People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals, better known as PETA, was mocked on social media this week for a tweet that argued calling someone names like a "pig," "chicken" or a "snake" is hurtful to the animals themselves.
"Words can create a more inclusive world, or perpetuate oppression," the animal rights organization wrote Tuesday in a tweet that was pinned to its page. "Calling someone an animal as an insult reinforces the myth that humans are superior to other animals & justified in violating them. Stand up for justice by rejecting supremacist language."
A chart in the tweet showed examples of animal-related insults that it felt were "harmful" and "inaccurate."
PETA MOCKED FOR CALLING 'PET' A 'DEROGATORY' TERM, SUGGESTING 'COMPANION' INSTEAD
It included "chicken" for a coward, "rat" for a snitch," "snake" for a jerk, "pig" for someone who is repulsive and "sloth" for a lazy person.
PETA also urged its followers to consider, in general, not insulting anyone – human or animal.
After that, the insults came quickly.
One Twitter commenter wrote, "Animals aren't oppressed by those words because they don't understand our language. And have no concept of words and their meaning."
