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

[DrewDevil]

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

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absolutely disagree, 100%

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Why?

[amplify]

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Jason Kidd beat the crap out of his wife Joumana and got a slap on the wrist.

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To be fair to Kidd, Joumana seemed like a huge bitch

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Yeah, this totally justified it.

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Of course not, but it does bring up something. We do tend to assign human beings some responsiblity for the situations that they find themselves in, regardless of their actual culpability. We are somehow less compassionate towards a battered wife than towards a beaten dog because of this.

[PRE]

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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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True, but you're not taking into account that this is a new commissioner who doesn’t put up with this crap. I think the past would have been different had he been commissioner then, too.

[NT!]

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Dog fighting is a real hillbilly, red neck activity. Not something you'd expect to see a black guy with a lot of bling on doing. So the media has subtly been interested in this seeming social dichotomy as well.

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Dogfighting is popular (in certain places) among both white rednecks and southern black people. Mike Vick is from Virginia. It is not at all unusual that he would be exposed to it or be interested in it when he was a kid.

All the people saying 'our society cares more about dogs than women.' Two things

1. Until recently in human history, a man's right to beat his wife was fairly well recognized all over the world, including the US. It is still accepted in some cultures. Obviously that sucks, but I just want some of you to put this in perspective when you are trying to comprehend the lack of outrage.

2. Domestic violence and violence against women in general is usually treated with more of a 'he-said, she-said' attitude than it should be, again because we men are protecting ourselves from the consequences of our violent acts. 'Nobody knows what really happened except those two who were there.' Well, the hospital records give you some clue, you [censored] bastard.

But still, saying we care more about a dog than a woman is wrong. We care more about celebrity than we do about a woman. From a legal standpoint, the dogfighting is the least serious of the charges against Vick.

[EMc]

People have become over-exposed and desensitized to houman violence. Its the same reasom the saddest scene in a movie is if the dog dies versus if a human dies.

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Many of you seem to argue like the guy who gets pulled over for going 70 mph in a 50 mph zone and says" But, there was a guy that passed me going 90 mph. How come you're not giving him a ticket."

Judge each individual act for what it is. If you kill your gf with a knife I'm pretty sure the judge won't go easy on you if you argument is "Well, OJ got acquitted."

[WMB]

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Good thread. There are some very interesting and well thought out comments in this post. Some thoughts:

-Law enforcement has, in recent years leading up to the Vick case, taken a more aggressive stance against animal I personally agree with the people who think this is nothing compared to your average athlete wife-beating case (Jason Kidd, Robert Parish, Warren Moon, Michael Strahan, and on and on), and I love animals in general, but clearly America disagrees. Robert Parish pushed his pregnant girlfriend down a flight of stairs and severely injured her. How many of you know this, or care? Jim Brown threw a woman off a balcony. Jason Kidd beat the crap out of his wife Joumana and got a slap on the wrist.

Seems America cares more about dogs than female humans, otherwise Robert Parish and Jason Kidd would be 100 times more hated than Vick.

And don't even get me started on OJ. That Vick will go to prison and he didn't is beyond absurd.

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The difference in human on human violence is that there are complex psychological and interpersonal factors that go into it. Dogs are totally innocent creatures that are inferior to us in every way.

[Hollywade]

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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]?


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As ridiculous as it sounds, I actually like this question a lot.

[Tweety]

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Good thread. There are some very interesting and well thought out comments in this post. Some thoughts:

-Law enforcement has, in recent years leading up to the Vick case, taken a more aggressive stance against animal I personally agree with the people who think this is nothing compared to your average athlete wife-beating case (Jason Kidd, Robert Parish, Warren Moon, Michael Strahan, and on and on), and I love animals in general, but clearly America disagrees. Robert Parish pushed his pregnant girlfriend down a flight of stairs and severely injured her. How many of you know this, or care? Jim Brown threw a woman off a balcony. Jason Kidd beat the crap out of his wife Joumana and got a slap on the wrist.

Seems America cares more about dogs than female humans, otherwise Robert Parish and Jason Kidd would be 100 times more hated than Vick.

And don't even get me started on OJ. That Vick will go to prison and he didn't is beyond absurd.

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The difference in human on human violence is that there are complex psychological and interpersonal factors that go into it. Dogs are totally innocent creatures that are inferior to us in every way.

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Not sure I understand your point here. Are you implying that the events leading to a 7 foot man pushing a pregnant woman down the stairs are psychologically complex enough that it might be justified?

[Tweety]

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Dog fighting is a real hillbilly, red neck activity. Not something you'd expect to see a black guy with a lot of bling on doing. So the media has subtly been interested in this seeming social dichotomy as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

Dogfighting is popular (in certain places) among both white rednecks and southern black people. Mike Vick is from Virginia. It is not at all unusual that he would be exposed to it or be interested in it when he was a kid.

All the people saying 'our society cares more about dogs than women.' Two things

1. Until recently in human history, a man's right to beat his wife was fairly well recognized all over the world, including the US. It is still accepted in some cultures. Obviously that sucks, but I just want some of you to put this in perspective when you are trying to comprehend the lack of outrage.

2. Domestic violence and violence against women in general is usually treated with more of a 'he-said, she-said' attitude than it should be, again because we men are protecting ourselves from the consequences of our violent acts. 'Nobody knows what really happened except those two who were there.' Well, the hospital records give you some clue, you [censored] bastard.

But still, saying we care more about a dog than a woman is wrong. We care more about celebrity than we do about a woman. From a legal standpoint, the dogfighting is the least serious of the charges against Vick.

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I really think it has more to do with the fact that this is the first time an athlete (or any major celebrity) has been brought down in an illicit dog fighting ring. Wife and girlfriend beating is nothing new. That doesn't mean it isn't worse though.

The point about men being allowed to beat up women in other cultures is totally irrelevant. This interest in this case is excluded to mainstream America. I don't think many people in Iran know who Michael Vick is.

In America, domestic violence is unacceptable both in the eyes of the law and the eyes of normal, law-abiding citizens.

I guess people don't react strongly when a Jason Kidd or Warren Moon type beats up a woman because they don't expect much better from them.

The Vick case has brought about public outrage because, up until it, most people weren't aware of just how brutally these animals are treated in these events. Domestic violence is terrible, but it's not some novelty.