Michael Vick’s Sob Story
December 15, 2007 on 1:47 am | In culture, ethics |I just read these letters written by Michael Vick and a few of his supporters (including his mother, Hank Aaron, George Foreman, and Shirley Franklin - the goddamn mayor of Atlanta) to the judge in his dogfighting trial. They’re pleading for a lenient sentence in light of all the “good things” Vick has done, and how he’s genuinely remorseful. First of all, I can’t understand why anyone is willing to gloss over Vick’s vicious, cruel, deliberate, and premeditated actions just because he maintained a good public image — let alone people with reputations, and no personal connection to the case. How can anyone perceive dogfighting as anything short of shockingly cruel? And how could they claim that his entrepeneurship and operation of Bad Newz Kennelz for six years was a temporary lapse in judement, a one-time mistake? Their shoddy arguments are all the same in principle: that an already wealthy athlete’s canicidal cruelty to dogs for his own profit is morally insignificant compared to his history of visiting poor kids in the hospital. The prevailing sentiment seems to be that compassion is for humans, and if we throw any scraps of it to the dogs, they’re lucky.
The main point is: fuck Michael Vick. His letter reeks of hyopcrisy; he even has the audacity to portray himself as an animal lover who never learned that dogfighting was a serious crime. Perhaps he loves women too—so much so that he’d start raping them and taking their money if they ever knocked that statute down to a misdemeanor? I also bristled at the part where he emphasizes that his dogs were in “good health” and he always “made sure of the continuous upkeep of the dogs.” I suppose if you counted running the fighting dogs on treadmills as keeping them in “good health,” he might have had a point - if only his other method hadn’t been drowning, hanging, and electrocuting the dogs who weren’t in such “good health.” It’s also morbidly amusing that he says he’ll work with PETA to fight animal cruelty — PETA is responsible for far more unnecessary animal deaths than he is, especially in North Carolina, not far from Vick’s hometown of Newport News! I hope the judge has enough ethical sense to give Vick the maximum sentence. Maybe in prison, when Vick gets his ass kicked by other inmates, he’ll realize that Cajun Rules aren’t really fair.
And shame on Hank Aaron, Warrick Dunn, George Foreman, and Mayor Franklin. They’ve exemplified the worst kind of anthropocentrism and do not deserve the respect and recognition they’ve traditionally enjoyed.
Lastly, to those of you who are still clinging to some fantasy of Vick’s righteousness, get real. He led a double life, and he was a brute who hurt living, feeling beings for his own perverse enjoyment and profit. No matter how remorseful he claims to be (while pleading for leniency), he wouldn’t have ruthlessly engaged in this blood sport for six years unless he were, face it, a bad man.
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Interesting entry dear Simian. A similar phenomenon occurs whenever a wealthy, respected member of the community is accused of child molestation. While there are false accusations, the number of real guilty perps who get letters or friend of the court briefs in their favor from friends and professionals is astounding. Apparently people have just never figured it out that ones public or professional appearence can have little or not bearing on a persons moral conduct when it comes to their shadow side.
“Anyone that says Vick/whoever could do that doesn’t know Vick/whoever” Bullshit. The Vick you know might not have done it, but then, that wasn’t the Vick that was doing it.
There was a recent article in Wired about a leading figure in Gene therapy accused of molesting this girl he had been mentoring…none of his colleagues could believe it, he was such the disciplined, controlled guy. Don’t judge a book by its cover and the greater the man, the greater the evil inclination…
Comment by Jon Kelvey — December 16, 2007 #
The main point is: fuck Michael Vick….AMEN. I hate people getting special treatment because of being a celebrity. If the prick did it for six years he is simply a sack of shit and should pay for it. If you can fight dogs for that long and not see anything wrong with it you got some serious issues.
Comment by Willie — December 17, 2007 #
This brings us back to a conversation we had recently- empathy: is it learned, inherent, or cultivated? On the subject of his awareness of his wrong doing, did he not see the pain and destruction he was causing in the eyes of it’s recipients?
After repeating the act for 6 years, did he become numb to it, desensitized, or did he derive pleasure from it? I think it’s obvious that empathy can be relative to the moral framework that exists in a person (which is subject to change).
I’d like to think that a human being is inherently kind and empathetic, and cruelty is learned from cruelty, but even my 4 year old son took GREAT pleasure in stomping on insects and watching them squirm (until I tricked him into perceiving things from the opposite side of the equation, now he avoids killing them when possible).
My point is that while it doesn’t excuse his behavior, and he should definitely face incarceration for his actions, he might actually have learned some empathy from this situation. Maybe thats just naive, idealistic thinking, but I think we all attract a level of karmic return. Payback’s a bitch, but one can only hope that while he’s paying for it, he will be regretting it for more than the damage it’s done to his life, maybe it will prompt some change in him as a person. Who gives a fuck you might say? We’re all in this bullshit together, so I think it matters.
Comment by Daniel M — December 17, 2007 #