Should we thank Michael Vick?

There's a part of me that wants to thank Michael Vick.  The bust at a house that he owned that revealed 60+ pit bulls that were being used for dog fighting is disgusting, and for me, unimaginable.

Then, Clinton Portis backed him up...supported him by saying "I don't know if he was fighting dogs or not, but it's his property, his dog, if that's what he wants to do, do it."  Meanwhile, Chris Samuels was in the background laughing during the entire interview.

Whoa.  It's bad enough that someone would engage in such activity, but then to get the support of other players, openly, is even another huge step in the disgusting direction.

But in a way, this might help in the long run. For far too long society has known that dog fighting is a problem. And for far too long it's been an underground activity of drug dealers, gang members, etc that were nearly impossible to stop.  The only people who really talked about it were Animal Rights Organizations that were mostly ignored.

People are listening now.  It's now obvious that it's not even just an isolated case of one player doing something stupid, disgusting and wrong. It's pretty clear that there are others that see absolutely nothing wrong with what Michael Vick has been accused of doing.  Now everyone is talking.  I listened to a guy on ESPN Radio this weekend talking about it.  There's a column on Fox Sports.com today that has a great take on the situation (thanks Social Mange for finding this).  ESPN, Sports Illustrated and others are following suit.

What's more amazing than that even one of the NFL's stars, like Mike Vick would engage in dogfighting is that there is a culture of people, Clinton Portis and Chris Samuels included, that think what he's doing is just fine.

Many in the animal welfare community have been saying this forever of course.

Others say that that this is the only use for these types of dogs and that they should be banned to put a stop to this type of behavior. 

The reality is that laws won't stop this type of behavior -- it's already against the law in this country -- and a felony in most places.   Laws won't stop the madness.

Nor will it stop the people that, while stopping short of fighting their dog, want a pit bull as a fashion accessory to make them seem like part of this culture.  They don't want a dog, they want respect.  Which is sad.

When I see articles in the newspapers that involve pit bull attacks, they seem to gravitate toward these neighborhoods where this culture is encouraged and sought.  We shouldn't be suprised.  As a society, if we want to end the dog fighting, the criminal activity we must work to CHANGE THE CULTURE.  Laws clearly don't work, and even if people aren't breaking the law, they think that what is being done is ok.  You can't fight this with laws, you fight it with education.

If you can do this, the "pit bull problem" will go away.

I don't know if it's really achievable, but it must be a goal.  We can't legilsate our way out of it, it's only by getting our hands dirty that we can make an impact. 

In some ways, as sick as it sounds, I thank Michael Vick and Clinton Portis for bringing it to light.  We must fight the source of the problem in order to fix it...and we can start by making an example out of these players...

Comments

[Anonymous]

Michael Vick was wrong to engage in dog fighting and I do not agree with his actions. I do not agree that he can do what he wants since it was on his property.

[Nancy]

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