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PETA VP Set To Debate NYU Students After Columbia Snub

2011_04_petapam.jpg Bruce Friedrich, Vice President of PETA, has challenged collegiate debate teams at some of the country's most prestigious universities to defend the practice of eating animals. If he hasn't always won outright (they've only taken a post-debate vote "twice, and the vegetarian side received more votes both times" he says via email) his goal is to speak to students who "are open to making, and empowered to make, decisions that might have been more difficult earlier." Tomorrow night, he'll be clashing with NYU's Debate Team, an opportunity that was denied by a certain, drug-addled "Ivy."

Columbia University, who famously gave Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a forum, cancelled Friedrich's debate five hours before it was scheduled last month for what Friedrich calls a "7 year grudge" for prosthelytizing at the school's 2004 graduation ceremony. Though he hasn't received any word from their administration to reschedule the debate, he notes that the student body has been "unfailingly supportive." Given that NYU was ranked as one of the "top-5 vegan-friendly campuses," expect that same support tomorrow.

Friedrich concedes that while PETA may be more well-known for their stunts with naked women than their scholarly debate appearances, "we'd be failing in our mission if we neglected what is obviously true—that human beings are interested in celebrity and nudity…we have to do both." Polls have suggested that most people become vegetarian to better their health, not for their stance on animal rights, but Friedrich stresses that PETA's main mission is to convey that "other animals are more like us than they're unlike us." Mull that over before you don your cold-cut tube-top this weekend.

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Comments [rss]

  • OvaltineJenkins

    If God didn't want us to eat animals why did he make them out of meat?

  • felixthecat

    go vegan and lose all that fat and save lives.

  • youngpro

    Felix, I see your Down syndrome is coming out to play today. I, for example, tried the vegetarian thing (not vegan, but it was a start) and rarely even ate meat when I was a little girl. Now I can't go a meal with out some. My annual physical shows perfection each and every time, so stfu with your fake science as if you know anything abuot medicine much less cholestrol levels and fat.

  • Guest

    It will NEVER happen and those lies you continue to post don't help. Fat comes more from carbs (veggies) than protein (meat). There's a reason humans (animals) have canines (teeth, not dogs). They are used to rip meat. They have no use when eating vegetables. You can continue to believe you are morally superior to everyone because you claim not to eat meat, but in reality, you're just alienating everyone that you are trying to win over to your cause. PETA lies to the American public exactly the same way that the DEA lies. Ambiguities and complete falsehoods are used by both as a deterrents.

    Now, go ahead and call me names since that's what you do best.

  • Peanut_Butter

    Poster omitted the most crucial common part: genitalia.

  • PicoPhreako69

    "All Animals Have The Same Parts."

    Yes.
    And some are far, far tastier than others. >:3

    I'm a lifelong member of PETA -
    People Eating Tasty Animals.

  • randomtransplant

    I'm sure the domestic terrorism sponsorship & fliering of school cafeteria's with pictures of slaughtered animals without permission is all part of a rational and open debate, huh PITA?

    Yes, sex sells. Doesn't mean textbooks have to degrade women in order to get kids to pay attention. You know what else sells? valid points made well, and fairly. There are alot of members of academia that could make PITA's argument so much better than they could.

  • diablofreak

    what's the debate here?

    just poll the public what they like better: steak or veggies.

    stupid peta troll is stupid.

  • Barricaded_EDP

    I could really go for a cheeseburger right now... shake shack anyone?

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