The Mike Vick case... am I a life nit?
 

I knew there was something about this that was bothering me and I just figured it out. I'll preface this by saying I hate the [censored] because I absolutely love dogs, but from a legal perspective, I'm not sure this makes sense to me.

Somehow or another, the law has established a different value for the lives of various animals. That is, if it was a human fighting ring (after all, humans are animals) he would obviously get life in prison, but if it was a mosquito or ant fighting ring (although you'd never do this), nobody would give a [censored].

While I must say that I agree with this system, is the law really written this way? If so, what is the "equilibrium" animal so to speak where people start caring and you could be charged with a crime?

I guess my real question is, where in the legislation does it suggest that if you have an insect fighting ring that's fine, but if you use dogs you're [censored]?

Like I said, I'm probably just a life nit.

Re: The Mike Vick case... am I a life nit?
 

For the same reason people get alarmed by the prospect of dolphin getting caught in tuna nets while not giving a damn about the tuna.

You don't understand why dogs are more valuable to us than insects?

Re: The Mike Vick case... am I a life nit?
 

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For the same reason people get alarmed by the prospect of dolphin getting caught in tuna nets while not giving a damn about the tuna.

You don't understand why dogs are more valuable to us than insects?

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I do and I agree with you if you read my OP clearly. But I want to know how this issue is addressed in legislation.

Re: The Mike Vick case... am I a life nit?
 

It is addressed in this kind of way for example: (about animal testing)

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The act’s definition of “animal” makes the act applicable to any warmblooded animal used “for research, testing, experimentation, or exhibition purposes, or as a pet; but such term excludes (1) birds, rats of the genus Rattus, and mice of the genus Mus, bred for use in research, (2) horses not used for research purposes, and (3) other farm animals....”

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They get very nitty about things, it's not just "don't hurt animals."

Re: The Mike Vick case... am I a life nit?
 

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I do and I agree with you if you read my OP clearly. But I want to know how this issue is addressed in legislation.

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People assign value to things. A component of the value is how much some life gives to people. Obviously, many people receive a lot of joy or companionship from their pets, so they are valued more then a mosquito.

Not sure why this is so hard to understand? It's subjective of course, but pretty all of life is subjective. It sounds like you're looking for some completely objective quantification of everything.....Not going to happen.

Re: The Mike Vick case... am I a life nit?
 

I think this whole thing is ridiculous.

Ray Lewis was involved in the murder of a HUMAN... the press, NFL, and general public got over it in about 12 months...

I honestly believe Vic will never play in the NFL again and I find it kind of ironic that Ray Lewis will be starting this season.

Re: The Mike Vick case... am I a life nit?
 

PS... I hate Vic and his attitude... never thought he was a great QB... and I feel he is getting what he deserves... BUT, the flip side is that multiple drug / DUI offenders and guys who were associated with murder charges are still playing and getting paid millions in the NFL.

Re: The Mike Vick case... am I a life nit?
 

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PS... I hate Vic and his attitude... never thought he was a great QB... and I feel he is getting what he deserves... BUT, the flip side is that multiple drug / DUI offenders and guys who were associated with murder charges are still playing and getting paid millions in the NFL.

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But as long as it's still illegal to bet on NFL games online, the integrity of the athletes will remain intact.

Re: The Mike Vick case... am I a life nit?
 

I'm a dog lover, and I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that this guy's life is completely ruined by all of this. At first glance, it does seem disproportionate. Mostly I think it's because he has so much more to lose than some random dude who's organizing dog fights. Your typical dog fighter probably has already done time and doesn't have a day job (I imagine), so getting busted and losing "everything" doesn't mean that much. It doesn't make what Vick did any worse than somebody else, but it makes it so much more colossally stupid it's unbelievable.

Also, remember that if the allegations are true, it's not like Vick went out one day and attended a dog fight and now it's all coming crashing down. If I understand the allegations correctly he bought property dedicated to the purpose of dog fighting, had people on salary managing the day-to-day of the operation, personally bought and killed dogs in the practice of the operation, provided all the money including that used for the gambling side of it, etc etc etc. To do all of this over an extended period of time and not either stop because of the morality of it OR because of the risk to your career is mind-boggling.

Because of this I think what he did IS way worse than having a few too many and driving a car, for instance. Probably 5,000,000 people did that this weekend. Also, Ray Lewis wasn't convicted of anything. If he had been, things would be different for him (and again, I'm assuming that Vick is doing time). If you want to argue that he's been convicted by the media and the public without getting his fair day in court, so be it. But prior to being acquitted I think Lewis was getting a pretty fair share of heat.

Re: The Mike Vick case... am I a life nit?
 

A local radio meathead here actually said that what Vick was accused of was way worse than what Kobe was accused of.

WTF.

I think it's worse to rape one woman than to torture and kill all the dogs on earth.

Vick is a scumbag if he ran a dogfighting ring, but he's far less of a scumbag than someone like, say, Warren Moon, who beat the living [censored] out of his wife to the point that his child said 'my daddy is killing my mommy' to the 911 operator. Moon is in the Hall of Fame, Vick's career is over.

Something's not right here.