What kind of person would wish Foot & Mouth disease on animals?

“I openly hope it comes here. It will bring economic harm only for those who profit from giving people heart attacks and giving animals a concentration camp-like existence...," said Ingrid Newkirk, president of PETA (animal rights group).

I have received many letters from indignant readers who are aghast at Ms. Newkirk’s insensitivity and mean spiritedness. It was surprising to me, too. I guess I assumed that there are some lines they would not cross.

But then it hit me. Her comments really had nothing to do with animal suffering, no, she was mocking us. Her group’s marketing strategy, which they readily acknowledge, is to shock, i.e., comparing serial murderer Jeffery Dahmer to the meat packing industry, suggesting we drink beer instead of milk, or erecting billboards saying, “Jesus was a Vegetarian.”

Those were well thought out advertising campaigns designed to attract attention. And when a group is not restrained by any normally accepted standards of “civility,” they test the limits of the public’s disgust.

They are the National Enquirer of animal rights, the man on the corner in a raincoat flashing passersby, the Dennis Rodman, Madonna and Geraldo of newspaper filler pieces, the Jerry Springer and Jackass of activist cable TV. They are the goons at the football game mooning the camera.

Unfortunately, in our modern world we are so bombasted with full color, full volume, never ending sensationalistic info entertainment including such profound tragedies as Afghani oppression, African AIDS, Korean famine, mass murder, fire, flood, earthquake and terrorism, that we are numb.

Ms. Newkirk must constantly be trying to stick out amidst the blizzard of chaos, greatness and acts of heroism that compete with her in the public’s eye. It gets harder and harder for her to shock us.

So reign in your sense of outrage, say a prayer for our fellow livestock raisers in Europe and leave Ms. Newkirk to her petty cruelty. She is no different than the guy selling souvenirs outside the gates of Timothy McVeigh’s execution.

Nothing is sacred to a zealot.