I'll Be Doggone

Michael Vick has been going to public schools in Philadelphia talking to kids about the sins of animal cruelty and warning them not to make the mistake that he did with the dog fighting, etc. This is not being widely reported, if at all, by the conventional news media because it's a positive story and it shows a man they have already deemed a villian in a positive light and that, of course, won't bring good ratings.

To PETA and all of those unforgiving members of the public who think he should pay more for financing his cousin's dog fighting ring, it would probably be a surprise to them to know that Michael Vick is not being forced to do this. This is not a part of his parole or probation agreement whatsoever. This is something he volunteered to do. It has nothing to do with being reinstated into the NFL or The Philadelphia Eagles... None of them had anything to do with it. This was something he wanted and chose to do on his own.

If I know right, this still will not please many people...You can't please everybody and some people need a villian to constantly condemn and hold up to the world... if for no other reason, so that they can look at themselves and say... "I'm not such a sorry bastard. look at Michael Vick, ook at O.J. I'm not as bad as them." Yet, some of these people don't pay child support, cheat on their taxes and spouses, amongst other things. Still they can feel okay because, after all, they never did what Michael Vick did with those dogs.

I watched a documentary on television that showed people fighting dogs and it showed one dog quitting before a fight was over. The owner picked up a rifle and took the dog out into the woods, off-camera. You heard a gunshot and then, you saw the guy come out of the woods alone. He said to the cameraman..."He was a quitter and ah cain't sell no dogs that quit in the middle of a fight. If they are quitters they will just breed other quitters, so he had to go." He was laughing, chewing, and spitting tobacco... just like the "good ole boy" he was. I silently wondered why somebody didn't take both of his parents out in the backwoods and give them a one-shot exit out of this existence so that they wouldn't have bred him! What really scares me is that somebody is probably sleeping with this fool now and he could be breeding another, just like himself.

With that said, you should know that I am no fan of dog fighting or cock fighting, which still goes on despite Michael Vick and makes too much money to stop anytime soon. Here is my point. Vick used his money to finance an operation that was essentially run by his cousin and others. He is a public figure, an athlete, and a name that can be latched on to... thus, used as a symbol as the "King of Dog Fighting." The tobacco-chewing pea brain in the documentary I saw is the real face of dog fighting. That's the man and people like him who should be talking to children about the crime of breeding animals to fight and kill each other for the sporting pleasure of other pea brains who are willing to throw away their hard-earned money to watch it. You'll never hear from him and whether he is ever brought to justice or not. Chances are, he'll never be made to apologize and talk to children because... well, he isn't a celebrity. Whoever heard of him and who wants to listen to him talk anyway?

We are so caught up in the cult of personality and celebrity that we are only going to listen to what a celebrity has to say on a subject, even if a layman in this case may be more qualified. Just so you know, minutes after this tobacco-chewing, dog-fightin' son of a gun so eloquently confessed his sins to the television camera, his little operation was raided and he was arrested. He could do up to five years for his crimes. The dogs were cleaned up by the SPCA, only to be euthanized later. It was explained that the dogs are too dangerous to be sold to anybody as pets or kept alive.



It's a shame... these animals had no choice in the matter and really did nothing wrong. The real culprit is sitting in a jail cell, chewing tobacco, unrepentant and uncondemed by an uncaring and unknowing public. It seems to me like the wrong animal got put to sleep.