Tuesday, October 2, 2007

You May Not Like What I Have to Say

I don't approve of dog fights but then I also think that boxing is a cruel sport. Two people climb into a ring, and try to see which one can knock the other one out first.  I don't get it, but lots of people clearly don't have a problem with boxing, even though on occasion, someone dies as a result of being in the ring. One is legal, the other is not; I get that. I also understand that the dogs don't have any say so as to whether or not they will become fighters. 

I also recognize that this is a society where boxing is an acceptable, popular, profitable, and legal sport.  But this is also a society where sportsmanship often takes a backseat to violence. Fights among opposing teams at athletic events have become expected in some sports. The violence has invaded the little league venues as well.  Parents yell, curse and smack each other while attending their children's athletic activities.  In a truly sad case a few years ago, one parent beat another parent to death as a result of his disagreement with the way the victim monitored a pick up hockey game. As a society, we often behave badly and engage in violent behavior.

We also mistreat animals in other contexts. Hogs, chickens, turkeys, etc. are raised under horrible conditions to supply us with meat on our tables. There is nothing humane  about slaughterhouses. So, I'm tired of folks acting as if Michael Vick is the second coming of Satan because of his involvement with dog fighting. I think that he is definitely ignorant and could have used a good mentor to help him understand that he was on a dangerous and self-destructive path. I think that he was engaged in an illegal activity and deserves some punishment. I find dog fighting reprehensible and cruel. I cannot comprehend how anyone would view it as entertainment, but conservative estimates are that there are 40,000 people involved in the business end of dog fighting--putting on fights, buying and selling dogs. The size of the viewing audience cannot be precisely determined but dog fighting prize purses may be as much as $100,000. It's a big and illegal industry.  However, I also know that Mr. Vick did not invent dog fighting and there are far scarier monsters walking among us than Michael Vick.

I can't stop myself from reading the comments on message boards about the Michael Vick case. Many advocate that Vick be executed for his cruelty to animals. There are also a shocking number of comments that seem to associate Mr. Vick's activities with his race. According to many posters, Mr. Vick is typical of violent black men. One poster keeps repeatedly adding his comment, "Send the Darky home." I'm not clear as to where home is. Mr. Vick was born in this country; he is home. In my home state of North Carolina, generally the sad looking individuals paraded on the evening news who have been arrested for dog fighting are white men and a few white women. I have never concluded that they somehow represent a predilection for violence in white people.

Over the years, I have rarely witnessed this much excitement about cruelty to human beings. The young black woman who was recently held and tortured in Tennessee by the rejects from "The Hills Have Eyes," hasn't garnered as much media attention or outpouring of caring as the abused dogs in Vick's case. Her story has barely caused a ripple in the media although she was held for more than a week by six people who repeatedly tortured, raped, and humiliated her. It happens that the six people were white and three of them were women, but it has never crossed my mind to conclude that white men and women are sadists based on the actions of these six people.

Even when we are convinced that someone's actions have resulted in a loss of life, society doesn't always extract the same penalty. The facts and circumstances are weighed along with the intent of the perpetrator and the  severity of the act. The woman who alleges that she forgot that her two year old was in her car for eight hours will not be charged with a crime in the child's death. The prosecutor says that the act was clearly an accident and doesn't rise to any level of criminal negligence on the part of the mother. The minister's wife who shot her husband in the back while he was in bed, received a three year sentence and served a total of seven months. My point is not to suggest that she deserved a longer sentence but merely to point out that even in murder cases, there may be reasons for the judicial system to show leniency.   People kill, torture, rape and otherwise abuse other people, and receive far less public condemnation than Michael Vick, and far lighter prison sentences than what he is facing.  I can't help but wonder what motivates us to maintain such fervor about Vick's bad behavior but placidly ignore so many other transgressions that surround us on a daily basis.

Now they have decided to save all of the fighting dogs except one. Quite frankly, I wouldn't want one of these dogs for a pet or even living in my neighborhood. However, saving the dogs makes people feel good about how caring and humane we all are. It's so much easier than taking care of the homeless, feeding the hungry , providing aid and support to victims of domestic violence and child abuse, making our prisons into places for rehabilitation, or just plain giving a damn.

Thanks to two journal land friends who in writing about this topic inspired me to examine my own thoughts on the matter, Barry and Spencer. Click their names to read their thoughts on this subject matter.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

We are so inundated with news from all over the world, it is often difficult to keep up with it all. This is well written, and the examples you give to make the point are very persuasive. I had my say about Vick back when it first hit the news, but I believe justice will be served... I don't think he deserves any extreme penalty. Ignorance comes in all colors, at all income levels.  bea

Anonymous said...

I fully appreciate your sane and well thought out article. I have been inundated by some animal lovers on one of the sites where I post commentary between some of my poems who think I must be sick to not care for animals. In none of my writings do I indicate I don't love and try to protect animals but questioned the overwhelming response to the dogs in Mr Vick's case yet simultaneously ignoring many human interest stories like you mentioned. For some reason Mr. Vick was presented as "the master abuser " of animals and had to be dealt with in a harsh way though it was well known the many people involved in dog fighting across the country. How can we call ourselves caring people when we ignore the plight of so many human ills yet pounce squarely on top of the head of one man for abusinig animals.

Good write, dear lady.

Spencer

Anonymous said...

Well, as far as the racial thing, O.J. killed two people, and when he got off, everyone ascribed it to his celebrity, to his ability to buy justice via expensive lawyers. And yet if he had been found guilty, would we not have heard it ascribed to his race?
And here Michael Vick, as rich and renowned as O.J. is said to be the victim of racial vendetta when he is found guilty of cruelty to animals. I don't buy it--do we really think a white quarterback would have incurred any less revulsion?
The pathetic thing about all of it is that his crime is not considered proportionately.  Are we saying it is the same thing to kill a dog as to kill a human being? I'm a dog lover, but I think it's obscene when I hear of people spending $3000 to save a beloved pet in surgery when such a sum could save scores of human lives.  And the Vick-haters better make sure they are vegetarians, because what he did to the dogs is no different that what happens to millions of cows, pigs and chickens every year. (Why is there no hue and cry about factory farming?)
Vick should have received a year's suspension, and then be forced to pay a few million to maintain animal shelters and spay and neuter programs. Maybe set up a program to teach inner city kids how to train guide dogs. But a few years in prison? What a waste. (Just like Martha-who's money could have run battered women's shelters for years.)
(Ironic that a man glorified for being so good at a violent sport should be so condemned for his inability to see dogfighting much differently.)

Anonymous said...

Very thought provoking and well written Sheria.  I abhor violence of any kind.  It sickens me.  As long as I live, I am sure I will never be able to understand or get my head around people who can hurt, maim or kill animals, each other or the environment in any way shape or form.  We live in an increasingly sick world.
Marie
http://journals.aol.co.uk/mariealicejoan/MariesMuses/

Anonymous said...

I have read that the dogs were each evaluated by knowledgable people, some will go to foster homes, many to a sanctuary (where, in part, they will learn not to be afraid of humans), and one was a known biter of humans and so that one will be euthanized.  I do believe that they deserve a chance if realistic.  You have some great points.  You might find this article by Courtland Milloy to be of interest (as he raises similar points, and my daughter almost wrote an essay about his article, except it got too heavy for her for a light writing assignment, but she and I did discuss this previously):  by Courtland Milloy, August 25, 2007, page A13 of The Washington Post, "Behavior Beyond Decemcy":  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/24/AR2007082401948.html
To me, that there were several dogs found emaciated and injured is just despicable.  I also believe that the inhumane treatment of other animals that are raised to be eaten, or their biological products will be eaten, is despicable.  (If you recall, I'm a vegatarian.)  The mistreatment of children is despicable.  I don't comprehend humans boxing, either, but as you point out, at least that's supposedly voluntary.  Michael Vick is not the epitome of Satan here.  He is not alone.  This despicable inhumane treatment is not limited to those of any particular race.  In my opinion, he and his codefendants should receive appropriate punishment, just as I believe others should who mistreat other living creatures so horribly.  I wish that his was more of a rare case than it is.  It HAS brought more exposure of this into the common media.  (FYI - I don't find humane treatment of animals raised to be eaten to be despicable; I may still not prefer it to other food sources that strain our resources less, but more should rally against inhumane treatment, of all kind.)

Anonymous said...

well written.  i agree.
gina

Anonymous said...

Sheria, your inquisitive mind takes you to seek answers you'll never truly have, in my opinion.  We're so human, meaning so fallable, and yet still have the capacity to give our last dollar to a homeless man, or help someone on a walker cross the street, the myriad, unnoticed acts of kindness of humanity everywhere.  You won't hear about them much, but I know they'll give you insight into what being "human" means. To me, it's people able to get thrills watching one man beat another half to death, betting on an animal's ability to live, prejudice, hate, greed, all of it - and at the other end, the glorious fact that we HAVE life and can make these choices, and the truth is, most of us choose decency and love.  As you do.  CATHY
http://journals.aol.com/luddie343/DARETOTHINK/  

Anonymous said...

I think Bea had a point about ignorance. It doesn't matter whether it be an animal, a human being, that violence erupts against. It's all a life that is wasted on the efforts of cruel, vicious acts. We can only do so much, but every little bit is something. Media outlets to me these days betray us, they look for sensationalism, attention getters. Things that should get more attention such as the blk woman who was raped and tortured, don't get enough. Nor do the humanitarian acts of so many get enough attention. When was the last time you read something positive about someone making a difference in someones life in the news? I don't hold your opinions against you, I do feel all living things deserve to live without cruelty and abuse. Animal abusers, violent abusers often progress to killing or abusing human beings. If you can harm an animal, smash it's head against concrete, what is to stop you from doing the same to a child or a human being? Could Vick kill another human being? I don't know that, but you have to wonder at someone being able to beat a dog to death don't you? (Hugs) Indigo