Short Answer: No.
Reasoning: Caveat #1: I don't agree with anything Michael Vick did. Caveat #2: I don't hate dogs, in fact, I love dogs (but I probably hate YOUR dog - I mean, just because you are used to your dog being annoying as hell, doesn't mean I am, nor does it mean that I want to deal with it. Why do I have to let him/her get used to me? It's a dog. How about we put it outside or in it's cage until it learns how to behave around people? But, I digress). On to the post...
Michael Vick has paid his debt to society. He has been arrested, convicted, sentenced, imprisoned, embarrassed, and humiliated. He paid for it too. Severely. And literally (he filed bankruptcy and had to pay $20 million to his creditors). And for what? Killing dogs. 6-8 dogs was the range he admitted to. 6-8 dogs. Killing one dog is wrong, but let's lend some perspective to this figure:
- Between six and eight million dogs and cats enter U.S. shelters every year.*
- Four million cats and dogs—about one every eight seconds—are put down in U.S. shelters each year.*
- Total number slaughtered last year (2009)**:
- Cows: 980,000
- Pigs: 113,733,800
- Chickens: 8,658,860,000
So, we slaughter eight and a half billion chickens, and euthanize 3 to 4 million dogs a year in this country, and we are going to send a guy to the slammer for almost two years for killing 6-8 dogs? (Two more things here: 1) I realize that he probably killed way more than 6-8 dogs, but after looking at the above statistics, even if he killed 600-800 it still doesn't change my opinion (it says 3 to 4 MILLION!); and 2) I realize that Michael Vick, in running a dogfighting ring, committed serious federal crimes, which, by definition, carry longer prison sentences. OK? I get it.) However, it still seems like overkill to me. Isn't pet overpopulation a serious problem in our country? Don't you remember Bob Barker reminding you, at the end of "The Price is Right," to have your pets spayed or neutered? And at the same time, society, and our justice system, values the life of a dog (or 6. Or 600) over two prime years of one's life. How do we justify this discrepancy? We can't. The word "asinine" comes to mind. And yes, part of me feels this way because I have been robbed of watching him play during that time. I loved watching him play even when he couldn't complete a pass and/or ran on every play. He's electrifying. And football is even more fun to watch when he is playing. I realize that is not a mitigating fact pertinent to his jail sentence, but this is my blog, so deal with it.
You want another reason? How about this: Donte Stallworth (another NFL player) was convicted of killing another human being, while driving an automobile, while drunk. He served 30 days in jail. 30 days. How do we justify this discrepancy? Again, we can't. Let Michael Vick be. He served his time and continues to pay his debt to society (he is speaking at schools about the ills of dogfighting and the negative effects it had on his life, and he has partnered with the Humane Society to attempt to eradicate dogfighting in America). Let's just continue to enjoy watching one of the best comebacks in the history of sports.
And I hope I don't have to face him in my fantasy playoffs.
* The Humane Society
** United State Department of Agriculture
No comments:
Post a Comment