And when the Lamb had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour

January 26, 2010 2:50 PM

Is a pie in the face a terrorist act?

A protest pie thrown at (Canada's) federal fisheries minister should make Ottawa look into whether an animal-rights group should be labelled "terrorist," says an MP from Newfoundland and Labrador.

Shea was delivering a speech at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters when Emily McCoy of New York City stood up in the front row, walked up to Shea and pushed the pie, made of soybean curd, into her face. McCoy, 37, has been charged with assault.

PETA said McCoy is a member of the group and was protesting against "the government's ill-advised sanction of the seal slaughter."

Seals are a valuable natural resource, and the seal hunt is an economic mainstay for numerous rural communities in Atlantic Canada, Quebec and the North. As a time-honoured tradition, Canada's seal hunt supports many coastal families who can derive as much as 35% of their annual income from this practice. Read more of this section of our website. to learn facts about seals and sealing in Canada.

posted by KokuRyu (84 comments total)

Upon review, holy cow, the comments on the PETA blog are pretty nasty.
posted by KokuRyu at 2:54 PM on January 26, 2010

All acts of political dissent that involve physical activity are terrorist acts now. I have the memo filed away here somewhere, if anyone lost their copy.
posted by mudpuppie at 2:55 PM on January 26, 2010

PETA and Greenpeace have never seen a good cause they couldn't make people hate due to their offensive tactics.
posted by mullingitover at 2:56 PM on January 26, 2010 [6 favorites]

How far down the slippery slope do we want to go with this terror label?
posted by crapmatic at 2:56 PM on January 26, 2010

PETA and Greenpeace have never seen a good cause they couldn't make people hate due to their offensive tactics.

Welcome to the club, seals.
posted by gman at 2:56 PM on January 26, 2010 [12 favorites]

So if I throw a pie, I'll never play D&D again?
posted by june made him a gemini at 2:58 PM on January 26, 2010 [14 favorites]

Upon review, holy cow, the comments on the PETA blog are pretty nasty.

yeah, Vegetarians/Vegans I know can be simplified into two groups:

1. people who are vegetarians/vegans who are fond of PETA and not aware of some of their more controversial actions and members.

2. people who are vegetarians/vegans who are aware of PETA's more controversial actions and members, and fucking hate PETA for the bad name they give to vegetarian/vegan activism.

which, I guess, means I know pretty reasonable vegetarians/vegans. go me.
posted by shmegegge at 2:58 PM on January 26, 2010 [4 favorites]

What flavor of pie was it?

I mean, if it was a strawberry pie, and the minister is known to have a strawberry allergy...
posted by Joe Beese at 2:59 PM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Totally terrorism - only a moron wouldn't see that. Now lets move on to something important.

Any issue that makes you side with PETA is irrecoverably fucked up. We are all a little dumber for even needing to discuss this. And duh PETA, it should have been mock flipper pie. For being professional agitators you are not very good at it. (And it's disrespectful to actual victims of terrorism to suggest that getting a pie in the face is the equivalent to being blown into a million pieces by a suicide bomber. Politicians are not very smart.)
posted by Keith Talent at 3:00 PM on January 26, 2010

also, the "seals are a variable natural resource" part of the fpp might be best put in quotes or something.
posted by shmegegge at 3:00 PM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

I love animals, am not a PETA fan, and think the question answers itself. No, not unless the pie contains something threatening to life or health.
posted by bearwife at 3:01 PM on January 26, 2010

Pie throwing is absolutely legitimate political expression. Labelling pie-throwers as "terrorists" is totalitarian new-speak.
posted by mr. strange at 3:02 PM on January 26, 2010 [5 favorites]

What if it was a pie in the mold of a shoe.
posted by june made him a gemini at 3:03 PM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

To be fair to the Canadian government, soybean curd pies are pretty terrible.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:04 PM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Whether it was terrorism probably depends on whether anybody has a pie phobia, or, more properly, Pastrophobia.
posted by Astro Zombie at 3:09 PM on January 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

What if it was a pie in the mold of a shoe.

Shoe-fly-pie?
posted by mudpuppie at 3:11 PM on January 26, 2010 [13 favorites]

Realistically, the government should want to promote people pie-ing as their protest No one gets hurt, and people focus more on the tactic than the protest. Keep them away from gathering 10k people in the streets to protest. Nobody cares about a pie, and it provides so many opportunities for the pie-ee to redeem the situation. Make a joke about the flavour, people. You'll win the crowd.
posted by Lemurrhea at 3:11 PM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

When pie is outlawed...
posted by doctor_negative at 3:14 PM on January 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

This is not terrorism. If it was, a pie in the face would ostensibly be seen or meant as a disincentive to hunt seals. It's not. It's merely a stupid, tired publicity stunt. As said above, it's insulting to actual victims of terror. It's crying wolf and it's playing into PETA's childish game.

This is quite possibly the dumbest thing PETA could have done - alienate the body that has the power to change things while really appealing to almost nobody of any substance. They really, really don't get it. The only thing stupider is to label it something important.

Whether or not you're in agreement with the seal hunt, this isn't the way to handle things on either side.
posted by jimmythefish at 3:19 PM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Inducing fear in pursuit of ideological causes is and always has been terrorism by the strictest of dictionary definitions.

As for PETA, if I believed that the life of animals had the same moral value as the life of humans, I'd probably applaud their actions. I don't believe that, but whenever I try to look at the issue, I'm uncomfortably aware that my moral calculus is based on a series of assumptions about how much moral weight should be applied to animal suffering and slaughter based on the intelligence of said animals. An analysis that starts to become increasingly uncomfortable when I consider edge cases ( African gray parrots, cetaceans, severely mentally handicapped humans ). The fact is, there are vanishingly few of us on this forum that would decry similar actions on the part of human trafficking protesters in say Cote d'Ivoire. The separation between human and animal that seems obvious when looking at rats and people, and increasingly blurred between great apes and people, makes me believe that in the end it's a continuum and any line drawn is fairly arbitrary.
posted by BrotherCaine at 3:22 PM on January 26, 2010 [3 favorites]

Baby seal walks into a club...
posted by fixedgear at 3:25 PM on January 26, 2010

Is a pie in the face a terrorist act?

Um...no.

Next question.
posted by jonnyploy at 3:26 PM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh my! A couple of post on the Peta site calling for a canadian products Boycott.
Called By the Front-National's own Brigitte Bardot no less.
Is it me or there is far worst going on in the world?

Man, those baby seal sure have charsima! The squirrels of the seas...
I guess veals, caviar and baby-spinaches will have to get P.R. consultants...
No joke, the only difference between seals and other animals is the cute white fur and those big eyes...
It's not like all canadians go north hunting them in winter from our pickups,
no risk of extinction or whatever for the seals, it's even said thats its good for some fishstocks that has been overfished...
posted by CitoyenK at 3:28 PM on January 26, 2010

Okay, so someone pies the Prime Minister, its made into a joke, everyone laughs, nobody cares. Someone pies a fisheries minister and suddenly its OMGWTFBBQ TERRORISM? Holy Hannah in a Handbasket.
posted by sandraregina at 3:30 PM on January 26, 2010

My now ex vegetarian girlfriend never appreciated this gift.
posted by gman at 3:31 PM on January 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

That's because Chretien didn't personally fear protesters. You know what I'm talkin' about.

Also: The Pepper. I put it on my plate.
posted by GuyZero at 3:31 PM on January 26, 2010 [4 favorites]

Inducing fear in pursuit of ideological causes is and always has been terrorism

A pie in the face is certainly a frightening prospect, enough to keep any public official behind a chain of bodyguards.

Terrorism on the part of the seal hunters seems to me to be much more common. No surprise, considering the brutality of their occupation. When you've clubbed a seal pup on the head, it isn't much further to doing the same to a human.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 3:37 PM on January 26, 2010 [4 favorites]

Man, those baby seal sure have charsima! The squirrels of the seas...
I guess veals, caviar and baby-spinaches will have to get P.R. consultants...


Um, what is your point here? I don't agree 100% with PETA, but claiming they only care about cute animals is ridiculous. I mean, one of the reasons people mock PETA is they are opposed to cruelty to all animals, even cockroaches, which generally don't win beauty pageants.
posted by wildcrdj at 3:38 PM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Mod note: A few comments removed. Metacommentary goes in Metatalk.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:39 PM on January 26, 2010

Throwing a pie in someone's face (anywhere outside the set of a Three Stooges movie) is definitely a douche move, but it doesn't rise to the level of terrorism. It's assault, but at least not yet an implied threat of further violence. We don't have that subtext in our culture, thank goodness.

But pieing someone is definitely a way of saying "I can get to you," and if it happens too often it's going to scare politicians and public figures into using more and more security, which will further insulate the ruling classes from the rest of us. Which isn't really a good thing.
posted by Kevin Street at 3:43 PM on January 26, 2010 [4 favorites]

If she had just stood up and made her outburst without the pie, the message would have gotten across much better. It would have been obnoxious, but not upsetting in such a personal way.
posted by hermitosis at 3:53 PM on January 26, 2010

"Throwing a pie in someone's face (anywhere outside the set of a Three Stooges movie) is definitely a douche move..."

Which is why, in my 2012 run for presidency, I'm going to propose the crime of "Douchism"... PETA members, NRA gun-nuts, Hedge Fund Managers and Megachurch ministers will all be found summarily guilty. I'm sure we can tack some amendments on to expand the list, too.
posted by symbioid at 3:58 PM on January 26, 2010 [3 favorites]

Depends on the pie. Key lime? Possibly. Pecan? Then it's only Thanksgiving.
posted by four panels at 4:01 PM on January 26, 2010

It should be noted that the Newfoundland Liberal MP who is crying "terrorism" is probably only trying to leverage the situation for political gain, and no Canadian west of Cornerbrook takes him seriously.
posted by KokuRyu at 4:04 PM on January 26, 2010

What if it's a talking pie whose best friend is a killer robot driving instructor who travels back in time for some reason?

..I'm listening.
posted by Liquidwolf at 4:05 PM on January 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

More important than setting the lower-bounds of terrorism is that uncharted upper-bound of an act of slapstick.
posted by kid ichorous at 4:07 PM on January 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

Pie throwing is absolutely legitimate political expression battery.

Terrorism, no. Misdemeanor, yes. Douchey and cowardly? Absolutely.
posted by coolguymichael at 4:15 PM on January 26, 2010

This cannot possibly be a PETA action. If it were, the bodies of women would have been objectified in some way.
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:17 PM on January 26, 2010 [5 favorites]

My point was off wildcrdj, you are right. Just that the seals are one of those case that bothers me the most, much ado about those cute critters for so long...
Minmal hunting in a growing population. Meanwhile there are more tigers in texas than India...

On the Pie thing, it was funny 20 years ago, but sadly, these times are far too dangerous to pull those stunts. You never know how the authoritah will react, you could get clubbed, tazed, maced, jailed or sent to some dark, judicially obtuse place...
posted by CitoyenK at 4:20 PM on January 26, 2010

The MP is an unqualified idiot, to be sure. There are plenty of existing, rational laws under which the PETAperp will be charged. The MP should have STFU instead of sticking his foot in his mouth.
posted by five fresh fish at 4:22 PM on January 26, 2010

you could get clubbed, tazed, maced...

Again, let me add: there's a non-zero chance you could get choked.

I really miss Chretien.
posted by GuyZero at 4:23 PM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

The MP should have STFU instead of sticking his foot in his mouth.

Oh, if I had a nickel...
posted by GuyZero at 4:23 PM on January 26, 2010

I didn't get the memo that "terrorism" is now a crime in and of itself rather than just a descriptor. Seems stupid and thought-crimey to me.
posted by BrotherCaine at 4:25 PM on January 26, 2010

Is a pie in the face a terrorist act?

No. Not unless the message PETA was trying to send was that anyone who hunts seals could be pied at any time. And anyway, wouldn't that just make the hunt that much more fun? Look out kids, behind every fifth seal there's an activist with a custard pie!
posted by ZsigE at 4:26 PM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Re: Seal hunt - why is it profitable in the first place? Who is buying? If it's about hunting for food that's one thing, but hunting for furs means someone other than the hunters should be held responsible. They are just filling a demand.
posted by smartypantz at 4:32 PM on January 26, 2010

The people who buy seal fur are probably already aware of the concerns PETA have about it. I doubt they're still buying it out of ignorance.
posted by GuyZero at 4:33 PM on January 26, 2010

The terrorism debate is childish. This was a simple assault. No one perceives a pie in the face as a dangerous threat, clowns and comedians the world over voluntarily get pied in the face all the time.

Someone should put together a pie in the face montage to mock these people.
posted by smartypantz at 4:38 PM on January 26, 2010

Terrorism on the part of the seal hunters seems to me to be much more common.

I don't think it counts as terrorism if you actively seek out the "terrorist" in a remote location and then proceed to heckle him.
posted by planet at 4:43 PM on January 26, 2010

Terrorism on the part of the seal hunters seems to me to be much more common. No surprise, considering the brutality of their occupation. When you've clubbed a seal pup on the head, it isn't much further to doing the same to a human.

Where do I even start with sheer crap like this? Firing shots in the air is comparable to clubbing a human? And terrorism to boot?
If I eat a burger is it not much further to being a cannibal? Get a grip.

Anyway, as to the topic: The MP is an idiot. PETA are idiots.
posted by rocket88 at 4:47 PM on January 26, 2010

This cannot possibly be a PETA action. If it were, the bodies of women would have been objectified in some way.

Just read the comments on the blog.
posted by KokuRyu at 4:54 PM on January 26, 2010

What if it was a pie in the mold of a shoe.

Moldy pie throwing? That's bio-terrorism, that is!
and Littering.
and Defacement Of Public Property Figures.

That comes to a nice solid 20 years, which you can get knocked down a mere 15 with Good Behavior Under Torture (which isn't terrorism.)
posted by -harlequin- at 4:57 PM on January 26, 2010

No one perceives a pie in the face as a dangerous threat, clowns and comedians the world over voluntarily get pied in the face all the time.

It's not that simple. Actors have fake guns pointed at them and real guns firing blanks shot at them all the time, but doing the same to an unwilling participant would very much be a threat.

But it's just a pie, you say. How does the person getting hit know that? All they know is that a foreign substance is being violently forced into their mouth and nose by someone who doesn't like them very much. Maybe among friends a surprise pie to the face can be seen as a joke, but when you know someone is hostile to you, and they make you swallow/inhale a substance of their choice?

It's a bit different, don't you think.
posted by planet at 5:00 PM on January 26, 2010

This cannot possibly be a PETA action. If it were, the bodies of women would have been objectified in some way.

Just read the comments on the blog.

Wow, right in the very first comment! Thanks, KokuRyu, like Pope Guilty I was doubting. But yep, that's definitely PETA.
posted by audacity at 5:09 PM on January 26, 2010

It's a bit different, don't you think.

Yes. It's called "assault and battery." The victim might be afraid, but if you threw a punch into their face, that would be frightening too, wouldn't it?

Define this as terrorism, and I'm defining speeding and reckless driving as terrorism.
posted by eriko at 5:09 PM on January 26, 2010

What are seals hunted for?
posted by Daddy-O at 5:33 PM on January 26, 2010

Thanks for caring, Mrs Emily McCoy, 37, of New York City. What ever would Canada do without our thoughtful American neighbors neighbours boors.
posted by acro at 5:43 PM on January 26, 2010

TSA announced that they are disallowing the use of pastry products on all USA flights in response to this event.
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:48 PM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

When did the Keystone Kops get into counter-terrorism?
posted by brundlefly at 5:49 PM on January 26, 2010

Well, CBC helpfully linked to the criminal code.


“terrorist activity” means
(a) [not relevant, I think], or
(b) an act or omission, in or outside Canada,
i) that is committed

(A) in whole or in part for a political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause, [yes]

and

(B) in whole or in part with the intention of intimidating the public, or a segment of the public, with regard to its security, including its economic security, or compelling a person, a government or a domestic or an international organization to do or to refrain from doing any act, whether the public or the person, government or organization is inside or outside Canada, [yes, I think: intended to compel gvmt to end seal hunt]

and

(ii) that intentionally

(A) causes death or serious bodily harm to a person by the use of violence, [hardly]

(B) endangers a person’s life, [no]

(C) causes a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or any segment of the public, [no]

(D) causes substantial property damage, whether to public or private property, if causing such damage is likely to result in the conduct or harm referred to in any of clauses (A) to (C), or [no]

(E) causes serious interference with or serious disruption of an essential service, facility or system, whether public or private, other than as a result of advocacy, protest, dissent or stoppage of work that is not intended to result in the conduct or harm referred to in any of clauses (A) to (C), [no]
--

I say it is clearly "not terrorism" unless you want to claim that the pie in the face constitutes "serious bodily harm" . The code specifically requires either intent to commit bodily harm, endanger someone's life, or put the public at risk, or to conduct an activity that could have these outcomes. Note that the altercations on the ice floes seem to fail the test as well because they were not motivated by an ideology or cause, or at least it would be quite a stretch to make that claim.
posted by PercussivePaul at 5:57 PM on January 26, 2010 [3 favorites]

Whenever one of these Entartiste-type "protests" occurs, a tiny part of me is disappointed that the target of the pie didn't have some extreme allergy to one of the pie ingredients, or choke on some pie fragment that got hurled down their trachea.

Not so much for the death of a politician, but more to see the hur-hur-facepie group get, well, pie in their face.
posted by CKmtl at 6:04 PM on January 26, 2010

The probable originator of pieing as a political act was Thomas King Forcade, the founder of High Times magazine.

Recently, the Belgian anarchist and surrealist Noël Godin has gained a following for pieing figures whom he believes take themselves too seriously, such as filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard during the Cannes Film Festival. His favorite target was Bernard-Henri Lévy. Godin stated that the men he most desired to pie were Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, John Travolta, Tom Cruise and Pope John Paul II

List of people who have been pied [in Categories: Lists of victims of crimes | Pie throwing]
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:08 PM on January 26, 2010

Soupy Sales, you got out just in time.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 6:09 PM on January 26, 2010

List of people who have been pied

Interesting how over-represented French/French-Canadians are on that list...
posted by porpoise at 6:24 PM on January 26, 2010

Why hasn't any mentioned the real crime here. It was a fucking TOFU cream pie! Abomination! Marie Callendar - where are you? Your nation needs you!
posted by helmutdog at 7:25 PM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

PercussivePaul, I read the code too. But I read it a little differently:


(A) causes death or serious bodily harm to a person by the use of violence, [yes, if someone claims that the assault caused acute stress reaction, PTSD, etc]

(B) endangers a person’s life, [no]

(C) causes a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or any segment of the public, [no]

(D) causes substantial property damage, whether to public or private property, if causing such damage is likely to result in the conduct or harm referred to in any of clauses (A) to (C), or [no]

(E) causes serious interference with or serious disruption of an essential service, facility or system, whether public or private, other than as a result of advocacy, protest, dissent or stoppage of work that is not intended to result in the conduct or harm referred to in any of clauses (A) to (C), [maybe, if someone makes a good case for the seal hunt being necessary to the livelihood of certain communities and the "pie assault" leads to some sort of disruption]

A pie in the face is a clever tactic. Most people are used to seeing pies in the face in pop culture: Brady Bunch, Moonlighting, Johnny Carson, Saved by the Bell, Singing in the Rain, Leave it to Beaver, etc. So they've been desensitized to the concept. After all, what could be so scary about some whipped cream in your face?

But, in 2003, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein was pied and the pie-er was charger with assault. And it looks to me as though pieing falls under assault.

If you're getting a pie in the face as a friend comes up and you maybe saw them spray on the cream and you trust them somewhat, a pie in the face might be an annoyance. But if you're a person of public interest and an unknown person comes up with what looks like a pie -- but might not be -- and pushes it into your face -- are they going to do more? -- I can imagine that it would be very scary. I could see that it would be a trauma for the victim.

So, while it all looks very innocent, it seems like a good way to cause terror while having the public shrug it off.
posted by acoutu at 8:13 PM on January 26, 2010

If she had just stood up and made her outburst without the pie, the message would have gotten across much better.

Much better to the MP maybe. The vast majority of us would have never even heard about it.

The feds should think about hiring Chretien back to work security.
posted by ODiV at 8:30 PM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Terrorism on the part of the seal hunters seems to me to be much more common. No surprise, considering the brutality of their occupation. When you've clubbed a seal pup on the head, it isn't much further to doing the same to a human.

Why indeed, yes. This is why 98% of all people in slaughterhouses are also serial human killers. The only reason they work in slaughterhouses are because they think animals are people too. Likewise subsistence hunters amongst tribal peoples, etc.

By the way, where do you work? Would it be ok if I show up with a large group of people and disrupt your store, business, or art studio? Over and over again? And persuade, I don't know, Europe not to buy your goods or deal with you?

--------------------------------

Perhaps we could save the word "terrorism" for acts of violence intended to spread ... fear among humans, maybe? Otherwise, this is ... comment terrorism.

And now, back to my late night snack of a tofu patty and a kiwi fruit.
posted by sebastienbailard at 9:46 PM on January 26, 2010

Firing shots in the air

I guess I can fire shots in the air while threatening you and you'd be fine with it. Or come at you with a gaff.

if I eat a burger

I doubt that you would let someone you beat a kitten to death babysit your children...why not? A kitten isn't a child any more than ground beef is ground human.

Terrorism is violence intended to produce a political end. The threats of the sealers are intended to produce a political end, preventing the protesters from publicizing the hunt.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 11:33 PM on January 26, 2010

Metafilter: The Terror of Pie!
posted by five fresh fish at 11:37 PM on January 26, 2010

Detectives investigating the background of serial killer Peter Tobin revealed last night that he worked at a north-east slaughterhouse.

My, my.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 11:42 PM on January 26, 2010

with what looks like a pie -- but might not be

It might be a pie full of BEES!!
posted by mek at 2:17 AM on January 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

How far down the slippery slope do we want to go with this terror label?

Only a terrorist would undermine our effort with cynical comments like this.
posted by Crotalus at 4:18 AM on January 27, 2010 [2 favorites]

Was anyone terrified?

Seriously, the whole point of "terrorism" is that "terror" element. I don't think a single person, including Ms. Shea, went home in fear that tofu cream pies would be pushed into their faces because they didn't kowtow to PETA's demands. Sure, PETA will probably bankroll some ALF nut to perform a real terrorist act, and that's where they need to be investigated - but this is just a pie in the face by some PETA moron.

The PETA moron should be spending some time in jail for assault. As PETA approved of the assault, some form of renumeration should be pulled from PETA and given to Ms. Shea. PETA shouldn't get political martyrdom by proudly wearing the "We're terrorists in Canada!" badge.

They're idiots. They used to be useful, but extremism and mission drift have turned them into a buffoonish caricature.
posted by FormlessOne at 5:27 AM on January 27, 2010

Detectives investigating the background of serial killer Peter Tobin revealed last night that he worked at a north-east slaughterhouse.

My, my.

You should actually read the articles you link. He was a plasterer who worked on the construction of the building.

My, my.
posted by rocket88 at 7:39 AM on January 27, 2010

The point isn't that this is terrorism (at least by my definition). It's that Canadian law has changed and this might be terrorism under the new law. It's scary, really, if you read the actual law. Almost anything could be terrorism.

But I do think a pie in the face could cause trauma for some people. And all it takes is someone claiming trauma to make this a terrorism case under the new law, I think.
posted by acoutu at 3:12 PM on January 27, 2010

That's is indeed a scary idea, and I hope you are wrong.

If not, then we had all better think about how we're gonna get ourselves out of this mess.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:00 PM on January 27, 2010

Assault charges should be laid, but this incident should not be labeled a terrorist act. Although some of PETA's members no doubt have that mentality in them, this is just PETA affirming to the rest of the world that they are not to be taken seriously. Ms. Shea will continue her work with renewed vigor.

Still, as a Newfoundlander, I have to say that PETA's hatred for us makes me very uneasy. Especially the Facebook group (removed by Facebook - better screen shot here) and stupid, childish shit like the Miss Teen Newfoundland photo altering. They're not just going after a corporation or a celebrity draped in mink on the red carpet. They're going after a whole province's worth of people and painting us all with the same brush. Yikes.

It goes deeper than those big meanies in PETA. We get shit like this printed about us in a national newspaper (good rebuttal by Rex Murphy here). But it's okay, we're not a race, so it isn't racist! The goofy Newfies can take it, they're used to hardship anyway - har har har. And I really have to stop reading the comments on the CBC website articles, especially as they pertain to the Newfoundland government or our colourful premier because it reminds me that there's a considerable segment of the mainland population that thinks most of the province is on welfare and living in some derelict house by the ocean. And this anti-sealing mentality is coming from a bunch of people that know absolutely nothing about Newfoundland but inherently know we're an easy target. Nobody's bawling about the farming of delicious Alberta beef or bison or cursing Ontarians for their chicken processing plants.

We're not perfect. We have crime, poverty, violence, drugs, etc, etc. So does everywhere else. We have liars and rogues and thieves. Yep, last I checked they had those people in other places too. And like everywhere else, most of us are hardworking, creative, adventurous, successful, proud, productive, and happy. Like most everywhere else, the majority of the people here are finest kind.

Anyway, screw you PETA. We have something your crowd will never have. A sense of humour.
posted by futureisunwritten at 7:11 PM on January 27, 2010 [2 favorites]

Sorry everybody, I didn't mean to do the defensive Newfoundlander rant, but this stuff really burns me.
posted by futureisunwritten at 7:16 PM on January 27, 2010

lthough some of PETA's members no doubt have [the terrorist] mentality in them

Really...how many people have been attacked by PETA members? And don't give me any bullshit about flour bombs or paint.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 10:29 PM on January 27, 2010

Jimmy Havok, you took my quote completely out of context. PETA is a huge international organization with a consistent track record of CRAZY - so you're saying that NONE of them have the capability to step it up to something more sinister than a pie in the face?

There were threats on the anti-Newfoundland Facebook group that scared me. People there wished us harm. So don't tell me they haven't hurt anybody. I knew people who were bullied in school. Even if the bullies never actually acted on those threats doesn't mean they didn't leave a mark, so to speak.
posted by futureisunwritten at 5:31 AM on January 28, 2010

so you're saying that NONE of them have the capability to step it up to something more sinister than a pie in the face?

I'm saying that none of them appear to have done so yet. Their terrorist inclinations seem to be apparent only to those with telepathy.

The sort of personality that leads one to be a part of PETA involves a larger than average portion of empathy, and empathy and terrorism don't really fit together very well.

Sorry you feel bad about the Newfie crap, but I don't think it's a PETA initiative. They certainly didn't invent Newfie jokes.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 2:48 PM on January 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

LOL

PETA Protestor Pied by Newfie. Damn straight, PETArd.
posted by five fresh fish at 3:30 PM on January 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

I came here to post the exact same thing!
posted by troll on a pony at 5:49 PM on January 29, 2010

It always starts with cream pies, then frozen cream pies; After that it swiftly escalates into tasty panforte topped with broken glass, circular landmines with whip cream on top, and flung weighted sawblades disguised with crumble topping.
posted by BrotherCaine at 3:57 PM on January 30, 2010 [2 favorites]