Exposing It All (almost) To Gain Exposure For The Cause

It happened yesterday in Minneapolis.   It happened again today in Duluth, Minnesota.   And tomorrow, a press release states it will occur once again on a busy street corner now in Madison, Wisconsin.   What sort of plague seems to be slowly working its way east, you say?   It’s just PETA’s (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) on-going ploy in an attempt to draw attention to an animal rights cause that can’t survive and capture the public’s attention on its own philosophical merit—it needs ostentatious behavior by a scantily clad woman to lure in the media cameras.

Let’s face it…if you’ve read this blog for awhile you’ll know that few things tend to get my hackles up quicker than an “anti” or animal rights activist spreading their ill-conceived message in some unusual way.   They strive to make hunters, trappers, farmers or anyone, for that matter who exercises some form of control on animals, out to be some great villain.   Truth is, history documents quite well that sportsmen have accomplished far more to enhance the conservation cause and to help animal populations than these groups have ever hoped to accomplish.   Farmers, likewise, have long-since discovered that stress-free animals grow faster and will be more effective commodity producers.

Photo by Mike Mosedale (City Pages)So, when Michelle Cho stripped nearly naked on a busy Minneapolis street corner at high noon, on display was not only her petite nude body outlined in a manner depicting a butcher’s chart of various meat cuts.   Rather, it was nothing more than a publicity stunt ridiculously attempting to draw attention to a worn-out animal rights belief that will gain few converts to the cause by performing such public antics.

Here’s my real gripe.   When a group of sportsmen assembled last year on the steps of the state capitol protesting the current state of the depressed waterfowl situation, the mainstream media gives it scant attention, at best.   Hundreds of sportsmen gathered with the very groups that have sometimes been at odds to join efforts and decry a desperate need for action by our state officials, and the only media that covers it extensively is the outdoors media.   Perhaps that’s the problem.   When sportsmen strive to seek attention we depend on a strong message to carry the cause, and not some law-breaking theatrics by the participants.   Oh how things would be different if all the hunters who protested our various causes stood on the grounds of the state capitol raising loaded shotguns high into the air and demanded attention and action.

But of course we don’t do that.   If we carried our shotguns when we protest it would look like a bunch of crazed hunters had finally gone beyond acceptable standards.   Sure, we would then draw plenty of attention…but for all the wrong reasons.

Personally, I wonder if the Michelle Cho’s of the world, who would perform such exhibitionist stunts throughout the upper Midwest, must suffer from some form of psychosis.   Truthfully!   A normal person would not move from major city to city in a calculated display to bare it all, no matter how strong they felt about a cause.   Actually, I feel sorry for Ms. Cho because she is nothing more than a puppet of the PETA media circus in a very pathetic display of attention.

So why is any of this important to the sportsman?   First, it goes to show you the radical and desperate actions these groups will take to sway public opinion.   Is it really effective…no, but it continues to draw attention to a cause that simply does not accept the way us sportsmen (or farmers) wish to carry out our lives.   More importantly, these groups are also well funded thanks to their spreading misinformation and lies to justify their cause.   Sportsmen cannot afford to dismiss what these groups are doing or the consequences someday could be devastating to the sports we enjoy.

Honestly, I really don’t understand why the police in Minneapolis or Duluth did not place Ms. Cho on a 72–hour medical hold for a psychiatric evaluation.   They have the power to do that…they even have the authority to do that.   Mentally healthy people do not remove most of their clothes and lay down on a busy Minnesota street during the middle of cold January.   Cause or no cause…such behavior begs for further examination.

Besides, with her fast-paced schedule of appearances…committing her to a psych ward for a few days would have surely wrecked havoc with some upcoming street corner engagement in another Midwest city.   And that would have been too bad.

© 2006 Jim Braaten.  All Rights Reserved.   No Reproduction without Prior Permission.