I Don't Get People...
...who think what Michael Vick did is "no big deal." Perhaps the man is truly remorseful, but I find it hard to believe that a sane adult could be involved with dog fighting and have NO IDEA that his actions might be morally questionable. Which in turn indicates to me that he's not sorry for what he did, he's sorry he got caught.
I've heard all about how dog fighting is supposed to be some sort of old timey southern tradition and should therefore be treated as a cultural activity rather than a crime. But you know what else is an old timey southern tradition? I don't think I really have to say it--we all know what I'm talking about. To claim that people should be allowed to keep on doing things just because "they've always been that way" is patently idiotic and makes no rational sense, especially coming from people like Whoopi Goldberg and the NAACP.
And that's all beside the fact that dog fighting is a reprehensible "sport," just like bullfighting or any other activity that involves the vicious killing of animals for human entertainment. Just today, someone tried to argue with me that the UFC is basically the same thing, but I'm not buying it. Those men choose to endure grueling training and brutal fights for a chance at a title. And while dogs can't make choices the way you or I can, no creature would want to die by electrocution, drowning, beating, or mauling. Especially, I'd imagine, when all it does is create more opportunities for morally bankrupt hicks to gamble.
A lot of people I've talked to think Michael Vick's sentence was too rough. They wonder if the penalty would have been the same if, say, Peyton Manning were in Vick's shoes. Honestly, I don't know, but I have a gut feeling that Peyton's not mean or simple-minded enough to derive pleasure from strangling dogs. And anyway, I find it a bit ironic that the same affluent white folks who previously never gave two shits about the way the justice system treated blacks are now pulling the race card to save their beloved trick pony Vick. It says something about our own character when we care more about millionaire sports starts who plead GUILTY to their crimes than poor people who get railroaded onto death row.
In case it's not obvious already, I think professional sports are a joke. But that's not why I have a problem with Michael Vick, what he did, and the people who still support him. Dog fighting is plainly a barbaric act that doesn't belong in a modern society where so many other means of entertainment are available. Like football, for instance. Perhaps if Vick had spent more time focusing on those responsibilities instead of running a kennel and trying to lie about it, he wouldn't be where he is now. And all those apologists could just keep on pretending their parents actually raised them the right way.
I've heard all about how dog fighting is supposed to be some sort of old timey southern tradition and should therefore be treated as a cultural activity rather than a crime. But you know what else is an old timey southern tradition? I don't think I really have to say it--we all know what I'm talking about. To claim that people should be allowed to keep on doing things just because "they've always been that way" is patently idiotic and makes no rational sense, especially coming from people like Whoopi Goldberg and the NAACP.
And that's all beside the fact that dog fighting is a reprehensible "sport," just like bullfighting or any other activity that involves the vicious killing of animals for human entertainment. Just today, someone tried to argue with me that the UFC is basically the same thing, but I'm not buying it. Those men choose to endure grueling training and brutal fights for a chance at a title. And while dogs can't make choices the way you or I can, no creature would want to die by electrocution, drowning, beating, or mauling. Especially, I'd imagine, when all it does is create more opportunities for morally bankrupt hicks to gamble.
A lot of people I've talked to think Michael Vick's sentence was too rough. They wonder if the penalty would have been the same if, say, Peyton Manning were in Vick's shoes. Honestly, I don't know, but I have a gut feeling that Peyton's not mean or simple-minded enough to derive pleasure from strangling dogs. And anyway, I find it a bit ironic that the same affluent white folks who previously never gave two shits about the way the justice system treated blacks are now pulling the race card to save their beloved trick pony Vick. It says something about our own character when we care more about millionaire sports starts who plead GUILTY to their crimes than poor people who get railroaded onto death row.
In case it's not obvious already, I think professional sports are a joke. But that's not why I have a problem with Michael Vick, what he did, and the people who still support him. Dog fighting is plainly a barbaric act that doesn't belong in a modern society where so many other means of entertainment are available. Like football, for instance. Perhaps if Vick had spent more time focusing on those responsibilities instead of running a kennel and trying to lie about it, he wouldn't be where he is now. And all those apologists could just keep on pretending their parents actually raised them the right way.