Note to humane activists and radicals: you are NOT HELPING

Two of my favorite shows recently featured activists in two separate yet similar fields of interest as lead roles: a group of animal rights radicals broke into an animal testing and research lab in Fringe and freed all the trapped animals (including one particular beastie they soon wish they'd left alone in its dark room behind that thick metal door), and an environmental militant tied to an excavator to prevent further digging for oil (or something like that, can't remember exactly) suddenly lost his sense of balance on House and his condition only deteriorated from there as our favorite grouchy gimp tackled his case.

But I'm not writing this to promote the two of the best shows on TV. The point is that these portrayals got me thinking ... Thinking about how environmentalist and animal rights radicals – all radicals in fact – are really the worst thing that can happen to their chosen causes. They do not help animals, or the Earth, or whatever else they spend their lives trying to ameliorate the conditions of. They hurt them even more.

One thing that seemingly all radical and militant activists seem to fail to realize, is that the ONLY way on this planet to get change, to turn things around, is if you've got the collective will and might of the people behind you.

For example, PETA is a shining example of this critical oversight. Were they using tactics and methods that garnered attention to their cause in a good light that led to the people embracing them and their role, they could be one of the most powerful animal rights forces on this planet, if not the most powerful. But instead, we have them dumping manure outside of restaurants, harassing people in matters that are absolutely none of their business, even the freakin' President, continually pulling stunts and idiocies that make them look like complete and utter self-serving and self-aggrandizing (jack)asses in the media, and even committing acts of unbelievable vileness and hypocrisy, such as killing 95% of the animals they harbor, the vast majority of which are actually quite apt for adoption. (Just a hint: people who truly do love animals, DO NOT FUCKING KILL THEM!)

This is why PETA is generally regarded as one of the largest annoyances in the animal rights world. Instead of helping the cause for animal rights by attracting attention and goodwill towards it, they kick it out the window by portraying themselves, arguably the "leaders" of the animal rights movement, as wildly irrational and irritating idiots who never cease to annoy people with stupid ploy after stupid ploy. (They even tried to rename fish into "sea-kittens" once, working under the assumption that people would be less quick to fish if they were killing "sea-kittens". Gives you an idea as to how irreparably twisted their minds are.)

In life, when you alienate the very people you're trying to get behind you, that tends to do bad things for your cause(s). People are always willing to help a good cause, but put a donkey at the head of it and they might turn away looking green. This is what happens with these stupid radicals and activists.

Instead of chaining yourselves to trees or oil rigs, or breaking and entering into private facilities to wreak havoc, or dumping horseshit on people's lawns, or endlessly harassing people and mingling in affairs that couldn't possibly concern you less, and overall behaving like delinquents bordering on criminals, why don't you just turn on the parts of your brain not overcome by overzealous self-righteousness and think for more than half a second as to what the proper course of action should be? Plan a rally. Lead an organized march. Picket a meeting or event without actually intruding or turning it into a ridiculous media circus. Put up strong-worded but diplomatic websites and appeal to the masses with petitions and encouraging them to send letters to their representatives. Sell books. Anything, as long as it works at attracting more followers to your cause rather than pushing them away in disgust at your actions and methods.

If history teaches us anything, it's that the greatest and best changes are always brought on by diplomacy and common sense rather than boorishness and behaving like filthy trolls. Martin Luther King Jr. didn't end lead the Blacks in America to a greater freedom with the end of segregation by screaming incoherently in front of a mic at whoever would endure listening to him. Nelson Mandela didn't crush Apartheid by bombing the enemy's facilities. Rosa Parks didn't become a hero by beating or defaming anyone. The Freedom Riders didn't get their fame and honor by throwing shit at segregated storefronts and such.

No, history is very clear on this aspect ... You only achieve your goals when you have massive support behind you. All the preceding examples were diplomats with their hearts in the right place and their brains actually functioning. They knew what they had to do, they suffered long and hard for it, but they prevailed, because that's how life is. Deal with the shit you're dealt, play the crappy hands you're given, and grow and grow in influence and reach until you're able to sway the people into changing what needs to be changed. Nothing can ever get done otherwise.

Why can't these idiots comprehend this? Common sense backs it up. History backs it up. What more do they need, a drawing stuck to their refrigerators? Or just a brain implant now and then?