For immediate release:
June 8, 2021
Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382
San Francisco – Twitter has expanded its rules on hate speech include a ban on hate speech based on race, ethnicity, or national origin – and in a letter sent this morning to platform CEO Jack Dorsey, PETA is asking the company to ban hate speech based on variety and offers to help develop policy.
PETA notes that referring to animals as “it” rather than “he” or “she” and using them as insults, such as calling a voracious person “pig”, has its roots in arrogance– the misconception that all other animals are worse, so they can be harmed. From an early age, children are taught the idea that human desires, needs, and interests always trump those of other species, as well as messages that puppies are “friends,” and chickens are “food,” and mice are “pests.”
“Changing the way we talk about other species can change how we view them in our society,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA asks Twitter to ban arrogant speech and make it clear that there is no ‘us’ and ‘they’ – from chickens to humans, we are all animals, and we all deserve equal attention.”
PETA’s motto is, “Animals are not ours to experiment, eat, carry, use for fun or otherwise abuse.” For more information please visit PETA.org or subscribe to the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram…
This is followed by a letter from PETA Dorsey.
June 8, 2021
Jack Dorsey, CEO
Dear Mr. Dorsey:
Cheering People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). We would like to thank you for banning hate speech on Twitter that is inhuman based on race, ethnicity, age, disability, illness and nationality – we certainly welcome this step out of compassion. Let us now urge you to broaden your ethical position to include hateful, derogatory arrogant language that hurts and humiliates not only people, but also everything animals? The recognition of spessism and spessish language has been going on for a long time, but finally it has come.
This is no small matter: resolving the language depicting animals as inanimate objects reduces the sensitivity of the public and opens the way for a smug acceptance of cruelty towards them in all walks of life. To change this, we need to adjust the way we think and write, given that most of us have been trained since childhood to view some species as worthy of care and compassion and others as unworthy – all based on arbitrary human preferences.
Words matter, and as our recognition and understanding of social justice develops, our language must evolve with them. Animals are living, sentient beings, not inanimate objects. Whether intentionally or not, parents, teachers, the media and others inform children that puppies and kittens are “friends”, cows and chickens are “food,” and mice and insects are “pests”. Most children are also taught that human desires, needs, and interests always trump those of any other kind. We can and must overcome this self-serving and harmful thinking.
All animals deserve equal attention, regardless of how people treat them. We are all sentient beings with thoughts, feelings and desires, and we should all be free from pain and suffering and should be treated as if we existed simply to serve others. We can start realizing this idea right now by changing the way we talk about and relate to other animals. Instead of calling them “this,” we can call them “he” or “she.” Instead of calling someone “chicken,” we can say “coward.” Instead of pig, we can say glutton or repulsive. And instead of “rat” we can say “snitch”. By introducing a ban on arrogant speech, Twitter can help convey the idea that “we” and “they” do not exist – we everything intelligent living beings.
PETA would be happy to work with you to develop this policy. I am looking forward to your thoughts on this matter. Thanks for your time and attention.
Sincerely,
Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals