SeaWorld has announced that they will end orca breeding. I found that pretty surprising: yes, it's been getting them very bad publicity, lately, but their identity is quite tied to the performing orcas.
What I'm getting at is, this is about the biggest win I've ever seen activists get. As such, it's interesting to see how people are reacting. The stereotype of activists is that they never give anything but bad news. Environmentalists were traditionally the worst, but in recent years they seem to have realized that this is turning people off. Even David Suzuki seems to understand the benefit of mixing in some positivity.
Animal Rights had never been a cause I was particularly close to, so I'm not really knowledgeable on their reaction. But from what I have seen, as individuals they are quite positive, celebrating this as the win that it is.
On the other hand, PETA put out the protestors' traditional this-isn't-enough reaction. Yes, it's clear that PETA has never really cared about having a positive public perception. But still, you have to wonder: if this doesn't get a positive reaction out of them, what will?
I've always figured that the nothing-is-good-enough attitude from activists comes from their relatively rare motivation pattern: they tend to be spurred to action by the badness of the situation, so they see relentless negativity as a motivator. Unfortunately, for most people downplaying any and all positivity just Leafs to hopelessness, which leads to inaction.
So it might pay to emphasize this victory. Like I say, PETA had positioned itself as an organization for more dedicated, uncompromising people. It's the 70's Greenpeace of Animal Rights. That might mean that the all-negative attitude will work for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment