Yeah, but on the other hand, who’s going to buy the “Michael Vick Grill?”
I certainly wouldn’t, not when you can improvise a perfectly good one yourself out of a puddle of water and a live wire.
I know nothing about dogfighting or Southern Culture (on or off the skids). But just wanted to pimp my fave author, and direct folks to Harry Crews’ Feast of Snakes for a lighthearted romp about some good old boys who have been known to fight a dog now and then. Good clean fun!
Did she actually say it was okay to fight dogs?
Is she? I don’t see that in the quotes that were posted.
Are you kidding? The slogan alone will sell tens of… tens of the grills:
“When you want your frankfurter done right, turn to the man who knows dogs the best!”
Ditto. My ancestors have lived in the south since Jamestown and in rural Alabama on all sides since well before the Civil War. I grew up with people who married cousins and wore overalls to church and deep fried rattlesnakes, and I’ve never known of anybody of any race or age who thinks of dogfighting as anything but a crime. In fact, most of the rural Alabamians I know think of their dogs as members of the family; I’ve seen big burly rednecks talk babytalk to their dogs while telling their kids “you gonna shoot that thing at your brother you unload it first!”
I think cockfighting’s reprehensible also, but there is a difference in it and dogfighting. Dogs are mammals, for one thing, and for another the fights last longer and cause more pain and suffering to the dog. Cockfighting, weird as it seems to us, is actually based on the rooster’s natural behavior- two roosters will fight to the death before they’ll share a coop full of hens. Dogfighting isn’t natural behavior- dogs are pack animals who usually only attack when they’re threatened or starving, and they have to be made mean.
Plus, there’s just a huge difference in dogs and chickens. There’s a reason we have the one as a pet and companion and eat the other.
Basically, to me it all comes down to “He killed dogs for not fighting hard enough”. As in he personally killed them.
Regardless of what subculture he grew up in, he knew that was wrong. He knew it was illegal. He knew that the animals suffered. He concealed his actions. He’s now a multimillionaire living in a cosmopolitan city of several million people, and if he continued in this supposed culture it’s because he enjoyed deliberately and unnecessarily hurting and killing helpless and domesticated animals for sport. This isn’t santeria or voodoo animal sacrifice that’s tied in with belief, but totally a recreational activity, and it’s not hunting which is no longer for subsistence but is still necessary (the deer population frequently gets out of control) and where the point is not to torture the animal but to kill and eat it.
Vick likes causing animals to bleed and tear each other apart and either viciously kill or die in pain. Plenty of people grew up in everything from hate-groups to polygamous to kiddie-porn subcultures and said “fuck this shit” when they grew up. Vick remains an animal torturer because he likes it, meaning he’s a sick fucking monster who needs to be in prison and he’s a disgrace to every culture and subculture he’s currently a part of.
I’m in the Chicago area and dog fighting is a HUGE problem in the city (and I suppose, the surrounding suburbs, as well). It’s not a “Southern” thing. It’s a national problem.
You don’t see what? That dogfighting is atrocious behavior? Or that she is not offering a justification for why Vick did it? If the former, you’re right. She made no comment on dogfighting. If the latter, I leave it to the reader with sufficient discretion to comprehend what is jumping off the fucking page. She attempted to explain his behavior not in terms of personal responsibility, but as a function of cultural upbringing. In other words, it was not his fault he was raised to be a brutal, vicious bastard. It’s the Jessica Rabbit defense. He was just drawn that way.
Well, this settles it. I’ve no choice but to continue never, ever watching “The View.”
I’d have to disagree with this, after living in DC for a dozen years. Get out from the DC burbs and you start seeing confederate flags and hound dogs and pickups with gun racks. Virginia feels VERY southern – to a northerner at least. I knew lots of people who wouldn’t dream of moving further into VA than Alexandria.
Here’s the thing: these aren’t mutually exclusive concepts.
Fine. Parse her text and show where she said one word about personal responsibility. That’s the topic on the table : What she said. Not what she didn’t say.
She didn’t. One way or the other. She sure didn’t absolve him. You seem to reading that in her words and I sure don’t see it. Trying to explain how he ended up the way he did isn’t the same is excusing what he did.
Right. And since she didn’t address the issue of whether he’s responsible, who are we to read her mind?
Too bad. On Thursday it’s going to be Barbara and a Chow against special return guest Rosie and an Airedale. The money’s on Rosie, but there’s rumor of a 2nd round fix. (All proceeds go to benefit The Bob Barker Home for Post-Menopausal Former Game Show Beauties.)
It justifies his behavior. In plain English. If that is not offering an excuse I don’t know what is.
Perhaps if she *had *addressed that issue, your previous point might have some traction. As it is, I don’t need to read her mind. I’m not concerned with what is on her mind. I am concerned with what she said. What she said is that his behavior is a function of his cultural upbringing. Given the opportunity to say whatever she wanted, all she could muster was an excuse. Not one word of criticism for what he did. And yes, explanations for bad behavior are excuses. By definition. She defended offensive behavior. Ergo, she excused it.
Are you seriously putting greyhound racing in the same class as dogfighting or bullfighting? I have a dog that’s half greyhound, and he loves to run. I imagine being in a race would be no end of fun for him. Compare this to a bull that’s artificially angered, stabbed full of mini-spears, killed in front of an audience, and the body mutilated (removal of ears).
It’s not in same class, but racing greyhounds are treated quite poorly. And disposed of when they are no longer competitive. Often at a very young age.
Some interesting info can be found here.
No, of course I’m not putting them in the same class. I’m talking about animal practices that I think will someday be seen as barbaric.
Your dog might have fun running around a track, but after he comes in last, and the owner dumps him, the rest of his life would be very short and unpleasant.
As opposed to electrocuting and hanging?
(Besides, many retired greyhounds are adopted. Compare that with dogs bred to fight, and to be honest, most of them are far to viscious to be considered as pets).