What do I think about Michael Vick? Well first, let me just say I'm not a pro football fan at all, haven't been since I was a little girl growing up in Allentown, PA and you had no choice but to be one. Go Steelers! But that was a loooooong time ago, and ever since I've actually developed a strong dislike for professional football and its players. I find many of them overpaid, overrated and downright arrogant. And of course I am a MAJOR dog lover - duh, I've only devoted most of my adult life to working with them in some capacity. So, by all accounts I would be the prototype person calling for the head of Michael Vick. And I am. But at the same time I am disturbed by all the hypocrisy surrounding the issue. From the way it's being presented you would think Michael Vick invented dog fighting. This vulgar, inhumane and despicable practice has existed for hundreds of years, in fact it wasn't until 1976 when dog fighting was finally outlawed in all 50 states. Even more importantly, the reason dog fighting was outlawed had more to do with its association with other criminal elements (gambling, drug trafficking, etc) than our government's compassion for animals. Because let's face it, our government and society at large cares very little about dogs. This is apparent from the fact that hundreds of thousands of homeless dogs are euthanized every year like waste products. Where's the public outcry about that? Not to mention the fact that our government still considers a dog property, i.e. a dog owner can take a perfectly healthy dog in to be euthanized with no repercussions whatsoever because, after all, it's his property.
And then I guess we're supposed to believe the NFL really cares that deeply about animals and dogs in particular, huh? It's common knowledge that the NFL is no stranger to dog fighting. Quite a few players have been involved in it through the years but now that Vick has been outed, the NFL and commissioner Goodell want to distance themselves from it. Okay.
Well, let's look at the good that will hopefully come from all this. Dog fighting is under the microscope now. All the former case precedents will now come to light and the slap on the wrist sentences they've previously received will undoubtedly become much stiffer. That's a good thing. And maybe in an effort not to appear like complete hypocrites, all of us who are outraged by dog fighting will also take a stand on other equally barbaric and vulgar practices like fox hunting and any sport hunting for that matter. Yes, I consider the willfull, calculated and planned murder of an animal of any kind for sport to be despicable. I just can't understand anyone who takes a life of any kind for fun. Yuck.
So yes, string up Vick, if for no other reason but for being one of the dumbest people on the planet. He, along with the likes of Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie, et al, sure know how to mess up a good thing, don't they? Here he was a young man enjoying benefits that most people can only dream of and what does he do? He throws it all away. Idiot. And he has no one to blame but himself. He made his bed, now he will have to wallow in it. Good riddance. But while we are stringing him up, I hope we don't stop there. I hope this puts all killers of animals for sport on notice. Wrap it up any way you like it, you're no better than Vick in my book.
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Well, well, what to say after that...
First of all, let me say that my home is basically a news free zone. I do not watch the news or read the paper. Mostly because I have small children in the home and I do not think they are old enough to see all the bad news they choose to flood our world with. How about some good news make the 6 o'clock headlines for once! And because I have small children I do not have the luxury of reading much except for email. My dad will send me links to news he thinks I need to know about!
Anyway, back to the topic...
Of course I think Michael Vick and anyone else who is associated with dog fighting is a horrible human being. They rank up there with child molesters and murders. Isn't cock fighting still legal in some states? Do they still chase a real fox in fox hunting? I thought they had done away with the actual animal and only used the sent? Bull fighting is another one! I don't think Bull riding is humane either. The list goes on and on! Any cruel treatment of an animal should not be tolerated.
Oh, I'm not much of a football fan either. We didn't have a High School team so I never learned the game. Why do they chase a ball around and jump on top of each other AND get paid so much money to do it?
For the most part we exist in a news free zone as well. I can't remember the last time I just sat down and watched a full newscast. I just catch sound bites here and there, which is the worse way to get news. But one would be hard pressed not to have been bombarded with Michael Vick news. This country loves a scandal, especially scandals that involve celebrities. Remember the whole Paris goes to jail saga? That was ridiculous.
To my knowledge, yes, they do still chase real fox in fox hunting. :(
You know the only news I read are my celebrity gossip magazines, so anything that's actually important I usually don't even listen to.
So yes, tring his brother up right next to him because in all honesty, it's only a matter of time before he does something stupid (again) and takes over the top news story for a week...
The government could care less about our animals, as you said, "they're still considered property." Not to mention, with that database bullshit, but that's another discussion...Before dogs it was horses for me, so I see a lot of the same problems transfer over. The Pony Express ponies were used and abused and disguarded just as quickly for all the work and effort they gave the country. Hundreds of horses are sold into slaughter weekly, and there are still people who use what's known as "sacking" to train a horse. Basically tying it up and beating it until there is no fight left in the animal. I know this is a dog discussion so I'll try to stay on topic. So all in all, I gave up on the government ever giving a damn about what we all hold so dear. But I do agree with the way it's getting the publicity it deserves now.
Abuse gets all of our blood boiling I'm sure. He could have lead a comfortable and happy life, never having a worry in the world and screwed it all, so yes, good riddance and let's hope he never procreates...
As far as I knew they've stopped using actual foxes. It was either because of the extinction rate (big shocker there) or because of the cruelty aspect of it. There's really no need to catch the fox, it's more just thrill of the chase. So yes, I think they either scent a trail or have a fox safely kept "at the end of the rainbow" persay (which I don't agree with but atleast it can taunt the dogs from the safety of a cage).
that should say "String" right there in the beginning.
They do still use real foxes.
http://www.mfha.com
It is the thrill of the chase that they like, and sure, sometimes the fox gets away. But sometimes it doesn't. Granted it's much worse in England than here, but still. Why? Is it really fun watching an animal run for its life? Seriously?
Well, as most would suspect, I have quite a strong opinion about this whole thing. First and for most, yes, I think he deserves everything he gets 100 times over. However, I fail to see any hypocracy in the situation. They don't make it seem like stupid socialites invented drunk driving, but sharing their business seems to hurt them where it hurts...their pride, and in some instances, like w/ Vick, their wallets!!
It always sucks to see pit bulls in the news. People only ever see the attacks and the fighting. Sadly, even the local paper avoids the fact that a local pit mix just attended crisis repsonse training, only mentioning two breeds in their article...*cringe*...a golden and a doodle. The nice thing about the media coverage that went with this whole thing, was that for once, the beast was Vick and the pit bulls were seen as the victim.
Because of stupid people like Vick, responsible people are being told they must get rid of (put down, relocate, etc) their beloved "children". There are places that won't allow them as therapy dogs (and that only hurts the ones the they are there to serve). Our local gov't has even tried banning the breed all together. Our local shelters won't adopt out perfectly good dogs, and even baby pits are put down without a chance!! Jessie is a shelter pit, and for those of you who have met her, you know she is of no threat to society, and that the only thing she "attacks" are squeaky toys, but it's always a possibility that I could lose her, like many others have lost theirs.
For this I don't think there is a punishment harsh enough for Vick, or anyone like him. (though how about 1 year for every dog killed, just to start things off?)
(I could go on forever, sorry)
Samantha,
So do you really think our government cares about dogs, or animals in general? I don't. Like I said, thousands of healthy dogs are euthanized daily and our government doesn't care - nor does the general public, IMO. I also see a lot of hypocrisy just in the fact that now it's over. Vick was yesterday's news, now we're back to OJ again. I doubt Vick will even do jail time, but even if he does, it will be short and people will forget about it because that's how our society is. Case in point, how many people really thought about the significance of 9/11 last Tuesday?
Is it possible, besides PETA that there are people out there who really truly love deer? Bears? Foxes? How does it make them feel that this country endorses people shooting them for sport?
That's the epitome of hypocrisy to me. But that's just me.
It's an eternal struggle we all face when we love something that others consider "just an animal"
Even dealing with it in day to day life. Say one of our dogs was very sick and we needed the time off to take them to the vet. Most places would scoff at you, granted still give you the time off but make snide comments nonetheless.
I missed two days of school after the death of my horse and I know when I went back and people asked me where I'd been, I was actually not willing to tell them why because I didn't want to listen to the ridicule of idiot children.
So Vick has been swept under the rug, hidden with an ottoman like a nasty stain, and we'll probably never hear of it again.
Sadly.
"Vick was the beast and the pit bulls the victims." Beautifully worded Samantha.
Yes, Vick and his co-horts are definitely beasts. And there are LOTS of beasts out there right now, every day, killing Pit Bulls and lots of other animals. How many investigations of other Pit Bull fighting rings that currently exist are sitting under a pile on someone's desk? You would have thought with all the hype and publicity of the Vick arrest we'd be seeing Pit Bull fighting rings outed every week. and yet - nothing. Nada. Done. Those people aren't hard to find. We're not talking about rocket scientists here. Most of the ones I've seen are actually pretty dumb, uneducated, idiots. HBO, Dateline, etc sure seem to be able to find them. What's wrong with our law enforcement. Right now do you know what the top priority for most local law enforcement is? To find illegal immigrants. Pit Bulls are waaaaay low on the priority list, if they're on it at all. I see Pit Bulls with scars all over them suspiciously being walked around on heavy chains fairly often. How hard would it be to follow some of these guys around? You wouldn't have to be a member of a CSI team to figure it out. Oh, but no, that would take manpower and time, and money, right? Apparently Pit Bulls aren't worth the time, money or trouble, unless of course they are being killed by a big time football celebrity. Then that makes it worth it. Because if you arrest him and make him the poster child for dog fighting you'll get the big headlines for a few weeks, make people think you give a darn about animals, and then after a while you can go back to business as usual. Especially in our Commonwealth of Virginia that still deems dogs as nothing more than property. What they're hoping is that the Vick arrest will make animal lovers think they care. It's an attempt to pacify us. Serve up Vick and then maybe we will shut up for a while. That's what I mean by the epitome of hypocrisy. Well I, for one, don't buy it. I want to see our law enforcement and government at large DO SOMETHING about animal abuse, neglect and murder. But how can a society that allows sport hunting really take a stand on this? How can you legitimately rank one species of animal any higher than another? Why is it okay to shoot a deer for sport and not a dog or a horse?
I am not a pro-team-sport fan. What Vick did was TOTALLY wrong. Dog fighting, cock fighting, bull fighting and such sports are ingrained into some cultures. These folks are coming to the USA and encouraging these animal fighting sports. Not to mention the general public trend toward watching violence. Football, dog fighting, movies and some of the other public shows are all fights.
While on the topic of team sports. Fairfax county has literally spent MILLIONS of taxpayer dollars to install artificial turf in the kiddie sport play fields. And just a few thousand dollars on dog parks. Dogs are not allowed, even for tracking, on the kiddie sport fields. Total waste of taxpayer money.
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