After defending Pokemon from Nintendo, the animal rights group now takes on Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft II Zerg.
StarCraft players lining up for the launch of Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm will get a new perspective on the game's arthropodal extraterrestrials, the Zerg, courtesy of PETA—or, as the group is renaming itself in honor of the expansion pack's launch, "Terrans for the Ethical Treatment of Zerglings." The group will attend Monday evening's launch event in Irvine and distribute copies of its "Zerglings Have Feelings, Too" leaflets as a lighthearted reminder that gamers and non-gamers alike should have compassion for all beings—even those who are different from us.
"To paraphrase a great philosopher, the question is not 'Can Zerg reason?' nor 'Can they talk?' but 'Can they suffer when attacked with a Perdition flamethrower?'" says PETA Director of Marketing Joel Bartlett. "PETA is full of StarCraft players, but we've always had empathy for the Zerg—and for anyone who is killed without consideration because they don't speak our language."
Like the Zerg, many species on Earth are killed or abused simply because Terrans can't or won't understand them. Some are caged, poisoned, and cut up in cruel experiments. Others are chained and beaten into performing tricks for Terrans' amusement, and more are slaughtered en masse so that Terrans can eat them. PETA encourages everyone to greet all living beings with kindness, not violence.
