For a minute, I couldn’t quite understand all the vitriol surrounding the Mike Vick dogfighting situation. Yeah, I understand that dogfighting is bad. The dog I had as a young’n got killed by some dudes who sicced their fighting dog on him. Now granted, I’ve never been one of those ‘my dog is my best friend’ type people. I mean, I like animals, but that’s as far as it goes with me. I don’t even really like keeping dogs in the house, so I may be missing some of the emotional element, but while this dogfighting indictment is not insignificant, I simply could not understand why it’s being made to be as big a deal as it is. Then I read the comments in this article in the Richmond Times Dispatch, questioning whether the priorities of the press are out of order.
Now I get it. Dogfighting is far enough removed from most people’s vices that it allows for a strong sense of self-righteousness. Especially given the inhumane treatment Vick and his cronies are alleged to have given the losers. Most of us know that we would have nothing to do with that kind of activity, so that’s free reign to point and harp and jump and dance and act like dog fighting is theeee worst thing that has ever happened or that could possibly happen. The fact that Vick is young, rich, and Black only fuels the fire for some people. For the most part, though, it’s the same phenomenon that fueled the ratings for Jerry Springer and shows of that ilk: ‘There’s somebody worse than me, so I must not be so bad.’
Entries (RSS)
What about the medics who oversaw human torture at Guantanamo Bay, or the brass who sanctioned electrocution, feces smearing and waterboarding at Abu Ghraib. People around the world follow that, not U.S. pro football.
NFL players have been killing animals for sport (they would call it hunting) in their free time since the days of Bart Starr and John Unitas. Where were PETA and the US Humane Society then?
To suggest that hunting is the same as dogfighting is like saying arrest = assault. It’s like saying eating meat is murder.
PETA doesn’t count.
–
The angle I’m taking on all this has to do with the extent to which ‘black royalty’ are just low class after all. We feel especially let down to see our former champions disgraced from their own foolishness. And you have to ask yourself finally if we even know how to live.
But then we know Warren Moon or Rodney Peete would never sink that low. When we look at R Kelly, we know Teddy Pendergrass would never sink that low.
You can’t just show class, you have to have class.
Cobb:
Hunting with a shotgun is neither analogous to arrest nor assault, neither or which is fatal. When done with no eye toward eating the prey, it is at least as cruel as traning fights to pet, and has a higher fatality rate. Just because it is more popular than dogfighting, doesn’t make it right.
There are no instances of any indigenous cultures hunting for pleasure. It is the height of incivility. Many NFL players from the South and Midwest hunt. For “fun”. No one says boo.
And if PETA doesn’t matter (some of Vick’s former endorsement partners such as Rawlings, Reebok and Nike would beg to differ- $$$$), the ASPCA does.
That’s it right durr. What if it was adultery? What if Vick had been caught absolutely red-handed, pix an urrything? Is pitbull fighting worse than adultery? I don’t really think so and yet we know there wouldn’t be the same hue and cry.
Still, Mr. Mexico simply has to know better. If it’s true, this was a mindnumbingly stupid thing to be associated with.
Is dog fighting worse that adultery?
For me, yes. Not worse than child abuse or harming your spouse, but worse than boinking someone else.
Why? Because I find something inherently disturbing at.bout inflicting harm on another creature for fun.
I don’t see the parallels with hunting, but then I live in West (by God) Virginia, where many people hunt, and they either stock their own freezers or stock the freezers of local food pantries. Which is perfectly fine
I think that anyone who inflicts harm on another creature for fun *should* be taken to task for their deeds.
And for what it’s worth, Lyndon Johnson created a furor when he lifted one of his dogs by their ears. And that’s nothing compared to dogfighting.
If I get this right, you’d rather catch your husband cheating on you than training a pit bull for dog-on-dog fights. OK fair enough, Meesh, we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one.
For the record, I don’t view the pitbull stuff as trivial, but I think it’s more like Ave said re how uncommon it is (and, to be truthful, it’s utter savagery).
Michelle:
I’m not talking about hunting to eat, man has done so since long before supermarkets. My point was that I’ve read many NFL memoirs and season diaries dated in the 1960’s, and those boys hunted for “fun” (or, to use the nomenclature of those involved, sport). Why is drowning a pooch worse or better than downing an innocent buck or duck?
Well, to be honest I don’t believe that I have to worry about either, but I would be far more disturbed by my husband engaging in acts of cruelty than in having an affair, because I don’t see how such cruelty could not pervade someone’s entire life.
Essentially, I would never be able to feel safe around such a person.
Bijan C. Bayne
My fault.
I honestly don’t know anything about the private lives of sports figures except for what is bad enough to hit public radio. (Okay. I hear about Randy Moss and Pac Man Jones, but that’s a WV thing.) So, when I think of hunting, I immediately think of what occurs here, and other possibilities don’t enter my mind.
So to make it clear, I am opposed to hunting for sport–especially places that raise animals solely to be shot by rich and lazy people (be they sports figures or politicians). That too falls under the grounds of cruelty in my book.
Michelle:
The Vick issue is racially-motivated. Other NFL star quarterbacks such as Bret Favre kill and maim animals, only they do it with shotguns and state licenses. The ASPCA and PETA haven’t said a mumbling word about it. Thanks though.