Steve Irwin has done more for animals than PETA ever will. Aside from raising awareness he raised quite a bit of money and developed rescue programs and sanctuaries. He wasn’t even interacting with the ray that killed him. Probably if he had been “harassing” it, it wouldn’t have got him.
Irwin loved animals. PETA loves the idea of them.
Peta always reminds me of the Noble Savage idiot movement. The Noble savage, in literature, is an idealized concept of uncivilized man, who symbolizes the innate goodness of one not exposed to the corrupting influences of civilization. However, there were people who thought it sounded great and attempted to pull it into real life instead of just fiction. Alot of people were killed by "savages" because some moron couldn't separate reality from fiction. Then they just brushed it off by saying they were corrupted because of their interaction with "civilized" man.
Irwin loved animals. PETA loves the idea of them.