Playing the Race-Card– On Two. Set. Hike!

This is not an issue of race. People are not reacting so harshly to this group of four black men, or even the one black superstar, because of the color of their skin. The courts are reacting because they broke the law. The NFL is reacting because Vick broke their rules. The public is reacting because they find dog-fights and the ensuing executions to be barbaric. This is not an issue of race.

This did not stop one NAACP leader, of course, from recently calling for Vick to be given the benefit of the doubt by his former league, team, and sponsors. R.L. White, president of the NAACP’s Atlanta chapter, told America that “as a society, we should aid in his (Vick’s) rehabilitation and welcome a new Michael Vick back into the community without a permanent loss of his career in football.”

What ‘rehabilitation’ is he talking about?

Vick said, just weeks ago, that he was looking forward to ‘clearing his name’ of the charges against him. Now, in the face of his co-defendants turning on him, he immediately announces that he will plead guilty. These are not the actions of a remorseful man looking to better fit the mold his society wishes for him; they are the actions of someone who knows when he is beat and is trying to salvage some semblance of his former decadent life.

White alluded to this very fact, saying that he supported Vick’s guilty plea, if it was in the man’s best interest, but that he believed it was a decision more about “cutting losses than the truth.” Why are these two mutually exclusive? It seems to me to be a clear case of Vick and Co. cutting their respective losses in the daunting face of the truth.

White went on to say that Vick has received more negative press “than if he had killed a human being,” and that he considers dog-fighting to be “as bad as hunting.” So the real bottom-line for this guy is not that dog-fighting should be legal, but that other activities that he finds immoral, should be illegal as well. Maybe this guy is working for the wrong group; I am sure PETA would love to have a little chat with him.

Comparing a sport which is enjoyed the world over and follows in the foot-steps of man’s survivalist instinct to breeding animals with the express intent of locking them in brutal, mortal combat with each other for your own amusement and financial gain is pretty sad. It is even worse when you juxtapose a hunter stalking his prey and turning a successful kill into useful meat, hides, etc. with a bunch of drug-fiends hanging, drowning, and electrocuting dogs whose only crime was poor fighting ability.

Perhaps Mr. White’s most pervasive bit of wisdom shared that day though was his simple summation of the charges against Vick, “His crime is, it was a dog.”

No, his crime is, he bred and trained dogs to fight (a crime), gambled on the fights (a crime and NFL rule violation), while taking drugs (a crime), and then executed at least eight dogs in barbaric fashion (a crime, unlike hunting.)

If this guy was really concerned about racial injustice then perhaps he would have a better defense for Vick than saying that the quarterback has been hung out to dry by his co-defendants who are also black. That is merely supporting the man who has the most power and influence to lend to your side and nearly as ludicrous a case of passing the buck as comparing the charges against Michael Vick to sport-hunting.

Con-Vick

Well that was fast.

What had appeared to be several long months or years of Michael Vick ‘clearing his name’ in the court and media came to an abrupt halt yesterday as it was announced that the quarterback would plead guilty to the charges against him. At least Vick is smart enough to listen to his legal team and know when he is licked.

 

This was the only halfway intelligent move Vick could have made at this point. His thin sliver of hope at retaining his NFL career was rapidly diminishing (given that he was also facing gambling charges) and, as even Vick’s most vocal supporters were espousing, his chances at trial were pathetic given the public outcry already unleashed against him.

So, as the Vick drama is seemingly all over but the sentencing, I am left with questions. I do not condone dog-fighting or other activities of that ilk but neither do I believe that fighting dogs should necessarily warrant as much as five years in the clink. Afterall, the case here is over mistreatment of animals, and people seem to get off a lot easier in many cases for abusing and murdering other people.

Remember Kids, Like Russell says…

I recognize that these are animals which are bred and raised specifically to meet their inevitable violent death–granted. But then again, so are beef cattle (to a certain extent.) The lobsters we order for $10/lb have drawn a similar lot in life, don’t you think. But I digress from my previous point– I am left with questions.

Why kill the losing or feeble dogs in such a cruel fashion? Why electrocute, drown, or even hang a dog? Each seems an overly-involved and overly-dangerous way to do away with an unwanted animal. Moreover, it’s not like the other dogs are going to ‘get the message’ here. These are not kidnapees or POWs; they are dogs! We hang humans because it makes for an easy and graphic means of dispature of someone over which we already have corporeal control. I cannot imagine the process of hanging a pit-bull that has been bred for mortal combat to be a very easy one.

These are the offenses of Michael Vick which most anger me. If you breed dogs for violence, and they fail in that end, why needlessly brutalize them further in death? These are not rhetorical questions; I would honestly like some feedback on this. The only logical benefit I can see Vick and his cronies deriving from this cruelty is some sick psychological pleasure in killing these animals in such a fashion.

Ah, what the hell… Just fry him.

Dog Bites Vick

Well things continue to look worse and worse for dear old Michael Vick. The remaining two of Vick’s three co-defendants yet to cop a plea bargain did just that last week and have now admitted their guilt in the dog-fighting ring. Vick now stands as the sole hold-out in the court and, with his buddies now building the state’s case against him, the former NFL star looks to stand even less chance of beating this rap than his Atlanta Falcon’s do at making this year’s NFL playoffs lead by Joey Harrington.All this, of course, comes just a week after Nike and Reebok yanked all of their Vick-related shoes and jerseys from store shelves and effectively ended any future compensation from their respective contracts with the star. Michael Vick’s collectibles will also be absent from at least two of the major trading-card companies’ future offerings (we are told that the stick of gum in each pack, however, will still be present– hard and unpalatable as always.)

Never fear, those of you who still need to see Vick’s grinning mug on some mundane object in your everyday lives, because there is still one piece of Vick merchandise available on the open market. In spite of, or rather in response to, Vick’s fall from grace we are lucky enough to bear witness to the launch of a new era in commercialized crap– the Michael Vick doggy chew-toy.

Now your very own dog can do the job that Michael Vicks’ parents clearly never did and beat some sense into this moron. For just $10.99 (plus S&H) you too can watch as your Shih-Tzu exacts its toothy Cujo-esque revenge (once the several weeks of back-orders are processed anyway.)

So while you may no longer find Vick jerseys and t-shirts lining the shelves of your local store, the American quest for the almighty dollar continues. One man has lost his fortune and fame; Nike, Reebok, and their ilk are out millions of dollars on merchandise which will never sell; and the city of Atlanta is without its star quarterback. Yet the money is still flowing somewhere and, as is so often the case in America, it is the enterprising, inventive individuals who reap the benefits.

Michael and Marcus Vick: A Good Case for Dual Fratricide

Well maybe that is coming off a little hard on Marcus. Afterall, the only thing he has ever been guilty of is plying underage girls with alcohol, statutory rape, sexual battery, fraud, numerous counts of driving under the influence of various illicit substances, and pulling a hand-gun on a some teenagers in a McDonald’s parking lot (that last one was within a week of baby Vick’s being dismissed from Virginia Tech after racking up nearly as many police bookings as he did touchdowns during his distinguished career at that institute of higher learning.)

In spite of all that I suppose Marcus can breathe a sigh of relief this week as he apparently no longer holds the “Bad Boy” title in the Vick family. I still doubt it will help his odds in the NFL. Indeed it seems a bevy of DUIs and various other unsavory acts apparently pales in the court of public opinion when juxtaposed with animal abuse.

Personally, I think Michael Vick is a human piece of trash but the whole animal abuse thing seems blown way out of proportion. Why is it that people are so quick to jump on the dog-fighting issue? I agree that it is inhuman; but so are dogs.

I do not support or even condone dog fighting but the majority of society seems to imagine dog fights where their toy poodle is being pitted against the neighbors slobbering idiot Golden Retriever. The truth is that the dogs in these fights are massive, fanged beasts which have been bred to fight and kill. That does not make the situation any better but it does seem that so many of these people who would label dog-fighters as the most vile filth of the earth are the very same people who would not allow you to move into their community with your docile, pet pit-bull no matter how cute, cuddly, and good-with-the-kids as he may be.

Michael Vick is a scumbag partially because he is an animal-abusing low-life but predominantly because he is blind to his own success. This man was born into a dirt-poor family living in a Southern housing project and yet he rose to become one of the highest-paid, most highly-touted talents in the American athletic pantheon. He achieved great things despite his humble beginning yet was unable to maintain the most basic semblance of human decency required to retain this status.

Once you have reached the elite plateau in American society that Michael Vick had, all you really need to do play damage control and maintain what you have. The fans who made him the star he is are fine with a certain degree of debauchery; just don’t be an idiot about it.

Michael Vick is a piece of trash because he has lived and rebuked the American dream and now he expects unmittigated absolution for his misdeeds. The real lesson he will learn here is that, no matter what happens in the legal system, the court of public opinion in America is far harsher in its rulings and a great deal more influential when it comes to one’s ability to earn and retain wealth when you make your living off the sweat of your ego.