I'm going to say everything I have to say on the outrage over Michael Vick and the alleged dogfighting pretty quickly. First, I think dogfighting is awfully cruel, I would never do it myself, and I would hate for my future children to be in any way involved with it. Second - what is worse to you - beating up your spouse, or arranging a dogfight at your house? What is worse, getting a DUI after driving 100 mph on the highway after 7 drinks, or arranging a dogfight at your house? If you follow sports at all (and athletes off-the-field incidents), you know exactly what I'm getting at.If your answer to either of those questions is the dogfight, we are not thinking on the same plane, and on a relative basis, I place much higher value on human life than you do. That is all I have to say about this topic, I hope it disappears as soon as possible from the press.
5 comments:
Actually Eric, you are wrong about this one. Letting two dogs fight until one dies is much much worse than the other crimes you've described. I don't think you've thought this one through enough and I'm not sure if its because you've never seen dog fighting footage(probably) or that you're coming from the point of view of a jaded NFL fan (more likely), or that unconsciously, you'd like to see Vick play. I'm by no means an animal rights person, but Vick SHOULD go to prison for this.
Leo
I think Vick should go to jail for the dogfighting, make no mistake about that. I also think you should go to jail for beating up your wife, and I DEFINITELY think that you should go to jail for a serious DUI.
I have seen dog fighting footage, and it is awful. I am probably a jaded NFL fan, and it's possible that I have an unconscious desire to see Vick play.
But to me, the other crimes are worse. I suppose the relevant question here is intent - one could imagine hitting your spouse out of a sudden burst of rage, and certainly many of us have driven when we shouldn't have. When you organize a dogfight, you probably intend for at least one of the dogs to die, and almost all of us can't imagine ourselves doing that.
Some of us measure crimes more by intent, others of us measure crimes more by their impact on human life. Driving 100 mph after 7 drinks means you can kill people, even though you don't mean to. Organizing a dogfight probably means dogs will die brutally, even though it's possible one or both will survive.
Reading what I wrote before, I realize it sounds condescending, which wasn't precisely what I was shooting for. I mean what I said literally - some people place more emphasis on intent (the bad people should go to jail and Vick is a bad person), while others are more concerned with human life and the relevant externalities.
It will suck, but I will continue to be okay if Vick the dog-killer is at large. But Vick with 8 drinks and a Ferrari? I'm less okay with that.
And as for my desire that the story disappear from the press, I don't mean that Vick should not be punished. I mean that in the sense that, if the media isn't going to lose its mind over the DUIs and assault incidents, it should let this go as well.
some sports radio host on xtra was on kroq this morning and was wondering why this story gets more press than the rae carruth story or that nfl player who crashed his car into his pregnant wife's car. i guess it has to be because vick is a "superstar"
in part, i agree that other crimes are far worse. killing a human is worse than killing a dog, but it also depends on how its done. KNOWING that you will kill something and planning out new cruel ways to do so is really disturbing. so i dont know, beat your wife or pick up a dog that lost a fight and slam it into the ground until its dead? which is the worse of those 2 evils?
but id actually be kinda suprised if vick got significant jail time. every time an athlete gets convicted of something they serve their time in the off season or have their court dates pushed back to accommodate game days, etc. its nice to see the falcons owner so pissed and im hoping to be surprised by the courts and im really hoping his career is over, regardless of the type of player he is. but honestly i wouldnt be surprised if he played in all 16 games next season.
My personal guess is he won't play a game next season. Goodell is on a mission.
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