Cute Overload is sometimes not cute October 10, 2008
I’ll say right now that I like looking at Cute Overload. They have a lot of great images and videos of absolutely adorable animals. And 95% of it is fine - sleeping puppies, playful kittens and the like. They sometimes even post animal welfare related articles - nothing about vegetarianism but stuff about shelters, like this post. And I’m glad they do, especially since they are one of the most popular animal blogs on the web. But every once in a while they post something similar to the post I did the other day: Suicide Food.
For some reason, Cute Overload and it’s creator Meg, think animals as food are both cute and funny. Take note of the two images I pulled off the Cute Overload website. The pig is absolutely awful. A baby pig in a can of pork and beans. What can be more sick than an animal sitting in the container that held the carcass of one of it’s kind? It’s disgusting. It’s brutal and it’s death. It is certainly not cute. The photograph is of course staged by humans and the pig is the butt of the joke. The image says to the viewer, ‘Look at this cute animal that we eat. He doesn’t even know we’re making fun of him, or that he’ll one day be dinner.’
The hedgehog is a milder version of Suicide Food. The title of the blog with the hedge is “One Spiked Hedge on Wheat, Comin’ Up.” And Meg writes: “Can’t you just see a perfect squiggle of mustard on his head.”
No Meg, a perfect squiggle of mustard on a sentient creatures head is not cute. It implies death, consumption, and a disregard for this animals life from humans. It’s really not cute.
I’m not trying to bash Cute Overload. Like I said, I look at it. But I think they need to really reconsider what is cute, and what is just humans joking about a topic (death) that really isn’t funny or cute. It’s humans showing a disregard for animals and turning them into objects to be ridiculed and consumed. It portrays them as Suicide Food.
If you don’t like it either, email Meg at meg [at] cutelabs.com and tell her what you think. Maybe, just maybe, she’ll stick to images that are actually cute, and not death related.
Hey, thanks for the shoutout! (and the laugh)
Um, what’s a laugh?
I think you take life a leeeetle too seriously. There is no implying that a hedgehog is food, um, people don’t eat hedgehogs. And if they do no one knows about it. It’s funny that there is a hedgehog in between two slices of bread… I wouldn’t read into it too much. No one is holding a butcher knife over the hedgehog.
And someone thought it was cute to put a piglet inside of a can to show how tiny it is. Then they probably noticed an empty can of pork and beans and thought oh, that’s funny.
Meg isn’t sick, she LOVES animals like nothing else in the world or she wouldn’t dedicate her life to this wonderful website. She would never imply death to animals or showing anything remotely close to animal abuse or animals as food, not for real. Chill out with the petitioning.
Thanks for commenting Jo. I never said Meg doesn’t love animals. I don’t for a moment doubt Meg’s love for animals. And as I also said, I visit her site. And actually both my cats have been featured there.
What I’m really trying to point out is how we view animals in society. Especially animals that are used for food. I really doubt the person putting that pig in a can of “pork and beans” didn’t see the irony of putting a living cute piglet in a food they would normally be slaughtered for. That’s the point of the picture. And to say that is cute, is frankly disgusting and sad. And I don’t think it reflects the love of animals portrayed on the Cute Overload site.
With the hedge. I agree, it’s not nearly as bad. I was just showing that animals as food are viewed as humorous. They are objectified, and we’re meant to laugh. I guess it comes down to how you view animals. I don’t eat them. I don’t wear them. And I don’t think the idea of them as food is funny or cute. Especially not when it’s the grizzly truth for so many, especially pigs.
As for the petitioning, I think it’s fine for people to write in with their opinion if they happen to agree with me. Or not. And I don’t think I take life too seriously, just because I think those images are terrible. Animal protection in this country is pathetic. We treat animals, even companion animals badly. And farm animals. Forget about it. The 10 billion per year that die in this country are tortured before slaughtered. All I’m doing is pointing out why it’s strange to call an animal cute while also implying its death. You don’t have to agree. But I stand by my post.