peta2—the student wing of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)—is on a mission to make animal rights the number one issue on college campuses nationwide. As part of this goal, the organization has unleashed a provocative traveling exhibit, drawing the parallels between the suffering of animals and the suffering of humans.
Titled "The Liberation Project," the 12-panel display includes haunting imagery from throughout history depicting genital mutilation, slavery, and child labor contrasted with scenes of pigs castrated without being given any painkillers, cows branded with hot irons in order to identify them as property, and calves locked into tiny crates so that they can be sold for veal. The display hopes to drive home the point that the same "might makes right" philosophy that at one time had been used to justify cruelty to humans is now being used to justify the abuse of animals.
So far, the display has traveled to more than 20 major college campuses, including Pennsylvania State University, the University of Michigan, Florida State University, and the University of California, Santa Cruz, and it is hosted by student organizations at every stop.
During PETA's visit to Ivy League Brown University, the student editorial board of The Brown Daily Herald wrote a piece praising the exhibit:
[Student group] BARC and PETA members went to great pains to explain that their intent was raising questions about our use of animals rather than establishing moral equivalence. The polite and intellectual manner in which they addressed even hard questions demonstrated that the exhibit, rather than being an exercise in sloppy moralizing, was intended as a serious reflection on animals in modern society, a point underscored by the arguments made on the billboards accompanying the photographs.
So, Brown students, keep an open mind. The display may be shocking, but the care its creators put into it turns what could be offensive into something potentially of great value. A short stop at the conversation booth might be well worth your time.
What do you think of the exhibit? Does PETA have a point that cruelty to animals and cruelty to humans are interconnected?