PETA, PETA, veggie-eaters. Had a cause and were real eager. An anti-milk message they went to tell, but it was not received very well.
I truly respect the views of others no matter how much their views and opinions differ from mine. But PETA'S revival of their "got beer?" campaign is a revival of a horribly inaccurate message that may prove detrimental to the society they hope to save from the "great white horror."
Yes, the "got beer?" bottle openers, bumper stickers and drink cozies are a novel addition to the college dorm room or commuter vehicle. But the term "got beer?" isn't just some clever catch phrase for drunken frat boys and immature high school students to yell, scream and proclaim for the entertainment value. It's a banner for a train of thought that practically deems milk the next Antichrist and endorses beer as a nutritional beverage alternative.
In their condemnation of milk, PETA starts by harping on their long-running message that animals shouldn't be harmed or mistreated for human benefit. Well, welcome to the food chain where the more dominant species eat the ones they are able to.
If you have a problem with the plight of the cows, switch to a vegetarian diet and leave us meat eaters to our meat products. Mmmmm, steak...
PETA also goes on to list the many — alleged — unhealthy side effects that milk can cause. Among them are: breast cancer, prostate cancer, heart disease, Cronus disease, colic, autism, chronic ear infection, acne, flatulence, obesity, constipation, mucus and osteoporosis.
Now seriously, doesn't everything cause cancer nowadays? Anything that tastes good causes cancer. The ink from this newspaper probably causes cancer in lab mice when they're fed the human equivalent of 20 pounds a day.
The point I'm trying to make is labeling a food as cancer-causing really doesn't faze the majority of the population — especially when there are few facts to back up the claim.
In addition to the whole cancer slant, PETA tries to scare people out of consuming milk by claiming that it causes all sorts of childhood ailments and that America's youth would be healthier if they weren't forced to drink milk at school. I think the increase in the consumption of processed snack foods, sodas and fast food is the reason our youth are ballooning up in weight — not moo juice. I would like to meet a kid who prefers to drink milk instead of soda or juice, and then see if they're overweight and ask how many broken bones they have had. I'm sorry, but the last obese person I saw wasn't holding a gallon jug of milk under their arm, nor have I ever seen any obese people consuming massive amounts of milk at any time.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is don't endorse a beverage that, on the surface, may be healthier in technical terms while ignoring the negative social and physiological effects it is more infamous for.
Excessive milk drinking doesn't turn your liver into a shriveled lump of worthless meat. The last time I checked, milk was never a contributing factor in fatal car accidents. Depressed people don't wallow in a bottle of chocolate milk. I don't know of any rehab centers for milkaholics. You can't die from drinking too much milk. Your balance and judgment are not impaired by milk. Milk is not a cause of domestic violence. Lastly, you don't get hangovers from milk.
Beer has too many negative effects to even be considered close to a feasible beverage alternative for milk. While this campaign is aimed at college students who are more than capable of making an informed decision, impressionable youth are also going to be exposed to the advertising. To think that teenagers and children won't be tempted to drink beer by all the "got beer?" propaganda is an ignorant assumption.
If you believe so strongly that milk is evil in a bottle, more power to you. If you feel it's necessary that you spread a word of warning about this "white killer," then go right ahead. But do not glorify beer as the holy alternative to milk and all of its evils. Even if milk causes an extra eye to sprout on your head or the development of three additional stomachs inside of you, I would still drink milk instead of beer. The damage beer has caused historically, and is still capable of causing, is far too much to even make milk appear to be the slightest threat to humanity.
"got brains?" Think about it.
