Last Piece on Vick (I think. At least for a while?)

I believe that part of the reason this story received so much coverage, is that this case of a superstar gone crazy really hit America in the gut. It hit America in the gut the same way child molestation, mass murders, deaths via natural catastrophes hit--low and with a considerable amount of force.

Originally, I wasn't sure how to approach the Michael Vick saga in this post--as I stated in an earlier post I thought he would pay someone off to take most of the blame, he would cop to something minor (i.e. a character flaw, not an illegal act; e.g. "I trust my friends too much") and head to training camp. I underestimated the evidence and the coercive abilities of the Feds in that regard-they got the others to roll and House of Vick came tumbling down.

There were several issues that were addressed in this post so I'll try to give my take for each the best I can because as much as I thought this was over with in my head, your insights brought some things to light (thank you all again for taking me out of the mundane and helping/forcing me to think about myself):


Michael Vick is an evil bastard and/or an idiot.


A young Black man from the projects uses what God gave him and through hard work, a strong spirit and probably great support from the adults around him, makes it to the big time-and then he fucks it up. He's not the first and won't be the last but, knowing that doesn't take the pain away. Every time this happens I can hear a racist saying "You see: you can't give them folk money." I said it before and I'll say it again-more has to be done at the college level to prepare student athletes for the responsibilities and challenges they will encounter in the world of professional sports. I'm sure they have mentoring programs in place and I'm sure there are athletes who will not pay any attention to those programs but I believe more can and should be done.

Ultimately, however, we must blame the man himself. He never had a need to do this-even if he had been doing this for years he could have (should have) stopped. There is a certain degree of arrogance that is necessary to be a professional athlete-the idea you can get the 3 pointer at the buzzer, the kick from 60 yards out, or the home-run in the bottom of the 9th-it is what makes players champions. That arrogance has been getting celebrity athletes in trouble for years and it certainly did here. This is a classic case of it’s only wrong if I get caught. You are a sucker if you believe his apology. You don’t go from drowning and electrocuting dogs to “I found God” in a couple of weeks unless your lawyer tells you to. Do I want to believe he’s sincere? Yes, absolutely. Do I? Hell no. Let this man serve the time for the crime he committed before we talk about his comeback and redemption. When he gets out he can show me he how much he changed and then I’ll see if I will consider watching a game he’s in. It hurts to see a talented Black man and alleged role model go down like this but we can’t let reprehensible acts go unpunished. If he is sick ( i.e was abused himself) and has psychological issues they should be dealt with somehow. Unfortunately, all I see here is a dude bankrolling his homies’ mistreatment of animals.



Hunting/Dog fighting



I want to address this quickly. It should be needless to say: Hunting is not dog fighting. Dog fighting is not hunting. There is no comparison. There are similarities but comparing them is futile. In my opinion, neither is a sport, nor should it be. Sports are governed by a common set of rules for all competing parties. I have never seen an animal arguing rules. Do other sports use animals? Yes. Are horse racing, dog racing, other equestrian events, considered sports: yes. Should they be, no-- not unless the animals agree in writing. Dre, I agree with most of what you say and caution you not to fall into Lou’s traps. Half the stuff he says is just to irk you, I hope. Lou, I do agree however, hunting with anything but your teeth is unfair- that’s why I go to the supermarket instead, it’s easier.



Immoral vs. Illegal



As Mikha mentioned, there is definitely intense outrage over this which originates in our sense of responsibility over other living creatures, especially those we deem as unable to care for themselves. This sense of responsibility was introduced in the Bible when God put us in charge (he should have thought twice about that one, although Noah did do a good job). The idea has evolved into several philosophical strings each tied somewhere down the line to notions of human/animal rights. Peter Singer has several fascinating theories about morality and the equal consideration of interests and Richard Ryder first coined the term Speciesism in the early 70s in an attempt give animals an “ism” with which to fight back with. So far non-human animals have not organized an “Animal Pride” parade down 5th Ave but many groups are out there fighting for animal rights. That’s why they have pets, right, huh?

Anyway…America loves pets. Even broke ass people have pets in this country. They dress them too. Broke ass people dress their pets in this country. Ain’t that a bitch. Literally, sometimes. She’s wasn’t broke but Leona Helmsley’s bitch just got 12 million in the will-the NY Post’s headline: Rich Bitch. These are the type of people asking for Vick’s castration-the fact they were mostly White and did it in front of a Confederate Flag (the State keeps there) makes it seem racist in light of the coverage but I doubt most people who put together a group to fight for animal rights think about race implications in that context. Their focus was to bring attention to the suffering of the animals. They succeeded. Besides Bill Maher likes throwing race into everything just to see what happens. He is also an extreme animal rights activist and probably just wanted to send the message to more folk.

In any case, I too felt the outrage associated with Vick’s no-longer “alleged” actions. But I caution folk to parallel our own morals and with his. He should be punished because we understand what he did is illegal and his socio-economic status put him in a position to stop what he was doing. He also should have been counseled (maybe he was) to move his acquaintances away from their activities through the resources he has at his disposal. However, the immorality of the activity, in and of itself, should be viewed with more careful eyes. We all engage in activities that others may deem morally reprehensible and are sometimes illegal.

Every time you have oral or anal sex you piss off half the nation and Jesus cries. Every time a person lights a spliff, views a Pay Per View program without paying, or buys a DVD player, computer or Plasma TV from the back of a truck there is an implicit cooperation with the originator of the crime. And this is usually where people mention victimless crimes. Most crimes are not victimless, maybe jaywalking, but most are not. In fact, we have all seen enough episodes of The Wire, The Sopranos and seen enough in our own experience that we know the activities that many of these convenience crimes originate from are rooted in much more reprehensible acts than are visible from our living rooms (i.e. murder, extortion, etc.). In addition, every time we enjoy a burger or veal or chicken we don’t assume it died of old age. We KNOW it was killed so you can enjoy it. This is not to say that we are all without morals and that you shouldn’t bitch about dog fighting unless you are vegan. My point is basically that different morals apply in different situations and that universal morals should be applied with great caution. Had Vick not been Vick the superstar we would have less expectations of his moral standing. We expected Vick to be an upstanding citizen, he simply wasn’t. He disappointed us. For instance, would we be as angry at Vick if he was bashing pigs over the head with sledgehammers so he could make Bad Newz Bacon? Are we simply angry because dogs have personality? Do you remember the following dialogue from Pulp Fiction:


[VINCENT]: You want some bacon?


[JULES]: No, man, I don't eat pork.


[VINCENT]: Are you Jewish ?


[JULES]: No, I ain't Jewish, i just don't dig on swine, that's all.


[VINCENT]: Why not?


[JULES]: Pigs are filthy animals. I don't eat filthy animals.


[VINCENT]: But bacon tastes good, pork chops taste good...


[JULES]: Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie,

But I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfuckers.

Pigs sleep and root in shit, that's a filthy animal.

I don't eat nothin' that ain't got sense enough to disregard its own feces.


[VINCENT]: How about a dog? A dog eats its own feces


[JULES]: I don't eat dog either


[VINCENT]: Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal?


[JULES]: I wouldn't go so far as to call a dog filthy, but it's definitely dirty.

But, dogs got personality, personality goes a long way.


[VINCENT]: So by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filthy animal. Is that true?


[JULES]: We' have to be talkin' 'bout one charmin' motherfuckin' pig.

I mean he'd have to be ten times more charmin' than that Arnold on Green Acres, you know what I'm sayin'?

I think we should focus on Vick’s actions through the legal system, not a moral system. We all know America has a pretty twisted moral system. It is this that allows me to say he deserves an opportunity at redemption. He can come around on the moral stuff, he already did the illegal stuff.


America is a (racist) (hypocritical) rubber-necker.


Some people tuned in hoping to see the survivor walk out, others just wanting to watch the train wreck catch more fire. In either case people watched. I believe one reason people watched, blogged, read, was that Michael Vick epitomized the American Dream. Americans hold that dream near and dear and whenever something is about to wake us up from it we try to get deeper into it, as if we can control it. In this case it became a nightmare we should be glad we awoke from.

The coverage of this event was thorough but I can not state with conviction that it felt racist, not by design at least. I think Is’ take on it is on point. As I indicated above, America got hit hard, Michael Jackson-little boy hard, with this. Vick was on a high pedestal and that made the fall that much longer, his over-inflated ego probably kept it suspended that much more. America was built on the back of oppression and the profits of that oppression still control most of the power (via money & information). Racist attitudes continue to permeate society in medicine, employment, and education among other areas. Media is no different but in this case the demonization of Michael Vick came via his actions. As mentioned previously, people feel dogs have personality and personality goes a long way.

By special Bushwick correspondent: Ernesto Malave Jr.