People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is one of the most vocal opponents of humans adopting a carnivorous — or even omnivorous — diet, if not the most vocal opponent.
Part of PETA’s aggressive campaign is an all-out social media attack that typically follows one of two strategies:
1. “Look at how great it is to eat leaves/roots/bugs.”
2. An all-out attack on your conscience and emotions.
A recent example of Strategy No. 2 came on Tuesday when a social media post from the nonprofit organization took a stab at International Sushi Day, which is June 18.
“He doesn’t belong on your plate,” the post said.
Accompanying it was an image of a sad cartoon crab thinking about a sushi maki roll.
“Please, don’t make me die for your sushi,” the crab appeared to be saying or thinking.
You can take a look at the X post below yourself and see if it can pull on your heartstrings:
He doesn’t belong on your plate. #InternationalSushiDay pic.twitter.com/LzdvZOJ5fU
— PETA (@peta) June 18, 2024
Do you like sushi?
The emotional appeal is obvious: Please don’t eat this sentient, cute, concerned crab.
The appeal fell on deaf ears, however, if the Community Note slapped on PETA’s X post is anything to go by.
In fairness to PETA, the first part of the Community Note was a bit semantic — though that doesn’t make it any less valid of a critique.
“Most crab meat is an imitation of crab, which is white fish designed to look like crab called Kani,” the post said, with a link to a recipe.
(This writer grew up in a sushi restaurant and can independently confirm that the vast majority of “crab” being served in sushi is just repurposed fish.)
But a far more egregious allegation came in the second part of the Community Note.
“Additionally, PETA has illegally used a font licensed exclusively to Apple and Apple app developers, ‘SF Pro,’” it said.
That note comes with a link to an official Apple page that shows off the “SF Pro” font.
Getting dunked on social media hasn’t deterred PETA from continuing to try and control the way people eat.
We’re lucky turkeys would never do this to us—you don’t have to do it to them, either.
Art by @freebison pic.twitter.com/StSJlbxgte
— PETA (@peta) November 22, 2023
Last Thanksgiving, the group came under intense scrutiny for trying to pull at people’s emotions by erroneously claiming turkeys don’t eat meat.
