PETA has gone too far

Flash Player games are likely familiar to the majority of readers, either from Facebook spam invitations or treatises advocating for the euthanasia of Farmville enthusiasts.
Despite the inanity of such games, they’ve swept through the world of social networking like the Black Death.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals recently released a Flash game capitalizing on the popularity of the medium to spread its message.

Titled “Pokémon: Black and Blue,” it bills itself as a parody of the Pokémon series, condemning the premise of capturing magical creature-things to use in what are essentially fantasy dogfights.

However, PETA makes its point with all the subtlety and finesse of a seal
clubbing.

Depending on your point of view, the game begins with either blatant copyright infringement or Pikachu fighting to escape a trainer who appears to be armed with a beer bottle and bloody baseball bat.

After winning, the trainer offers his philosophic outlook on animal cruelty
before collapsing.

Then, the game presents a video of various injured, frightened animals being brutally killed, presumably while they wonder why the PETA guy with the camera is just standing there. 

This is the basic pattern of the rest of the game.

Admittedly, I have only a dim childhood memory of the Pokémon franchise.

Until I started this column, I never would have assumed the series’ motto, “Gotta catch ’em all,” belonged to Pokémon and not a particularly wry venereal disease clinic.

Maybe my amiable apathy toward the series makes it impossible to understand PETA’s animosity.

From my brief experience, I seem to recall it was primarily about the importance of friendship and teamwork between Pokémon and humans. It was about a young boy making his way in the world, finding new friends and occasionally thwarting the forces
of evil. 

I suppose the Pokémon universe might have some questionable views on the definition of parental neglect, but it certainly wasn’t evil incarnate.

My problem is that this game is such a ludicrous overreaction that it renders itself and its cause laughable.

Alarmist tactics to combat the relatively inconsequential matters is a fantastic way to make more pressing problems go ignored.

Animal cruelty is a terrible thing, but the game connects such abuse to eating and wearing animal products and enjoying good-natured children’s entertainment.

The simple-minded insistence that Michael Vick is as great of a threat as fur coat owners and children’s cartoons is simply insane.

One PETA quote vilifies people like me for not believing that people and animals are equal.

Fine, but maybe we should focus our attention on promoting equality for women, gays and minorities.

­— stefsoko@indiana.edu