Very good sentences...What I'm reading today...

A lot of interesting reading today as I get back in town - and here are a few articles that I've found particularly interesting today:

It's who you know: Breed Stereotypes and Handler Appearance

Respected trainer Patricia McConnell takes a look the research on dog handler appearance and the impact it makes on public perception.

"Sure enough, pairing a young child or an elderly woman beside the pit-type dogs changed people's ratings of them. Sitting beside a young child increased the perceptoins of the dog's intelligence, friendliness and adoptability, while decreasing the predictions of "training difficulties and aggressiveness."

McConnell notes that this may have a practical implication in how we view adoption photos. I can't help but wonder how media depictions of pit bulls over the past 2 decades has dramatically impacted their image....and how long it will take the changing narrative  and changing imagery to completely take course.

In defense of Mike Vick's right to tell his whole story

This is an interesting article from the Urban Scientist about Mike Vick's new book "Finally Free". The article writer, DNLee, defends Vick's right to write the book, and notes that there may be more opportunities in this:

"I saw/still see his journey as an opportunity to have some hard conversations. What is the role of punishment? How do we define crime? How are ciminal codes applied to different segments of our population? Is our criminal system fair? What is compassion/empathy? Can it be cultivated?"

I think these are all questions worth asking. In the end, I really struggle with the Vick fiasco. I do believe people who serve their time deserve to re-enter society. However, Vick's situation is different from those of many athletes who commit major crimes. Many of those crimes were part of bad judgment, or being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or a rash, violent decision. Vick's crime was calculated. One that was committed with a lot of calculated thought over a period of years -- and horrific acts of complete lack of compassion. And in so many ways that makes it seem worse to me than crimes many other athletes have committed. And the lack of remorse shown in the time immediately following makes the cynic in me doubt that the book is anything more than a series of statements written by his publicists.

Report: Local News is now even worse than before 

From Salon.com, Pew Research has shown that the majority of "News" really isn't news at atll. Of the major "News" networks, only CNN had more "news" than comentary. However, it's worse with local news, where 40% of local TV newscasts were dedicated to sports, traffic and weather. Local news coverage of politics and government has now fallen to 3% of the total coverage (down from 7% in 2005) and "accident/bizarre events/disasters" now make up 13% of local newscasts.

Salon.com concludes:

"If local news is unwilling to cover local politics, local politicians will operate essentially unchecked by anyone besides the most dedicated local news consumers, who are likely to be ideological activists of one sort or the other. One of the things that allows organizations like ALEC to operate for years essentially without major scrutiny, passing pre-written bills into state legislatures across the nation, is that no one hears about what state legislatures are doing until something particularly agregious is passed into law."

I'd add that this situation is almost worse at a city level.

This is what I'm reading today...what's on your mind?

Comments

[Rhett]

It's all well and good that Vick has paid his debt to the courts. Justice is blind for just that reason. Society on the other hand is not blind. Society gets to choose to shun and castigate those that have violated social norms for as long as they want. HSUS tried to turn the whole ordeal into a watered down Scared Straight program. All they did was show that you can go ahead and fight dogs as long as you can make it into the end zone.

[Rhett]

"Don’t be fooled, these protests against him and his book tour is not about protecting animals or speaking out about cruelty."

I forgot to add the line that is most infuriating. The assumption that people protest him to protect animals or speak out about cruelty is a giant red herring. People protest him because the guy slammed a dog into the ground until it was dead, or because he choked dogs to death with his bare hands, or because he fought his families pet. People protest him because he is essential an evil SOB.

[Brent]

And I'll note Rhett, that there at least feels like a difference between someone having a right to return back to society and the ability to return to make tens of millions of dollars and be cheered on Sunday afternoons.

[kmk]

Great comments by Salon regarding news coverage of politics. You're absolutely correct, Brent, it's far worse at the municipal level. Local newspapers are quickly going by the wayside and only the most dedicated (and suspicious) residents bother to watch local government. Unfortunately as long as the streets are maintained, police and firefighters are funded, and streetlights and parks are in good shape people typically don't get interested in local government.

Local politicians have far more ability to get involved in and affect people's personal lives, yet there is little voter accountability at that level of government. Municipal elections tend to have low voter turnout and public servants know they only have to, for example, get the same 500 people that voted for them the last time in a city of 50,000 people. These are typically part-time positions and the public servants have "real" jobs so there's little incentive to do "the will of the people". It's far more tempting to do "the will of the public servant" because if you aren't reelected, well, so what?

Washington Post columnist George Will wrote, “First, democracy requires judicial supervision to thwart the excesses of elected officials. Second, governments closest to the people are - never mind what sentimentalists say - often the worst. This is because elected tyrants can most easily become entrenched where rival factions are few”.

Unless there is a hot-button issue on the table people rarely get involved in local politics.

[kmk]

By the way, I love this sentence:

"If local news is unwilling to cover local politics, local politicians will operate essentially unchecked by anyone besides the most dedicated local news consumers, who are likely to be IDEOLOGICAL ACTIVISTS (emphasis mine) of one sort or the other".

How do people become "ideological activists"? Where municipal politics are concerned it's because somebody, somewhere tried to put the screws to them. ;-)

[Pat F.]

Michael Vick has the right to tell his own story; write whatever book for whatever publishing outfit that will print it. And I have the right to refuse to buy it and to peacefully protest any promotion of it that involves Vick's personal appearance.

HSUS' very association with a man who has tortured and killed helpless dogs is troubling, to say the least. And Vick's continued prosperity, his being held up as a role model to anybody, is even more troubling.

[Erich]

Is there anyone arguing Vick does not have the right to write a book? Is there anyone who thinks he actually wrote a book? (I would guess most celebrities are paid to sign their names to a book written by someone else.)

HSUS is disgusting. They were wrong to try to have Vick's victims killed, wrong to use him as a media event, and wrong to endorse him as a pet owner.

[Jim]

Not only did Vick not write a single word of "Finally Free," the book was written by TWO ghost- writers, likely with much input from his publicists and lawyers. He may not have even read it.

One of the many reasons Wayne Pacelle likes Michael Vick so very much is the many, many millions of dollars HSUS has made off his case. First, the huge fundraising campaign for the "care of the dogs." Then the Vick post prison media tour and related fundraising campaigns for their (failed) efforts to bust dogfighting rings. Then the huge media and fundraising campaigns for their humane outreach programs in the 'hood. Most have been discontinued.

Former Chicago dogfighter Sean Moore, who was a big part of their End Dogfighting campaign, recently denounced HSUS as a racist, money-hungry organization that promised to help his community, but did nothing but enrich themselves. He - along with his friend Anthony Pickett "really believed in them" and were exploited and betrayed. Brave of him to speak out.