I know a PETA campaign has worked when it comes up in English class without my assistance. A week or two ago in class, we discussed the "Holocaust on Your Plate" exhibit that was currently on display by Boston's City Hall. This campaign shows the parallels between the Holocaust and the slaughter of animals by juxtaposing pictures of Jews and others in concentration camps with pictures of animals in today's farming industry. Both sets of images are, of course, very disturbing. For some who believe in animal rights, the comparison is valid and important; for others, however, the exhibit is offensive. Personally, I think that while the series of pictures is quite upsetting, the comparison is a good way to get people to think about what the differences really are.
Opponents of the "Holocaust on Your Plate" campaign say that it is tasteless and disrespectful, "trivializing" a horrific event. Certainly this is not what PETA intends to do; they believe that both events - the Holocaust and the slaughter of animals - are at the same level of evil and cruelty. This idea can be difficult for people to understand, though. They see the pictures and think that PETA is saying that those in the Holocaust were "no more important than chickens."
Opponents also say that PETA is missing the purpose of the Holocaust - that it ignores the fact that the Holocaust was based on hate. In "Never to Forget," Milton Meltzer writes, "Jews were killed even when their deaths proved harmful militarily or economically to the Nazis." The two cases are, of course, different, but if situations had to be 100 percent the same for a comparison to be made, no connections could ever be found. There are important differences, yes; these must never be forgotten. The Holocaust stemmed from hate and Hitler's desire for a "perfect" race. It involved humans, who are capable of much more rational thought than animals, and the added emotional torture made the experience worse. But there are also important similarities. In both cases, the victims are set apart as subhuman. They are crowded together in terrible conditions, then brutally killed.
Others simply believe that under no circumstances should Holocaust pictures be used as an "advertising" ploy. I think I can understand where these people are coming from. Certainly there needs to be good reason to use these photos, as they are very upsetting, especially to those who lost family members. Personally, I believe that using Holocaust images is okay in this situation because it will help people realize what is happening to animals. I doubt that any Holocaust victims would have objected to the use of graphic pictures in other countries during the early 1940s, if it would have helped them or others in their situation. The exact equivalent is not as powerful today, because some people don't care enough about animals to be too disturbed by pictures of factory farms. Instead, this time PETA has chosen to help people see that the animals' situation is just as bad as the Holocaust.
Is PETA's campaign working? In the sense that it's starting discussion, yes. But I'm not sure it's winning support. Graphic pictures make the issue difficult to avoid, but not impossible. We can hope, though, that some of those who walk away hating PETA for "disrespect" in fact are just upset by how close to home this campaign hits. Maybe - just maybe - next time they eat meat, they'll wonder whether perhaps it really is a "Holocaust on Your Plate."
Kim was the winner of our first essay contest. Read her winning essay.
PETA's response to criticism about the "Holocaust on Your Plate" project:
Thank you for offering your thoughts on our "Holocaust on Your Plate"
Campaign. I want to explain further why we decided to do this campaign
and why we think it's so important.
As a Jew, and on behalf of the Jewish people in the PETA office, some of
whom came up with the idea for the creation of this project, please let
me assure you that the intention of the display is to decrease the
amount of cruelty in the world, not to minimize the human suffering that
occurred during the Holocaust.
It might help for you to know that this project is funded by a Jewish
philanthropist who has spent the last 25 years working with prominent
Jewish organizations that highlight the atrocities that took place
during the Holocaust. This donor is one of many compassionate people who
recognize the moral and ethical imperative of making the public aware of
the parallels between what was done to Jews and others in World War II
and what is being done to animals kept in intensive confinement systems
and slaughtered for food today.
The concept of our campaign originated with Nobel Prize-winning Yiddish
author and vegetarian Isaac Bashevis Singer, who said, "In relation to
[animals], all people are Nazis; for [them], it is an eternal
Treblinka." As you may know, Singer fled Europe as the Nazis were coming
into power and lost most of his family in the Holocaust. He became a
vegetarian as a result of what he lived through and what he saw. He
spoke out in favor of vegetarianism until his death in 1991. His
argument was that it doesn't matter who the victims are-we must speak
out against all atrocities and cruelties and help to stop them.
While the exhibit is shocking and very hard to look at, please consider
visiting our Web site MassKilling.com, where you'll read what many
Holocaust survivors and their families have said about the fact that it
is not only appropriate, but necessary to learn from the Holocaust and
apply these lessons to help the weakest among us today: the animals. We
honor victims of the Holocaust by remembering what they went through,
doing our part to lessen violence on all levels, and by making sure that
we learn from this history.
As a child, I read about and studied the Holocaust, and one of the
things that has stuck with me for years has been the stunning reality
that as 11 million people were spit on, mocked, beaten, and gassed,
millions more-those who were not in fear for their lives-looked on and
let it happen because it didn't affect them directly. PETA is asking
people to stop this from happening today.
Most animals raised for food each year in the United States live on
"factory farms," where to maximize profits, producers raise the most
animals in the least amount of space possible. Overcrowded in small
cages or stalls, most never see the sun, breathe fresh air, or feel
grass beneath their feet. Frightened infants are torn from their
distraught mothers. Chickens have their beaks cut off; cows have their
horns pulled from their heads; pigs are castrated-all without
painkillers. Then these animals are crowded into filthy, slippery
transport trucks in all weather extremes and taken to slaughterhouses
where they are strung up by their legs and have their throats slit-often
in full view of each other. The entire time, these self-aware animals
live and die in fear and pain. All we are asking people to do is
consider and reject what animals are being forced to go through every
day just because people don't relate to them.
Dr. Helmut Kaplan, a scholar and philosopher, said, "Our grandchildren
will ask us one day: Where were you during the Holocaust of the animals?
What did you do against these horrifying crimes? We won't be able to
offer the same excuse for the second time, that we didn't know." The
Holocaust happened because people turned a blind eye to cruelty. Will we
now turn our backs on cruelty and injustice again? Every time a person
sits down for a meal, he or she chooses whether to support the holocaust
against animals or to help end it. We shouldn't choose which atrocities
to oppose. As human beings, we should oppose all atrocities.
The idea that just because animals are different or can't speak for
themselves, they shouldn't be considered living, breathing, sentient
beings worthy of life is the same mindset that allowed the Holocaust to
happen. Philosopher Theodor Adorno, a German Jew who fled Nazi Germany
in the 1930s, wrote, "Auschwitz begins wherever someone looks at a
slaughterhouse and thinks: they're only animals."
I hope this helps to clarify the rationale behind this campaign. Please
do let me know if you have further thoughts or questions. To learn more
about Judaism and vegetarianism, please visit JewishVeg.com.
Sincerely,
Matt Prescott
Youth Outreach Coordinator
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
