President Obama will have a very difficult decision to make when he has to choose which turkey he will save at this year’s annual turkey pardon.
The turkey pardoning, which started with President Abraham Lincoln sparing his son’s pet bird for Christmas, has become a beloved American tradition and has been passed on from president to president.
The competition to not end up on the dining room table this year has been fierce, which is why Obama has elected to get some help from the public.
People can vote on the White House Facebook page between the confident Cobbler, who is known as a strutter, weighing in at 40 pounds and 8 ounces, or Gobbler, the patient but proud turkey weighing in at 43 pounds and 3 ounces.
Now, while all this discussion about turkey is probably getting you both excited and hungry, there is a group that is vehemently against the presidential turkey pardoning. The group in question is probably an easy guess: the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
PETA has voiced its concerns about the tradition, asking the president to not participate in this year’s pardoning.
In a letter sent by PETA President Ingrid Newkirk to Obama, she states that the Thanksgiving tradition “makes light of the mass slaughter of some 46 million gentle, intelligent birds” and “portrays the United States president as being in some sort of business partnership with the turkey-killing industry.”
PETA is right. During the holiday season millions of turkeys lose their lives so that their roasted carcasses can be made the centerpiece of a delicious family dinner.
However, drafting a letter to ask the president to not pardon a turkey just seems to be counterproductive. Here’s the deal. There is very little chance that PETA will ever be able to bring down the turkey-killing industry.
They can make us all aware of the poor conditions these defenseless animals must go through and make a push for more humane industry standards, but Americans will always hold onto to their turkey on Thanksgiving.
So asking the president not to pardon a turkey, the one turkey that would be saved this year, just seems a little off the mark.
I do like PETA’s idea of changing the name of the tradition from “pardoning” to “liberating” or “excusing.” The turkey really did nothing wrong in its life other than being born as a turkey, so “pardoning” really isn’t the correct word choice.
It will be interesting to see what Obama does with the recent concerns voiced by PETA. Like I have said, I doubt this tradition will be canceled, but maybe Obama may address some of PETA’s requests by changing the name of the tradition.
It is something the president may think is a good idea.
Chasen Doerr is a senior journalism major and the opinions editor for the Daily 49er.
