I respect people who protest, who go out of their way to do something difficult and tiring and time-consuming - and yes, dangerous - to make a statement about an issue they care about. It certainly beats other forms of public activism, which tend to be either a) off-limits to the poor/disabled/disadvantaged, or b) result in... unsavoury outcomes.

Which is not to say, I suppose, that protesting is barrier-free or that it never results in violence. I think of it much the same way Churchill once spoke about democracy - it's the worst way of effecting social change, except for everything else that has been tried.

And yeah, PETA sucks ass. Don't give them money.