Sea Kittens? Seriously?

PETA really needs to knock it the fuck off.  I'll be the first person to admit I admire the motives behind the movement; I believe animals should be treated ethically, and I support animal rights.  But sea kittens, PETA?  Kindly go fuck yourselves.

I'm referring here to PETA's latest propaganda campaign, which involves - I shit you not - renaming fish 'sea kittens', in hopes of drumming up sympathy for our benthic brethren.  Observe the following: http://www.peta.org/sea_kittens/index.asp .  The basic premise of the website, and the campaign, is that fish, in general, have feelings and emotional lives akin to those of our household pets, and should be treated with similar accord.  Now, I acknowledge that fish feel pain, and I recognize that they are not merely Cartesian automatons but rather living things capable of suffering.  And I also realize that PETA is targeting children, girls in particular, and the whole concept is youth oriented.  But seriously?  This is fucking ridiculous.

With this whole nonsense, PETA is doing more harm than good, both to itself, and to environmentalism in general.  These people need to think before they act, and specifically think about choosing their battles a little better.  I won't say fish aren't worth defending: yeah, at the the end of the day, getting hooked probably sucks.  That's why I'm not a big fan of catch and release fishing, it seems needlessly traumatic, and for the sole pleasure of the angler.  At least eating a fish lends its capture a bit of purpose, a bit of dignity.  But as far as the cold-blooded, ancestral workings of the piscine brain?  No, fish are not capable of the higher functions of mammals, and that's not conjecture, that's scientific fact.  That sort of comparison if just begging to be picked apart and derided, and so I dutifully have.  Individual rights aside however, there is plenty to fight for in regards to fish.  Like the fact that we are swiftly eating them to extinction.  Not all fish of course, but certainly the delicious ones, like tuna.  Don't fight for the tuna by saying they are the kittens of the sea, cause that is ridiculous bullshit that no one is even going to want to believe.  Fight for them with the bare truth, that they will be gone if fifty years because every asshole in the world can have a cheap tuna salad sandwich at any time of the day.  That's real, that's immediate, that's not juvenilia.  

But even assuming this sea kitten nonsense is solely aimed at children, have the good people at PETA ever actually met a grade schooler of the twenty-first century?  Do not pander to children on important issues; kids today are more mature than ever before, and they need to be dealt with  with a certain amount of respect.  Children are vital in the green movement, and they are prepared to take on responsibilities and change the way they (and their families) live.  But you cannot treat them like infants.  They will see right through it, and if they don't, then their parents will.  And no one likes having blatant propaganda target at their children.  

More than anything, this little stunt is embarrassing.  No one gives a shit about fish.  I wish they did, honestly, but this isn't a perfect world, and to pretend that people are magically going to equate flounder with fido is self delusion on a grand scale.  This is what I mean about choosing your battles carefully.  Fight against fur, fight for better livestock conditions, fight for greyhounds or whatnot, but when you start to spout gibberish about lovable eels and gregarious groupers you make yourself seem like a crackpot.  And treating animals ethically should not be a crackpot endeavor, it should be a serious concern.  With this sort of stunt, PETA burns through goodwill engendered by those of us working hard to instill some modicum of respect in people.  PETA makes a mockery of themselves, and they distract from the serious nature of the issues they themselves advocate.  I mean, sea kittens? Seriously?  Fuck right the fuck off.