, most people want to help animals and there's nothing wrong with that. I would go as far to say that most people are opposed to non-medical animal testing. But no one in their right mind is willing to sacrifice their entire livelihood to try and save some animal lives because most people simply don't believe that it is wrong for people to kill animals for food, clothing, and/or medicine. This is the core value that separates animal rights from animal welfare. Unfortunately, most people are blissfully unaware of the serious danger that the animal rights movement poses to human rights or they choose to just ignore it. So the only real problem for the animal extremists is when they are confronted by someone who is really educated about the issues and not willing to give in to them and will continue to stick to their core beliefs no matter what they have to say. I can guarantee that every single one of their arguments can easily be debunked by simple common sense and practical knowledge that's available to everyone because I've heard them all and anyone with half a brain can see right through their ploys. People like Jackie choose to distance themselves from people who know better, though, and shut them out once they learn that they can't win an argument with them. I have learned this from the first-hand experience of debating with vegan extremists many times. They will purposefully avoid discussions that reveal flaws in their dogma because they just can't handle the truth and they don't want to hear it. And it's not so much for their love of animals as it is for their own selfish pride and their inability to admit that they are wrong. They would rather turn away from the facts and pretend that they don't exist rather than grow up and face the truth so they can go on living in their childish fairytale world where all animals are magical, intelligent, and benign creatures that talk and have all the same feelings on all the same levels that people do, except they are much nicer, like in Bambi. "Harold and I disagree most about what he should do with his time. I think he works too much. I want him to quit his job so he can spend more time at home as well as be my partner in activism. Life is too short. He needs to stop living his life for big business and money, and start paying more attention to us. I also think Harold doesn't eat right. At work he drinks soda and eats cooked food. He's damaging his body. I'm hoping that he will start to see that eating raw is best for him and give up cooked food completely. I have a habit of giving away stuff from the house, like cupboards, bed frames and the breakfast bar. My philosophy is if it's broken don't fix it, just get rid of it. Harold doesn't always appreciate my philosophy. I once removed the fridge because I didn't think we needed but then I changed my mind and put it back. I like to make home improvements, like knocking down a wall, but I sometimes forget to consult Harold before I make them. I think this really bugs him," admits Jackie. She does whatever she wants with the house without consulting her husband about it and tries to force him to live an unreasonably sparse lifestyle with nothing more than basic necessities at hand and then she wonders why he chooses to spend so much of his time at work instead of at home. I think it's pretty sad when a person has more personal freedom at their workplace than they do in their own house!

The Kolpin's also have a pet cat named Tiger who gets nothing but vegan cat food (hummus with vitamins) to eat except on the occasion that he is able to catch a wild animal to eat on his own. The cat's predatory nature upsets Jackie and she says that she tries to stop him from killing but it doesn't work. Interestingly, she does use an electric hotplate to warm up the cat food she gives Tiger since "he loves cooked food" and she admits that he is the only one in the house who is allowed to have it. So...she allows her cat to have cooked food but not her own husband. That's pretty sick if you ask me. "I don't have more pets because they require so much time and energy...I believe animals should be in the wild, in their natural habitat, and not confined in a small space. It's just wrong to lock an animal up and not allow it to roam free as it was naturally meant to," Jackie continued. So even though she claims that all animals, even naturally carnivorous ones, would be better off on a vegan diet, she still thinks that they should be allowed to roam free and do whatever they want, even if their chosen activities include killing other animals on a regular basis. That makes a whole lot of sense. "I'm happiest when I'm at one with nature," she said, even though she abhors the killing side of it. The ways in which these people blatantly contradict themselves over and over never ceases to amaze me.

In any case, it's quite obvious that all Jackie really cares about is animal activism and she believes that the measure of a person's humanity and worth to society is based on their level of involvement in the animal rights movement. "Our 5-year-old grandson, Kristofer, is becoming quite the activist. He's vegan, wears PETA t-shirts, and goes to protests. He's so wonderful," she said.

When asked why she wanted to be on the show, she replied, "To bring to the public the suffering animals are enduring in factory farms and at the slaughter houses." So even though she doesn't even allow her family to own a TV set she applied to be on a TV show for the sole purpose of trying to convert other people to her way of life. Smells like hypocrisy to me. Reeks of it, in fact. Of course, she was placed into the home of a poor country family who run a small farm and regularly hunt the local wildlife for food and the woman of that house, Bobbie Hodge, was placed into Jackie's for the show. When asked how she likes to be treated, Jackie replied, "I like to be treated with respect for my ideas and thoughts and to be taken seriously." Jackie cares more about what people think of her ideas than what they think of her as a person. So, if you don't like her thoughts and ideas or take them seriously, i.e. if you disagree with her about anything, she will likely take it as a personal insult and assume that you are disrespecting her. That is also typical of her kind, as I have seen so many times in my dealings with these people. They are absolutely unreasonable. Their whole purpose in life is to spit in the face of reason. Even so, I totally respect their rights to live as they choose. I only developed a real dislike for them once I learned that it is their ultimate goal to force their way of life on everyone else in the entire world by any means possible and it's gotten to the point now that some of them, like this Jackie person, don't even really bother to try hiding that fact and are openly intolerant towards anyone who doesn't share their basic core belief that it is "wrong" for a human to kill an animal for any reason.

Another interesting comment made by Jackie about her family's lifestyle: "Harold and I like to sleep outside either on the trampoline or by the pool. We bring our mattress and sleep under the stars. I love to listen to the wildlife and breathe the fresh air. It's so healthy. We sleep outside anywhere from two to seven nights a week...It's really an amazing experience." That's nice since they live out in the desert of Arizona. I can't help but wonder, though, how she would like sleeping outside around my home in rural southern Indiana during the summertime with all the ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, chiggers, ants, and countless other nasty things we have out here. Or better yet, how would she like sleeping outside in places overseas where the mosquitoes can give you horrible diseases like Malaria. It just goes to show how clueless she is about how much her life is sheltered by the capitalist society of hard-working omnivores that she takes for granted every day. I wonder what would really happen if she succeeded in convincing her husband to quit his job. How would they survive? I could see them living without electricity without too much of a problem but what about their food and water? She says that money is not important to her even though she uses the money that her husband makes from his job to purchase the produce that they live on from the local co-op. Does she expect to live on handouts alone? Considering that they live in the desert it would be impossible for them to grow all of their own food and really I don't think that there is any one spot on the entire planet that is capable of producing everything that a human being needs to live, at least not without hunting animals in the process for meat to supplement their diet, hides to make into clothing, and bones to make into tools like the Native Americans did to survive. What would they do about clothing? They can't wear leather, fur, or wool since that is against their beliefs and they're not going to find enough cotton or hemp or any other plant fibers that can be used to make clothing in any natural environment. I know Jackie likes to be naked (sunbathing in the nude is one of her favorite pastimes and she says that being nude makes her feel liberated) but I really don't think she would like being naked all the time. Clean water doesn't come for free, either. Even if she succeeded in totally eliminating food from her diet through sun gazing (which I think is a load of crap), she would still need to drink water and lots of it, and it's not like she can just drink from any pool of water like other animals do without getting sick. Even if she boiled it could still be dangerous. And how would they keep themselves clean with no fresh water or soap? What would they do about transportation? The list goes on and on. In any case, I do believe it is still possible for a person to live totally off the land even in this day and age if they really want to but it takes a lot of hard work and that is not something that Jackie is particularly fond of. It would certainly eliminate most, if not all of the free time she has the luxury of spending on her pointless crusade thanks to her husband's dedication to his job and his willingness to allow her eccentricities to thrive despite her thoughtlessness and the way she takes him for granted just like she does everything else in her life.

During the show, it made me angry when Jackie tried to force the Hodge family to live on a raw vegan diet during her entire stay with them and when she made the children watch an animal rights video that showed the "horrors" of a factory farm (during which she started crying) and make signs for an anti-meat protest without consulting their father about it while the rest of Kolpin family refused to eat any of the meat that Bobbie prepared for them and provoked an argument with her by ridiculing her way of life. Bobbie tried to explain to them how poor they were and that they didn't even have the money to buy enough food to live on without hunting, let alone being able to afford the quantities of fruits and vegetables that it would take to keep them all alive and healthy if they were to actually try living on a vegan diet. I think she also said something to the effect of that she saw the Kolpin's way of life as a means to punish themselves for humanity's crimes against animals and that they shouldn't be trying to force everyone else to live that way. They wouldn't listen to her, though, and Bobbie wound up breaking into tears as she told them to stop judging people. Actually, I don't quite remember if that was something that Bobbie said to Harold and Morgan or if it was something that Bobbie's husband, Ricky, said to Jackie, but either way I thought it was a really good point. Some vegan extremists are so upset by the deaths of animals that are caused by humans that they actually become anti-human to the point that they feel guilty for just being alive in a human body. Of course, the suffering of other humans doesn't bother them so much since most of the people in the world are meat-eaters and they believe that all meat-eating humans should be made to suffer just as much as they perceive non-human animals being made to suffer every day for what they feel is nothing more than human pleasure. Meanwhile, Ricky accused Jackie of trying to manipulate his children into supporting her agenda by forcing them to make her signs and all she could say was, "Oh...". I was amused by Ricky and his sons wearing their hunting camo almost every day in Jackie's presence, even when they had to accompany her on a public protest against meat in their neighborhood, and by Bobbie's attempts to teach Harold how to be more of a man and encourage him to stand up for himself instead of letting Jackie tell him what to do all the time. Bobbie also insisted on doing all of the housework in the Kolpin home since she didn't think it was right for Harold to be stuck with it after having worked all day at his job, even though he was quite used to it since Jackie tended to neglect it. Jackie also disapproved of the ways in which the Hodge family disciplined their children, which included spanking. One of her new rules for their house was "No more spanking. No more punishment. No punishment at all." The only thing that really bothered me about the Hodge family was that Bobbie's husband, Ricky, (according to Bobbie anyway) seemed to have a kind of sexist attitude against women by insisting that their place is in the home doing "woman's work" while their man goes out and makes a living, although I do understand why Bobbie chose to stay at home to take care of their two young boys, tend to their livestock, and do all of the housework while her husband was out working in a factory to support them. In any case, it was her own choice. That doesn't excuse Ricky's attitude, though, since I think that he should have been helping his wife with at least some of the housework from time to time whether she asked for it or not, but I will say that he did do a good job of pointing out how unhappy Jackie was due to her obsession with animal rights. He told her that she was trying to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders by worrying about animals all the time and that she was making herself miserable over it. He also told her that she should still try to help animals but she needed to stop being so hard on herself if she ever wanted to be happy, which was pretty thoughtful of him. She had to admit that he was right about that and then she started crying. The saddest thing about Jackie, though, in my opinion, is that she not only brings it on herself but she also forces it on the rest of her family and everyone else she comes in contact with because she can't accept nature for what it is and chooses to blame humans for everything that she dislikes about the world, which makes her, in effect, a bona-fide human-hater, a "speciesist" of the worst kind. To top things off, at the end of the show she was very upset by the fact that instead of becoming more animal-friendly, Bobbie had decided to become more active in protecting people's rights to hunt after her stay with the Kolpins had taught her that there are animal extremists out there who are so intolerant that they will go to just about any length to put a stop to her family's way of life and Jackie chastised her husband for "wasting his energy" on someone like her, apparently forgetting the fact that she had been the one who had asked to come on the show in the first place and had failed in her task to "educate" the rest of the Hodge family with equal futility. Afterwards, Bobbie was shown dressed in full hunting gear and aiming a rifle at something in the woods. "This one's for you, Jackie," she said, as she pulled the trigger. Then, one of the young Hodge boys was shown saying that he had killed and eaten a rabbit. The point being that the Hodge's were not influenced by the Kolpin's at all, at least not in the way that was intended. Instead of being coerced into accepting animal rights as Jackie had hoped, they were empowered to defy the animal rights movement and fight against its followers' incessant attacks against humanity and unwittingly exposed her own despicable personality to the world in the process.

The truth of the matter is, if people like Jackie got their way, every home in America would be just like hers - barren shacks where people starve themselves as a means to atone for the "crimes" commited by man against nature and grown men are treated more like slaves than equals by their oppressive wives and children are brainwashed to abstain from logic and trained to deny the simple realities of the world that exists around them in order to cheapen human existence by elevating animals over people in their own society. They wish to cripple humanity by destroying everything that we have ever done to better ourselves, to demolish the very ladder we built to rise above the merciless forces of nature one rung at a time because they believe that other animals are better than us and more worthy to rule the planet. They want to force us back to the bottom of the food chain where they think we belong. That is the simple truth of their intent when you get past all of their smokescreens and false pretenses. Like the photos of stray puppies being cared for in animal shelters that PeTA trys to hide behind, even though they actually wind up killing most of the animals that are brought to them anyway because they would rather spend their donations on constructing anti-meat billboards than actually providing care for homeless pets. It's funny, though, because animal activists like the Kolpins claim that they want to be heard and are irritated when people choose to ignore them because they honestly believe that people who eat meat are simply ignorant of the facts at hand and if people would just pay attention to them and listen to what they have to say then their words would be heeded without any real opposition and the world would be changed to their liking, so they go to great lengths to get their message out...but when anyone who is naturally destined to be opposed to their whacked ideas happens to take notice of them and starts to take them seriously enough to further their education on the issues and chooses to act out against them rather than support them that makes them even more upset and they turn into little crybabies who actually have the gall to accuse people, who only desire to protect their rights from being infringed upon by animal rights terrorists and prevent their personal freedom from being taken away because they don't want to become enslaved by the government through the ARA's anti-human legislation, of unfairly attacking them and they try to make it seem like they are the ones who are being persecuted when their whole way of life is dedicated to attacking people in the name of animals and vilifying the human race at every turn. Their pure and absolute hypocrisy is nothing less than astounding, and it's the bread and butter (so to speak) of their entire existance, but they actually think that people are too stupid to realize it...or maybe they are just too stupid to even realize it themselves. Either way, they love pointing their fingers at other people and thinking that they are completely separate from everyone else - like they are so much better than everyone else and unlike us, they actually deserve to be recognized as superior beings because they regard other species more highly than they do their own kind, even themselves, as if they need to be admired for their own forbearance in life - it's all that they really live for, their own self-gratification through masochism. And when other people refuse to see them the way they want to be seen and choose to pity them instead, turning their noses up at their ideals and continue to live their lives the way they think is best, which includes eating animals, they try to take out their frustrations on society as a whole. The best part about it, though, is the fact that most of their efforts are actually going to work against them every day. With every breath they take they contradict themselves and discredit their own ideas while assuming that no one is actually smart enough to see through their tricks and realize their mistakes or has the guts to point them out even if they do. They will even go as far as to blindside less-educated people with dishonest tactics such as trying to use the more acceptable animal welfare philosophy to mask their true intentions, even though they know just as well as I do that animal welfare and animal rights are two totally separate philosophies that totally contradict each other and cannot coexist at the same time in the same society because they actually cancel each other out, but when desperate enough they will try to use it as a sort of stepping-stone to elevate their failing credibility, such as, for example, claiming to support animal welfare measures that are designed simply to improve the conditions of factory-farmed animals, like giving chickens bigger cages and preventing the practice of debeaking, despite the fact that in truth they are totally opposed to animals even being on farms to begin with and still maintain their ultimate goal of ending all forms of animal usage. People like Jackie try to convince people that that they are "bad people" if they don't believe in animal rights. "On Sundays Morgan and I like to protest at churches...Our goal is to catch people going to or from church to make them think about what they eat. If they're good people, they should think about the suffering of animals," says Jackie. But in reality, Jackie is not so much concerned about animals suffering as she is about the fact that they are killed. Animal rights proponents aim to end all animal usage, not just what normal people would consider actual suffering. Of course, they won't usually come right out and say that initially because they know if they did that they would be much more likely to be dismissed by the passers by as kooks. So, they try a softer approach to mask their true intentions until they feel that they have gained a stronger foothold with their targeted audience. Their dishonesty is just a ploy to get a little bit more credibility with the public before they really try to introduce more extreme measures that will sacrifice human rights for that of animals. PeTA is notorious for that kind of behavior and will often try to convince people that they just want to make things better for animals on farms, even though it is stated plainly on their website that they do in fact oppose all forms of animal usage and are for animal rights, not animal welfare. The saddest part is that they feel absolutely no guilt or remorse for lying to people. It's perfectly ok in their minds because they believe it's going to help animals. In fact, pretty much anything is ok with them as long as they think it's being done to help animals. Things like cutting the break lines on seafood trucks, for example. You see, to them, we are just omnivores, "stupid meat-eaters" that can't think for themselves and need their guidance to be molded into what they consider "good people". And when we refuse to follow their example they feel no qualms about throwing their own morals out the window and do whatever is necessary to prevent us from doing things that they believe are harmful. The thing is, they underestimate people. Yeah, there are some dumb people in the world, there's no denying that, and many of them are meat-eaters. But not everyone is dumb enough to fall for the fallacy of animal rights. I tell you, with every sign they hold up and every pamphlet they hand out there is one more person who will become aware of their idiocy and who may become angered enough by it to take an active stand against it much like I did when I was only 11 years old after seeing photos of an anti-hunting protest and reading a pro-animal rights book that I found at my grade school's library. One of my best friends at the time even claimed to be an avid supporter of animal rights and she was trying to get me involved in it by saying that supporting animal rights was important to save the endangered whales after she learned that I really loved whales, although I didn't think too much of it at the time until I really started to do some research on the topic for myself. I searched for publications by other people who opposed their ideas but at the time there didn't seem to be that much of it around. All I could really find in relation to "animal rights" was the pro-AR stuff, except for one article I found in a hunting magazine that was about hunter harassment. Ironically, though, it was the animal rightists' very own publications and literature that really turned me against them. And so, I believe that for them, every step forward is two steps back as more and more people become aware of their unscrupulousness behavior and start to take their threats against humanity more seriously every day. They claim that their movement is growing in strength but they are in denial - in reality the only people who join them are weak-minded individuals who don't know any better and need something to cling to that makes them feel special and for every person that becomes an animal rights activist there is one more that burns out from the constant stress and depression they heap upon themselves every day and someone else is added to the ranks of their opposition thanks to their own human-hating propaganda and ill-conceived antics meant to further their cause rather than destroy it, but they are too close-minded to see what is really happening around them and so I believe that they are all inevitably doomed to failure and are actually digging their very own graves. But even so, it doesn't hurt for us to help them along on their journey into oblivion.