If Michael Vick should “burn in hell”…then Jason Kidd should? Elijah Dukes is? Julio Lugo should? Sam Brandon?
The longer this Michael Vick thing goes and the more I hear about animal rights activists so loudly saying how evil he is and how he should burn in hell, the more I wonder what these people are thinking when Bosox Julio Lugo takes his wife’s head and slams it on the hood of his car. I wonder where these people are when MLB rising star Elijah Dukes sends his wife a voicemail message of “you dead, dawg.” I wonder where the boycotts and picket lines are when the Denver Broncos give a hefty contract extension to a player who has had repeated run-ins with the law for repeatedly beating his wife.
Dogs don’t deserve the barbaric treatment that they get in these dog-fighting circles, I get that. I get that they can’t speak out for themselves so that’s why people need to do the speaking. I get that everyone is going after Vick because he’s the big, famous target of the most popular sport in America and maybe then people will stop and think before they raise a dog to fight. What I don’t get is how people can prioritize injustices in such a way that basically says that cruelty against dogs is more important of an issue…is an issue that people are more passionate about and organize quickly for…than men’s violence against women.
Cindy said,
July 28, 2007 @ 3:30 am
When you look at someone like Vick that was gifted with such talent only to throw it away in such a horrible way. To have the money available to you that could help so many, he spent on killing defenseless animals. Given the chance in his life to give back to society, he chose to take away. It’s not only him as other’s have pointed out. No different that spouse abuse. Do these guys feel like they are God, and nothing can touch or hurt them. They are so bored that it feels good to inflick pain on another living thing. Sorry to his Mother, what about sorry to the kids that looked up to him as a role model. What about sorry to the animals he so cruely took their lives. Oh that’s right, he didn’t know because his good old cousin lived in the house. He had no idea what was going on. Besides being cruel and inhumane, he’s also a lier, fake and a disappointment to many. I hope the courts see through the lies and punishment fits the crime for Bad Kennels.
admin said,
July 28, 2007 @ 7:14 am
I agree with you in that Vick is throwing away his talents and riches for something so ridiculously stupid and inhumane as dogfighting and i’ll go so far as to say that he probably had full knowledge and involvement of the dogfights on his property but I really cannot agree with you when you suggest that dogfighting is pretty much “no different [than] spouse abuse.” The fact that people are even arguing that dogfighting is somehow worse than domestic violence or rape just is completely unbelievable.
Joan Chandler said,
July 28, 2007 @ 8:42 am
Admin, you’re wrong, sorry. Do you honestly believe that these guys, often involved not only in dogfighting but illegal weapons and drugs, are Mr. Nice Guy after watching two dogs tear themselves to pieces? After wetting down an animal and electrocuting it. Give me a break. You think none of them force themselves on women, hit their kids and their wife? I’m sorry, it is no different than any other kind of abuse because it all stems from the same things - psychotic behavior, sadism, and inhumanity. It’s like someone saying, I’m in perfect health except for this huge cancer I have in my stomach. These are sick people walking around doing God knows what else. I find it unbelievable that you don’t think this is part of a much bigger picture, a true sickness. Abuse is abuse. Inflicting pain is inflicting pain. Oh, I just like abusing animals. I DOUBT IT. Any psychologist will tell you abusing animals, as one psychiatrist said, “means these guys are just getting warmed up.”
Lorraine Henry, M.D. said,
July 28, 2007 @ 9:07 am
I’m a psychiatrist. I’d like to cite the phrase from Mahatma Gandhi: “A nation can be judged by how it treats its animals.”
Most people who abuse animals eventually move onto abusing people or will participate in some sadistic activity which carries over into their daily lives. Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy all tortured and killed animals before (and sometimes after) they abused and killed their human victims. Psychologists consider animal abuse a huge red flag when they see it in a patient. Men’s violence against women is certainly a carryover from such behavior. I do not believe that one can judge society in a vacuum. If you haven’t read the indictment, I suggest that you do.
I do not think that people prioritize injustices. People due to their own backgrounds have different passions. If not, we would all be the same. The fact that there are people outraged over dogfighting in no way means they do not care about other cruelties and injustices. In fact, these are often the most sensitive and caring people. I suggest that we need caring, sensitive people to offset those I will refer to in a non-psychiatric way, monsters. I would not pity Vick’s mother too much. I have been told by an attorney that she is in this, and I quote “up to her ass.”
Maria Rademacher said,
July 28, 2007 @ 10:45 am
No one has the right to tell anyone else what injustices they should be fighting and in what order.
admin said,
July 28, 2007 @ 5:17 pm
To the person who posted the above three comments: I don’t know, maybe “Joan” “Lorraine” and “Maria” are all sitting at the same house having a breakfast party and you all read my post together and then decided to reply individually.
Or, you know, it’s just one person who decided to try and slam me by pretending to be three different people (one of which is an M.D.!). (IP logs, one of the perks of running your own blog.)
But anyways, i’m not going to delete any of the three comments because while you’re making up people (and credentials) to try and pad your argument, you still have an argument to make and the one that struck me the most was the last one. I understand how you could have gotten that I am telling folks that x cause is greater than y cause and y cause is greater than z cause which means that z cause isn’t a cause to really back. And while it’s certainly understandable to get that suggestion from my post, that’s not exactly what I mean. Do I think that domestic violence is more important of a cause than cruelty to animals? Yes. Do I think that people who are passionate about animal rights are all ignorant idiots who don’t know how to prioritize their causes? Well, no. My comment was meant to be a general criticism about our culture as, if you’ve been following any of the stupid things male athletes do in the world, it basically tells the world that domestic violence isn’t as important or newsworthy of a story as dogfighting.
And to respond to the comment about animal cruelty and the connection between that and abusive behavior that goes beyond animals…I’m sure this is true. But if that is the case, then why don’t I hear media outlets or the protestors specifically talking about such a connection between men’s abuse of animals and men’s abuse of women? They don’t mention it because the focus is solely on the lives of the animals. I think it’s also interesting that you make that sort of comment when Michael Vick, as far as I know, hasn’t been charged with beating his wife/girlfriend/whoever (he was accused of giving a woman an STI, however). It doesn’t take but a second to see dozens and dozens of male athletes in every realm of sport (but particularly football and baseball) who beat their wives and girlfriends…they’re doing it right now when you’re theorizing something along the lines of: “well, we should punish the hell outta these guys because they’re likely to beat their wives.” Where’s the attention and where’s the spotlight on the guys out there making millions of dollars who have been charged, arrested, convicted multiple times for sexual assault and DV?
Renee said,
July 29, 2007 @ 8:11 pm
Luke, you’re completely right.
And these commenters (or commenter?)are being very disingenuous for the exact reason you described: if people are so outraged over violence against animals because it LEADS to violence against women then where is this outrage when we’re faced with ACTUAL violence against women? You certainly don’t hear this kind of outcry over it.
People: nobody’s arguing that animal abuse is Very Bad, but if you think it’s equivalent to violence against human beings I just don’t know what to say to you.
admin said,
July 29, 2007 @ 10:33 pm
Exactly! Thank you. Where’s the talk about the violence being committed in the here and now?
And I also want to address another quote from the Joan, Maria, Lorraine or whoever you are which pretty much sums up why I couldn’t disagree with you more: you call someone like Michael Vick a “monster.”
He’s a monster? Don’t you think that’s just a little bit of a cop-out in seeing things in the vacuum as you suggest me of doing…when you basically just step back and say “well, he’s a monster…he’s just an anomaly with no rhyme or reason so better to just lock him up.” When boys and men shoot up schools, we call them “monsters.” When men rape and murder women, we call them the same. I’m not saying that these men aren’t scum or don’t deserve to rot in jail…but it’s easy to drop the “m” label on someone like Vick and a lot harder to look at society in such a way that is 100% responsible in creating a culture for these “monsters” to thrive and go without being called out.
For another example, let’s take Barry Bonds. This man has been emotionally and physically abusive with an ex-girlfriend, said some extremely racist and sexist things over the course of his career and what’s everyone talking about ? Whether the man took steroids and HGH. All the sportspages and water-cooler talk is about how fake his numbers are and then how bad of an example he is to kids because (gasp) kids are going to start taking steroids and die in the gym! Well, yet again we have zero mention of his grabbing his ex-girlfriend by the throat and threatening to kill her if she ever left him.
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