PETA is mad at Obama for swatting a fly

Link

PETA wishes Obama hadn't swatted that fly
Rights group seeks compassion for curious and ?least sympathetic animals?

The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the flyswatter in chief to try taking a more humane attitude the next time he's bedeviled by a fly in the White House.

PETA is sending President Barack Obama a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher, a device that allows users to trap a house fly and then release it outside.

"We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals," PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich said Wednesday. "We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals."

During an interview for CNBC at the White House on Tuesday, a fly intruded on Obama's conversation with correspondent John Harwood.

"Get out of here," the president told the pesky insect. When it didn't, he waited for the fly to settle, put his hand up and then smacked it dead.

"Now, where were we?" Obama asked Harwood. Then he added: "That was pretty impressive, wasn't it? I got the sucker."

Friedrich said that PETA was pleased with Obama's voting record in the Senate on behalf of animal rights and noted that he has been outspoken against animal abuses.

Still, "swatting a fly on TV indicates he's not perfect," Friedrich said, "and we're happy to say that we wish he hadn't."

Deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said the White House has no comment on the matter.

This thread would not be complete without the youtube video of the fly-swatting incident mentioned above.

WARNING: This video is graphic and may be unsuitable for young larvae

 

I agree that there is no real, objective distinction between a fly and, say, a puppy... which is why I avoid killing things for simply being a nuisance. If I can trap and release it, I will.


They don't seem to be "mad" about it, though.



Er... I mean PETA STANDS FOR PEOPLE WHO EAT TASTY ANIMALS. I'm clever.

 

That's weird.

 

Someone being imperfect? Get out of here.

 

30 Million Points to the off-camera aide/bodyguard that suggested using chopsticks.

 

Not PETA's usual outcry, this is pretty tame for them actually. Everyone is talking about it, so you can't blame them for saying something. It could have been much more extreme.

Obama haz mad skillz though.

 

Man, I wish I could find that video from the campaign where he brushed off a spider from his shirt... He is so calm in the face of insects. I am jealous.


Edit: WOOO! Found it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZv39r5cYI0

 

This is where I post a story about a father who tells his son he won't squish a spider. Story from North America.

No comment about PETA. I plan on being a vegetarian. It's just that I still live with my parents and don't want to waste food when they cook chicken.

 

i only kill mosquitos and fleas

 

Caterpillars are my friends. I suspect that mosquitoes make up for any members of their species squished by breeding faster, just like rats.

 

It's stuff like this that makes me whenever I hear PETA.

 

I've been waiting for a story like this as soon as I saw it on TV (here, which was probably a day or so later).

Insects must all die.

 

I disagree with PETA. Nature is more than happy to make more flies. And I've rid the Earth of three spiders in the past two days.

 

I say good on him, flies can be very hard to kill.

 

PETA neglected to mention that these were al-Qaeda flies, so he was actually thwarting a terrorist attack.

 

Same with me. The second I saw it I thought "How long before PETA complains?"

 

I don't know why
he swatted a fly.
Perhaps he'll die.

 

MURDERER!!!!!

 

Has a spokesman for flies made a comment yet about this situation?

 

Stephen Colbert interviewed the deceased fly's mourning family.

 

I saw the interview. It was heartbreaking.

 

[obligatory/] Bush would have nuked the fly [obligatory]

 

Do members of PETA all take immunosuppresant drugs? If not, don't their immune systems murder countless innocent bacteria and viruses?

 

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