I'm sorry - did I actually say I believe Vick is rehabilitated in my post? I don't think so. I said the opinion isn't exactly newsworthy considering the source. An animal rights activist hates Vick - news at 11.
This is a fiercely political issue, and it has little to do with Vick. You have no idea if the man is changed/rehabilitated, and neither do I unless you have attained omniscience. You would be a "fool" to claim it isn't possible to rehabilitate with little knowledge of the man or the culture he grew up in. As with alcoholics, occasionally "rock bottom" does cause people to see the error of their ways. There is an ex-con/former failed bank robber now writing briefs few lawyers could draft for an elite appellate group of attorneys who argue before the Supreme Court after winning his own appellate arguments. He screwed up big time, but learned from his mistakes and now earns an honest living.
The only 'facts' you know in Vick's case are the positive and negative spin put on his story by the sides to this story published in the media - redemption or villain, Obama or PETA. People make plenty of mistakes, and some actually learn from them. Did Vick? Who the hell knows. What I do know is that unless you are Vick or close to Vick, you certainly don't and neither does anybody else similarly situated. You just read the crap spoon fed to you by the media and choose to believe one version or another.
I grew up with plenty of pets and think little of people who are cruel to animals. But the self-righteous looking to pillory this guy for life hopefully have never met a person who has spent a day and jail that has not been written off forever, and hopefully believe anyone in the criminal justice system deserves to die because that person has no place in civilized society regardless of what he or she does to change.
In my opinion, if Vick turns his life around and actually does something positive in this world, then that's awesome. If not, then he deserves what he gets as a result. At this point, the verdict is still out on whether he is still a thug or whether he learned his lesson. What you claim as 'handlers' may be real change, or it could be PR to tide him over until he is in the clear and free of criminal implication with a big contract in hand. I don't claim to know what the deal is right now.
And there is a culture in which dog-fighting is accepted, just like bull-fighting, an equally brutal and cruel sport, is accepted/cheered in Mexico. What one person views as a fluffy pet is another person's working animal. If you can't grasp that, that different groups recognize different norms, for good or for bad, then you live in a tower far from society. Sometimes education changes the perceptions of those groups recognizing unacceptable norms, and other times it doesn't.
Until we know for sure, until he slips up to the great satisfaction of many, then the people harboring an ever-burning hatred for the man must live under the misapprehension that for every moment spent not hating the guy, a puppy dies somewhere in the world. Hopefully they have the same opinion of every NFL player convicted of harming a person or they have a pretty whacked sense of personal values.
