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A Little Perspective, Please
Dogfighting is bad, but it is not a “crime against humanity,” nor should it be getting more attention than actual crimes against humans.
Also, the GOP base is stepping beyond opposition to abortion, and pushing back against the pill. Mitt Romney is the latest convert.
And finally, my GRE experience.
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10 Responses to “A Little Perspective, Please”
Let’s not forget the Hispanics love affair with bull fighting. Ask the rednecks about – Hog-Doggin. Ray Lewis the football player was involved with an actual murder after his Superbowl win. A man is murdered and Lewis doesn’t cooperate with the police. Ray Lewis is still in football. Mickey Mantle and Ray Lewis aren’t heroes, they are grown men playing children’s games at an exceptional level.
Crimes against humanity, no. But crimes that affect humans, yes. Abused dogs (and dogs trained for fighting are definitely abused into permanent aggression) hurt people.
There’s not a lot of real bulls running loose in urban neighborhoods. PIT bulls, on the other hand, are quite numerous, and all too many of them are fightin’ dogs. Or “guard” dogs, not trained but just abused by dopers to keep them mean.
Defenders of the breed will say it’s the owner, not the breed, and they’re right. But as long as they’re used (and abused) as fighting dogs and the bad-ass dog of choice for bad owners, yes, they’re a problem. And the Vicks of the world are the ones creating that problem.
My guess is that Vick will be playing in the NFL again in 1-2 years.
Tully – Many popular dog breeds became problems or violent because of over breeding and malevolent breeders. Dalmatian’s, Doberman’s and German Shepard’s all were problems at one and even so today. When a breed is trained and raised for violence, it has nothing to do with dopers or the ghetto. Pit bulls are used for Hog-Dogin, I don’t think 50Cent says “Get her done.”
Vick is done, besides the blood line is bad, what about his younger brother? 18 months in prison will mean months or years to get back in “game shape”, both mentally and physically.
It may not be a crime against humanity, but it is an especially vicious and brutal one nevertheless. To organize the destruction of so many dogs just for the thrill of it seems beyond sick to me. Remember the serial murderers who started out as animal abusers- its the same trait- a sociopathic lack of empathy for living beings.
1. Dogfighting may not be a crime against humanity, but torutring animals is oftern a precursor to very disturbing behavior later (think mass murderers like Daumer).
2. The pill = abortion?
Okay, why don’t they just seek to outlaw sex and be done with it. Or, maybe laws that keep women occupied between the kitchen and church, with one child on her hip, another holding on to her skirt, and the third on the way, would do the trick.
So much for Romney as a serious candidate, as far as I’m concerned.
kritter – I do not want to be put in the position of appearing to defend Vick, because I am not, but your statement is hyperbolic, to say the least.
To equate what he did with being a potential serial murderer is to confuse cause and effect, or more correctly predictive behavioral patterns with immediate actions.
While it is true that many (but not all) serial killer exhibit tendencies of animal and other forms of violent abuse as children, not all (or even a sizable percentage) of children who abuse animals grow up to be serial killers.
Also, having lived in Hawaii around large Filipino communities, I can tell you that a very large percentage of them LOVE cockfighting, which is basically the same thing. I wouldn’t characterize Filipino’s as a society of serial killers though. And there are many other societies that are as accepting, and even celebratory, of similar activities. I don’t think it is necessary to list them out, though.
David is right. There is a certain amount of perspective that is being lost. As a whole, American culture does not support true blood sports, particularly involving animals. However, even within the US there are sub-cultures that do, and it does affect how they perceive the animals of their sport.
As they are not pets to them, but a monetary livestock, their willingness to ‘put down’ financially defective stock is no different than a farmer putting down a cow or a sheep, at least to them.
That said, the manner that was used by Vick and his associates, though, does show that more than just ‘culling of the herd’ was going on.
But I still don’t think Vick was a sublimated serial killer.
AR – At many fairs and carnivals south of you cockfighting is the ENTERTAINMENT. While in Saltillo(Coahilla) I skipped the bullfights and cockfights, just on non-interest in “blood sports”, but the “El Conejo Loco” was another story. I just recently discovered the slang connotation for Jimmy Carters nemesis. Different cultures have different tastes, I’m guessing the Hispanic influence in the Philippines has something to do with their love of blood sports.
AR- I don’t think I said that all people who abuse animals turn into serial killers- just that they share the same trait of lacking empathy for living beings- which they do. I can’t equate it with cock fighting- because in our culture dogs are prized pets- which is not the place of the cocks in the Hispanic community. In any case, I think that is savage and cruel as well.
For me this is not so much about the dogs as it is about him. Dogs contribute a great deal to our society beyond comfort and companionship. They lead the blind, rescue people from death and sniff out drugs & dangerous bombs.
However, the problem is what is in Vick’s human psyche that he would want to do this? If he just wanted to kill the dogs, he could have done that easily. The decided to torture them and that is about Vick, not the dogs.