Sporting post for the day, the first
Well, this is sort of related to sports, and I have another to make purely about sports, thus the title.
I split1 them up because the other is a happy, joyous post.
This one is not.
On his not-a-blog, one of my favorite authors made the following comment:
So the Eagles have signed Michael Vick. OK. I'm glad it was not the Giants or the Jets, truthfully... though I do believe in second chances, and Vick has served his time. Even so, I wouldn't want him on my team.
Okay, glad to know he wouldn't want him on his team, and it's obvious from grrm's books that he believes in second chances even for people who seem awful. Of course, there's a difference between "seeming awful" and "doing something awful that is out of character" and "being a walking argument for the 12 Monkeys virus." Anyway, someone responded thusly:
My problem with Vick is that some crimes require a certain moral void, Like forcing man's best friend into a death match. The fact that he is capable of such malice says a lot about his character, IMO second chances are for things like theft or selling pot, not coldly murdering numerous innocent creatures to entertain yourself.
And since my response to this is still screened and might seem sufficiently cold and unforgiving to never get unscreened, here is what I said:
I'll agree, and go a couple of steps further. (and a step backward in selling pot, which I don't have any issues w/at all)
Let's look at types of moral void in different crimes --
Drive by shooting of someone you don't know or who you do know is innocent of any serious wrong-doing-- Somehow, you didn't think about what the impact of what you were doing on someone else, or didn't care. Moral void of a sort, here. But, you still don't actually have to *see* the consequences of what you did, so there's some possibility even tho you don't get it, you can get it and one day might.
Torturing someone (and assuming that person didn't just kill your best friend or something), or killing them slowly up close and personal -- Much huger moral void; you are right there sitting through the consequences and continuing to do them. Vick was doing this when he put the dogs through the fights, and when he beat them, sometimes to death, for not fighting the way he wanted. Or when he watched his friends do this.
Torturing and killing over and over and over again -- This is Vick. He was there, he saw what the consequences of his actions were; he had time to think or feel. It made no impact on him at all. He had a whole bunch of second and even 100th chances to see and feel and think about the torture he was inflicting on innocents, and he still kept getting off on them. To use an asoiaf reference, he deserves another chance about as much as Gregor Clegane or the Bloody Mummers.
I was pulling for the Eagles to win the super bowl, because I'd like to see Donovan McNabb get one. Now, I hope they lose every game. What else I hope I shall not say, cause y'all will probably think that involves a moral void on my part. Let's just say I believe in vengeance and wish I believed in karma. Karma, please show up. =)
In another comment (also still screened) I replied to a fellow pit bull owner who hoped vick would get injured so badly it would end his career with the following:
::applause::
Though your hope/imagination is slightly nicer/less vindictive than mine.
For the two or so of you who haven't been here long enough to know, to use another of this author's characters as a reference point, I am probably no more inclined towards wishing ill upon those who deliberately and with joy torture to death those I care about than, say, Arya.
=)
I split1 them up because the other is a happy, joyous post.
This one is not.
On his not-a-blog, one of my favorite authors made the following comment:
So the Eagles have signed Michael Vick. OK. I'm glad it was not the Giants or the Jets, truthfully... though I do believe in second chances, and Vick has served his time. Even so, I wouldn't want him on my team.
Okay, glad to know he wouldn't want him on his team, and it's obvious from grrm's books that he believes in second chances even for people who seem awful. Of course, there's a difference between "seeming awful" and "doing something awful that is out of character" and "being a walking argument for the 12 Monkeys virus." Anyway, someone responded thusly:
My problem with Vick is that some crimes require a certain moral void, Like forcing man's best friend into a death match. The fact that he is capable of such malice says a lot about his character, IMO second chances are for things like theft or selling pot, not coldly murdering numerous innocent creatures to entertain yourself.
And since my response to this is still screened and might seem sufficiently cold and unforgiving to never get unscreened, here is what I said:
I'll agree, and go a couple of steps further. (and a step backward in selling pot, which I don't have any issues w/at all)
Let's look at types of moral void in different crimes --
Drive by shooting of someone you don't know or who you do know is innocent of any serious wrong-doing-- Somehow, you didn't think about what the impact of what you were doing on someone else, or didn't care. Moral void of a sort, here. But, you still don't actually have to *see* the consequences of what you did, so there's some possibility even tho you don't get it, you can get it and one day might.
Torturing someone (and assuming that person didn't just kill your best friend or something), or killing them slowly up close and personal -- Much huger moral void; you are right there sitting through the consequences and continuing to do them. Vick was doing this when he put the dogs through the fights, and when he beat them, sometimes to death, for not fighting the way he wanted. Or when he watched his friends do this.
Torturing and killing over and over and over again -- This is Vick. He was there, he saw what the consequences of his actions were; he had time to think or feel. It made no impact on him at all. He had a whole bunch of second and even 100th chances to see and feel and think about the torture he was inflicting on innocents, and he still kept getting off on them. To use an asoiaf reference, he deserves another chance about as much as Gregor Clegane or the Bloody Mummers.
I was pulling for the Eagles to win the super bowl, because I'd like to see Donovan McNabb get one. Now, I hope they lose every game. What else I hope I shall not say, cause y'all will probably think that involves a moral void on my part. Let's just say I believe in vengeance and wish I believed in karma. Karma, please show up. =)
In another comment (also still screened) I replied to a fellow pit bull owner who hoped vick would get injured so badly it would end his career with the following:
::applause::
Though your hope/imagination is slightly nicer/less vindictive than mine.
For the two or so of you who haven't been here long enough to know, to use another of this author's characters as a reference point, I am probably no more inclined towards wishing ill upon those who deliberately and with joy torture to death those I care about than, say, Arya.
=)