Michael Vick: Torturer/murderer wants another dog!?
Read Time:4 Minute, 18 Second
The animal-abusing quarterback wants a dog, but his name is still synonymous with the gruesome torture and killing of dozens of pit bulls. Vick is a bad guy, just like OJ. Sooner or later he will kill a person. Mark my words but read the story:
What does Michael Vick want for Christmas? A dog, apparently. Don’t panic: He’s not allowed to get one until 2012, when he finishes the probation that followed his nearly two-year prison sentence for running a dog-fighting ring. But there’s much anticipatory anxiety in the air nonetheless.
It all started this month, when the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback told a group of children at the Boys and Girls Club of Newark, N.J., that he longed for a canine companion “more than anything in the world.” He’s said such things before, but for some reason the press took notice of it this time and Vick was soon reiterating the statement in interviews.
“I think [getting a dog] would be a big step for me in the rehabilitation process,” he told NBC News and the website theGrio last week. “I think just to have a pet in my household and to show people that I genuinely care, and my love and passion for animals; I think it would be outstanding.”
Needless to say, many people are finding this idea less than outstanding. Though Vick has plenty of supporters (and that’s to say nothing of his game performance this season), they seem to have been drowned out this week by a mighty wave of blogospheric indignation. Countless Internet commenters are wearing out their caps lock keys in disapproval. Meanwhile, a casual survey of those ultra-precise data collecting devices known as Internet polls suggests the no-dog vote is in the majority.
Though Vick has made a great comeback on the field, his name is still synonymous with the gruesome details surrounding the torture and killing of dozens of pit bulls in his underground operation, Bad Newz Kennels. These days, he’s also known for making a rather strenuous-seeming effort to save his image. Last year, amid great controversy, Vick teamed up with the Humane Society in an anti-dog-fighting campaign, and he regularly talks to schoolchildren about how to treat animals humanely.
Whether or not Vick is sincere — and like any outside observer, I can’t presume to know — I’d bet most people won’t be able to look past his crimes any time soon. That’s because as much as we love redemption stories, particularly those involving celebrities, a lot of us love animals even more, sometimes to a degree that defies rationality.
Let’s say, hypothetically, that Vick had been imprisoned on spousal abuse charges. And say that after serving his time and declaring himself rehabilitated (and getting divorced along the way) he was suddenly in the headlines for marrying again. Would there be as much of a public outcry? Would newspapers take polls as to whether he should remain single forever? Would people actually be debating whether a judge should order him not to marry again?
Puppies seized in St. Louis raid. Vick and his gang of killers would have, at the least, cut off their ears.
There would certainly be interest and concern. But my guess is that a “Wedding Bells for Wife Beater” story wouldn’t elicit quite the level of emotion we’re seeing with the “Dog Abuser Might Get New Dog” story, and not solely because we’re accustomed to reading about bad behavior and poor judgment on the part of humans. There’s just something profoundly upsetting about an animal being hurt. On the day in 2007 that Vick’s abuses came to light, there were undoubtedly countless other stories in the news detailing great human suffering. But it was the suffering of nonhumans that elicited the most outrage, not just because their torturer was a famous athlete but because, well, those poor, poor dogs!
Such responses are not a function of caring more about animals than about humans. On the contrary, it may be that human suffering, particularly child suffering, may be so painful to contemplate that we focus on animals instead. But I also wonder whether the uncomplicated relationship we have with animals often means that any distress we experience around them is equally uncomplicated, and therefore that much more intense. Just as the grief we feel when we lose a pet is a raw, untempered grief, the rage we feel when we learn of cases like Vick’s is a pure rage, an anger undefiled by careful analysis or perspective. In that sense, the debate surrounding Vick isn’t about whether or not he deserves a dog. It’s about the power of visceral reactions. In the face of this one, it’s hard to imagine there’s anything he could do to redeem himself.
Michael Vick, like his friend and mentor, O.J. Simpson, is a killer and a murderer. The similarities: they both got away with it. The double murderer, Orenthal J. Simpson, is locked away for many years. Michael Vick, on the ohter hand, is free to kill and torture animals while at the same time “inspiring” the young people to “emulate” him.
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good article. I agree with everything you said.
I appreciate the article and agree with it. However, I don’t feel your question about whether people would be as upset if he had been a wife-beater and was remarrying isn’t a good comparison. If he was a wife-beater and it was well publicized, the woman he was marrying would be making her own decision (albeit stupid). People would be just as upset had he abused a child and was looking to adopt and I think that is a closer comparison. Neither an animal nor a child would have any control over that situation, where an adult woman would or should.
so what he did his time and oh wait fuck you
fuck you vick is the best
Die painfully NOW
I had to skim quickly through without really looking as it makes me so sick to think of what happens to those poor dogs. Michael Vick should not EVER be allowed to own a dog again. Would they let a pedophile adopt a child??? It’s crazy.
Fortunately, WordPress accesses the comment field first. You know what I want for Christams? No animals tortuted and living in horror.
I can dream…
…if I can dream of a better land where all my brothers walk hand in hand…
Happy holidays to you and those you love sis…..
I heard that and I was horrified. That picture is more horrific, though. It is disturbing. Can you replace it with a happy puppy, please.
John I did add a large picture within the post of happy puppies. Fortunately for them they were not given over to the “care” of scum bags such as Mike Vick …..
Oh man, those pictures, I got to the first one and scrolled quickly down to make this comment, yeah with my eyes closed if you want to know. I cannot stand to see innocent animals in any kind of pain. This is probably what will happen and trust me I will be so angry about it. He will come off his probation, you know he has served his time to the state, then he is free to go get an animal. Sad as that may be, he will be allowed to do it. Hopefully he will have people around him, that would prevent a redo of what landed him in jail but that’s just wishful thinking. I’ll send him a stuffed dog, who does he play for so I can get an address?
I would suggest to him a lion or tiger or something wild and ferocious, but that’s just me demon thinking he might get hurt one day and that is very wrong. Or is it?
It is not wrong Jess. On the contrary I agree with you. I despise this man with every fiber of my being, and have no respect for those who still worship him as a HERO, simply because he can throw a football. Perhaps a wolverine as a pet? Hmmmmm….:-)
Those pictures are heartbreaking, the full story however, will make you weep. As a dog owner/lover I cannot fathom the amount of pain visited on these beautiful and intelligent creatures by Michael Vick and his gang of fellow murderers. I will not speculate on the appropriate punishment.
Lt there is a great book titled “The Lost Dogs.” It tells the story of the adoptions of the “survivors” of the Vick holocaust. I recommend it.
I DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW THE REST OF THE FOOTBALL TEAM CAN PLAY BESIDE SUCH A CRUEL MAN. VICK MAY BE ABLE TO GET ANOTHER DOG(S) THIS YEAR. WHAT FOR? HOW CAN ANYONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND ALLOW AN ANIMAL THAT IS LOYAL TO YOU, TO HAVE THE FACE RIPPED OFF. ALL THIS IN THE NAME OF MONEY THAT VICK DOES NOT DESERVE NOR NEED. I STILL WANT A REFUND FOR THE FOAM FOOTBALL SOMEONE I KNOW PURCHASE NUMEROUS YEARS AGO. THE FOOTBALL WITH HIS NAME ON IT HAS NOT SEEN THE LIGHT OF DAY SINCE. HE IS A DANGEROUS MAN AND SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ALLOWED BACK ONTO A TEAM. HIS DUES WILL NEVER BE PAID. NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO TORTURE ANIMALS. THE COURTS MAY HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT VICK DID TO ANIMALS, BUT THE DOGS HAVE NOT. WHEN A DOG WAS TO TERRORIZED TO FIGHT OR WAS BEING RIPPED APART OR REFUSED TO FIGHT, VICK SHOT IT. WAS THIS BECAUSE HE WAS LOSING A BET OR THAT THE TIMID DOG WOULD MAKE HIM ‘LOOSE FACE ‘I DO NOT MEAN’ LOOSE FACE’ LIKE HIS DOGS DID BUT, YOU KNOW HIS PRIDE WOULD BE HURT. I WONDER WHAT HIS MOTHER THOUGHT ABOUT HER SONS ACTIONS.
Allow me to speculate on the punishment for “The Lt.”!!! EVERYONE OF THOSE ANIMAL MURDERING SOB’S SHOULD BE PUT IN A PEN (ONE AT A TIME) WITH THE MEANEST PIT THAT THEY HAVE, OR THE ONE THAT THEY ABUSED THE MOST.THEY SHOULD BE NAKED AND RUBBED DOWN WITH STEAK JUICE. LEAVE THEM IN THERE UNTIL THEY ARE DEAD OR UNTIL THE DOG TIRES OF THEM,,WHICH EVER COMES FIRST. WOULDN’T THAT BE JUST!!!
I have some ideas for our prison system also. Unless you shoot in self defence or you have to shoot someone to keep them from killing someone,,if you commit a crime, you should have the equivalent of that crime repeated to you…you kill, your killed-you rape,your raped(with something,not someone)-child molesters,well,it’s too gruesome to say, use your imagination! The parents of the child, getting to choose the punishment, is a great idea! And so on….
I think that is an appropriate speculation!!!
Well thanks for stopping by Lesley.