Um... why do we give a shit about Michael Vick?

[whatchamacallit]

Is it a sports thing?:shrug:

[Chulanowa]

1. It's a "he mangled and terrorized dogs to make a buck" thing

[whatchamacallit]

2. Yeah he blows. Why is he still news? (nt)

[Skittles]

3. CORRECT

[Greyhound]

4. "We" don't. He had a great game and a couple of sport nuts decided to push

this non-issue out from an ESPN article.

The thing that gets me is that he hasn't done one fucking thing to demonstrate any remorse and nobody's talking about the other charges that they just let slide because he's a football player. If he was just another black guy that got caught doing what he did, he would have got 20 years.

Understandably, that upset some of us.

[xchrom]

5. i only care enough about vick to say -- fuck 'im. nt

[Dr.Phool]

6. A sadistic pice of shit.

He could redeem himself by wrestling six, twelve-foot alligators on pay per view. Proceeds going to animal shelters.

100% of dogs agree.

[michaz]

7. People that abuse animals also abuse people.

How would one like to live with him?

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. It's a complex issue with many sides...it's fascinating, and a source of disagreement

People come to DU mostly to commiserate with others or debate with others.

The Vick case offers an opportunity for both.

In fact, it's NOT a sports thing at all. It is a very public case with a number of dimensions that people here care about:

You have people who work closely with dogs, or simply have dogs and other pets.
You have people who work with ex-offenders and care about ex-offender issues.
You have people think about and care about animal cruelty.


The issue also cuts along racial lines, largely because the ways we think about animals is often inflected along racial lines, and the ways we think about ex-offenders is similarly shaped by ethnic identity to the extent that some populations see much higher rates of ex-offenders in their families and communities (mostly due to systematic racism). There are numerous other facets involved as well: what is the nature of punishment? What is the nature of employment? How is justice parsed out along racial and class lines? These are not uncomplicated questions.

So what you have in the Vick case is a bundle of many complex and emotional hot-button issues on display in the very public forum of the NFL: we are reminded of these issues - which have merely been embodied in this person, Michael Vick - each time he takes the field.

Not only are these threads not really about sports, they are, ultimately, not really about Michael Vick. He's just the vehicle that allows people to access complicated questions in a concrete way.

[TexasObserver]

9. Some who love animals more than they love people seem to hate him.

Some feel otherwise. They believe that a crime has a punishment, and upon that punishment being served the criminal is entitled to reenter life.

It's a clash of two priorities - one for those who think of themselves as champions for dogs, and one for those who think of themselves as charitable to humans.