PETA, unfortunately for those of us who were looking forward to "Jesus Was A Fly" billboards and half-naked women half-dressed as flies, released the following statement which barely brings the crazy at all:
“As we all know, human beings often don’t think before they act. We don’t condemn President Obama for acting on instinct. When the media began contacting us in droves for a statement, we obliged, simply by saying that the president isn’t the Buddha and shouldn’t be expected to do everything right—if not for that, we would not have brought it up. It’s the media who are making a big deal about the fly swat—not PETA. However, we took the opportunity, when asked, to point out that we do offer lots of ways in which to control insects of all kinds without harming them. There is even a chapter in PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk’s book, Making Kind Choices, about how to rid your home of 'uninvited guests.'"
“We support compassion for all animals, even the most curious, smallest, and least sympathetic animals. We hope that everyone will take inspiration from Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Albert Schweitzer, who included insects in his realm of compassion and would stop to move a worm from hot pavement to cool earth.”
Oh, so now it's the media's fault instead of PETA looking a little extreme?
My reaction was (1 Barack's got good reflexes and (2) why is this a story?
George, I'm afraid your notion of what a "story" is or should be has been completely overtaken by technology.
The video is entertaining and people will watch it and pass it along.
The old media have no idea how to compete at this point and will try to horn in on what would and should spread virally. If by "story" you mean "something the old media should cover incessantly," you are right, it is not one. But the old media has no idea what else to do.
They try to make it a "story' by drumming up this controversy; asking PETA what they think knowing full well what they will say. They are an extreme organization that has no choice but to react in an extreme fashion.
So, it is and isn't the media's fault. It is because they manufactured the controversy. It isn't because they don't know what else to do.
Somewhere in North Korea, an evil mad scientist who has spent the last decade creating a cyborg fly with a tiny, tiny spy camera implant is shaking his fists at the sky and shouting "NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
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