Not to refight old battles, but why should Michael Vick be banned from the NFL?.. .
Reprehensible? Disgusting? Vile? For what he did Vick is all those things and more, but killing a dog is not remotely as reprehensible, disgusting and vile as beating a woman into unconsciousness. . .
. . . It is apparent Vick is the default go-to Bad Guy when people want to find an NFL baller they despise. Vick is a easy pick. Say his name and watch the eyes roll, the hissing start and the fingers point.
There is a reason that Michael Vick is the go-to bad guy.
Interesting how the two situations are phrased. Ray Rice is described as guilty of "beating a woman into unconsciousness." This brings up the image of a powerful man beating a woman, hitting her over and over as she struggles in fear and desperation until finally she collapses into unconsciousness.
Except of course that's not what happened. He basically sucker punched her one punch and knocked her out. A disgusting move, but accurately describing it as a sucker punch does not carry the same emotional impact as does describing it as beating someone into unconsciousness.
Michael Vick is described as "killing a dog." Which is not quite accurate either. Michael Vick killed
many dogs over a long period of time. Not only did he force the dogs into the disgusting spectacle of dogfighting, but those that didn't measure up or we're not just killed it – they were tortured to death.
Some were hosed down with water and then electrocuted. Some were hung from nylon cords gasping for air until they died. Some were beaten to death, slowly,until they died.
Trying to play the game of whose actions were worse is silly, of course. And there is certainly a point of view that says any harm done to another human being is automatically worse than harm done to an animal, no matter what the circumstances.
I don't buy it. We see quite a few cases of horrific abuse at our local animal shelter. Dogs starved and beaten so badly they've lost an eye and although some become fearful or aggressive, some remain as sweet as ever. It's heartbreaking.
People who do that sort of thing, people like Michael Vick, are not only vile and despicable but for me are incomprehensible.
What Ray Rice did was truly awful. What Michael Vick did, for years and years, is truly beyond my comprehension. The attitude of some seems to be "sure what Vick did was bad, but they were only dogs after all. Why is everyone making such a fuss about it? There are people who do far worse things -- like punching a woman."
Of course, in general I like dogs a lot better than I like people in the first place. So yeah, there should be a special place in hell for those who torture helpless animals.
Whether the NFL should have the power to ban either person from their livelihood for their actions is a separate question.