鈥楤ringing home the bacon鈥� may be an iconic idiom about making money for some, but to PETA its one of several derogatory phrases that hurt animals and need to stop being repeated.

In its latest social media campaign, the animal-welfare activist group said Tuesday that 鈥榮peciesism鈥�, is similar to racist or homophobic comments, but for animals.

The campaign is asking people to swap out phrases like 鈥楰ill two birds with one stone鈥�, for 鈥榝eed to birds with one scone鈥�.

鈥楾ake the bull by the horns鈥�, a common phrase meaning to deal with a difficult or dangerous situation bravely, should be replaced by 鈥榯ake the flower by the thorns鈥�, PETA said.

Words matter, and as our understanding of social justice evolves, our language evolves along with it. Here鈥檚 how to remove speciesism from your daily conversations.

鈥� PETA: Bringing Home the Bagels Since 1980 (@peta)

鈥淛ust as it became unacceptable to use racist, homophobic, or ableist language, phrases that trivialize cruelty to animals will vanish as more people begin to appreciate animals for who they are and start 鈥榖ringing home the bagels鈥� instead of the bacon,鈥� the organization said.

The campaign has gotten mixed reviews, including one Twitter user named Arthur Emswell suggesting that a bird is more likely to survive having a stone thrown at it than eating a scone.

Why are you being anti-plant? Plants have as much rights as animals.

鈥� Luke Dashjr (@LukeDashjr)

I see things wrong with this already:

Birds , I鈥檓 sure don鈥檛 like scones;

People of a certain age might have been conceived in a test tube;

Don鈥檛 over feed a horse, otherwise it鈥檒l be obese;

Bagels, only if they are gluten free;

Not all flowers have thorns;

鈥� Ian Pratt (@Mr_IanP)

I don鈥檛 eat meat, I care for my own animals & all the beasties in my wildlife friendly garden. I鈥檝e driven many miles to get rescued critters to safety & I profoundly loathe any mistreatment of animals. But this is utterly absurd, you sound foolish & it undermines your good work.

鈥� Candace (@TheBDEye)

ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca
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