Hurting people?
Don't get me wrong, torturing animals is indicative of perhaps the weakest moral character imaginable. I'm a bit puzzled, though, by the fact that we seem to get alot more worked up by it than by crazy violence against people. Show people a movie with innocent people getting slaughtered and it's sort of par for the course -- we're very desensitized toward it. Show a dog getting hurt, and there is much stronger reaction.
I mean, we harm and hurt animals all the time. What we do to some of the things we eat isn't that different from what Michael Vick did. It's just legal. And I think other than the most fervent PETA types, most understand and sadly accept that experimentation (including some quite brutal stuff) on animals to find cures for horrible human diseases is a choice that a civilized society can make responsibly.
I would posit to you that given the number of players in the NFL and the rough circumstances that many of them have come out of, there are players currently on rosters that have done some very very bad things in their lives, and some of it that I personally would find worse than what Michael Vick is accused of doing, which is not to minimize what I said about about the moral depravity it takes to fight and execute dogs.
This was not alledgely about a single dog. This was essentially mass murder and torture of dogs on a large scale, with Vick being the guy that bought an entire property for this single purpose, as well as supplying all the financial backing.
A crime of passion where OJ kills his ex-wife is clearly awful, and we all feel bad for Nicole and her boyfriend, But it was a quick and isolated incident which may not have even been planned (at least not very carefully). OJ never ran a plantation for torturing wives. He is more likely just a self centered POS with serious anger management issues.
This dog fighting ring is essentially an organized crime syndicate with a blingy name (Bad newz), a place of operation (Vick's crib), and a CEO (Vick), as well as COO (Taylor).
It is alledged to have gone on for 5 years, if I am not mistaken. That is a lot of blood shed for a lot of dogs.
I disagree that there are very likely to be ANY players in the NFL who have done worse than this. Add up all the suffering of all these dogs, and I just can't imagine what you would compare it to? A couple of bar fights, beating up some fellow college students? Getting drunk and crashing your car, and accidently killing somebody in the process of driving home (with no actual malice aforethought).
Some people feel that humans deserve so much more protection that dogs, but I see it the other way around. I see dogs as being at the mercy of their owners, and not having any real protection from cruelty in most situations. Humans, meanwhile, have some form of a justice system at their call.
Vick was clearly warned not to engage in this type of behavior coming out of college. For him to give the big f#ck you to the league that has made him a multi millionaire international celebrity, and sponsor a criminal enterprise based on dog fighting, is dumb. But it also shows that he really thinks he is above the law, and also will bite the hand that feeds him. And, of course, that he is immune to the suffering of animals.
The nature of the crime is very premeditated. If this was about even one single human, instead of countless dogs, he would be facing the death penalty. There is almost no chance that he will ever get the full 6 years, however, because it isn't about humans suffering. Most likely he cops a plea or gets convicted on some lesser crime and spends a year in jail.
