<p>Scroll down to the ‘Endorsements’ header. This will show that Vick’s downfall in his corporate status began long before the dog cruelty case ever became public. The guy has a history of damaging behaviors that are self-inflicted. Frankly, I never heard of the guy until this hoopla, so don’t blame me for exploiting him for my entertainment purposes.</p>
<p>Whether or not he’s been exploited by agents/fans/NFL, etc., puleeease, don’t even try that baseless argument. That’s like giving any pro athlete carte blanche to perform criminal acts and blame others because they were exploited.</p>
<p>Well, I never even heard of the guy until he got in this mess. So he’s not been doing anything for my entertainment. He’s a sick psycho nobody in my book.<br>
And torturing defenseless animals is “violating some white middle class cultural taboo??” Interesting comment. You sound as sick as he obviously is. It’s not so much the dogfighting ring and the gambling that got him in trouble (which was bad enough); it’s his killing/torturing of these animals that’s so horrific and criminal. I get really tired of people bringing up sad stories of their upbringing to justify their insanity. His actions are most likely the result of decades of steroid use. Frankly, I think he should be put away for life.</p>
<p>H read me one of the online stories today. It said that Vick apologized to his fans, etc. So, is he sorry for what he did, or just sorry that he got caught?</p>
<p>I should be so “exploited”. He makes more in a year than most here will make in a career. He could have played 10 years and been on easy street for life.</p>
<p>Higher lead, first of all, dog fighting isn’t a “white middle class taboo”, I don’t know of anyone of any race or income who is sick enough to aprove of it. Michael vick is the last person to be considered an extorted man, and you saying that proves your severe lack of common sense. He is overpaid, arrogant, and thinks he is above the law. If anything I wish things were hard for him and he might actually suffer real consequences for his actions. He is a terrible person, and frankly I don’t see any reason for you to defend him, just because there is child abuse going on in the world (which btw, I don’t see how this is really that relevant) doesn’t mean Vick should be cut some slack for breaking the law.</p>
<p>24-19, Falcons over the Bengals. This team is not a one man team, and they benefitted from showing that tonight.</p>
<p>So how is Vick going to repay the millions he owes the Falcons (since I kinda suspect he doesn’t have it invested in stocks and bonds)? Think he has a future as a motivational speaker?</p>
<p>Vick was the second son of a 16 year old unwed mother on welfare in one of the worst projects in the country. He did what he had to do to survive in the culture and surroundings he found himself and you wonder why he doesn’t have normal i.e. your attitudes toward animals? Did you grow up in a pardon the pun dog eat dog world? If somebody encountered a dog in Bad Newz it was probably a police dog snarling at him and not Aunty’s Pug</p>
<p>I don’t admire the guy. I don’t even like the guy, but he is what he is and what the world has made him. If the worst thing he ever does is strangle a dog so what? Dog fighting goes on all over the world, even in the first world. It is legal in Japan for one place. Is Vick sorry? I doubt it or at least I doubt it in the sense that you folks want him to be sorry. I suspect he can’t really comprehend what you are upset about. That’s not because he doesn’t have values or is subhuman but because your values, the ones you think he ought to have aren’t particularly useful in the world he grew up. Fido might just as well be a rat in the cupboard.</p>
<p>For folks who think multiculturalism is the cat’s pajamas you are all going to be in for a big surprise when you meet the rest of the world and see their attitude towards animals.</p>
<p>If there were any justice Vick would get a fine and some kind of community service with animals coupled with psychotherapy and be allowed to go on with the rst of his life.</p>
<p>jym! Great idea for a thread there! Name the famous people with whom you share a birthday. I’m going to start the thread and see what sort of conclusions we can draw about each other. (Wait until you see mine…lol!)</p>
<p>In some ways you’re spot on, yet I get the feel you speak as an observer not a participant. I participated as a young boy and ya know, you can leave stuff behind, you can change the cycle. I agree with you a little about Vick, but along his way, he has had an opportunity to improve himself. Why didn’t he take it? I don’t think the world made him what he is, the world gave him the opportunity to be what ever he wanted. This apparently is what he chose for himslef. He ain’t the first child of poverty to get out or stay put for that matter.</p>
<p>“you can leave stuff behind, you can change the cycle. I agree with you a little about Vick, but along his way, he has had an opportunity to improve himself. Why didn’t he take it?”</p>
<p>Maybe he didn’t want to change or leave stuff behind or adopt another set of values that don’t work where his friends, relatives, neighbors live, or maybe he couldn’t change. We are not all infinitely malleable. A copy of “Middle Class Values for Dummies” and all the can do attitude in the world might not turn him in to Dennis Kucinich the Vegan Catholic boy. </p>
<p>We are what we are and what the world makes us. That is to say we adapt ourselves to the world we find ourselves in and once adapted to a place and culture it is not easy to shed those values and on the whole that is probably a good thing. We wouldn’t want the missionaries to start eating the natives would we?</p>
<p>We spout a lot of multiculturalism bs but few people really like the reality of cultures and values different from their own. They might say oh that’s cute when they see a big fat Greek wedding on TV, but it is a different level of annoyance when it is next door. Gets even worse if it is Mexicans plucking chickens or a big boom box full of rap music. By the time it gets to some Middle Eastern cab driver whose family hasn’t herded sheep in three generations slicing three of his fingers off trying to ritually slaughter a live sheep on his suburban porch they are looking for some demon to blame for the fact that the reality doesn’t match the promise.</p>
<p>“If there were any justice Vick would get a fine and some kind of community service with animals coupled with psychotherapy and be allowed to go on with the rst of his life.”</p>
<p>HL–Not a bad suggestion. Vick really should have to do serious animal-related community service–and for a good, long time. Maybe working with the Humane Society in a hands-on way. (Not just filming public information commercials, but in the kennels as well.) Or with the ASPCA. Or maybe be involved with some of the many rescue operations out there. Vick, potentially, could could do a lot more good from this–and learn a lot more-- than simply being dumped in a prison cell for X amount of time.</p>
<p>Yeah, my heart is really breaking for this guy. I can sure see why he was forced to turn to a world of crime and torture. (cough, cough).</p>
<p>Excuses like this get really old after a while. Plenty of people grow up in single family homes, on welfare, and they don’t end up psychopaths and criminals. He was doing far better than most Americans, and he had lots of choices. The whole idea of him being given community service and working in animal shelters I find scary, too. This type of “punishment” wouldn’t really have much of an effect on other sickos like him. None of this will ever stop, especially if offenders know all they get as punishment is a chance to work with animals? The thought turns my stomach.</p>
<p>Jack: Our prisons are jam-packed these days, at unbelievable expense to taxpayers. A high-profile character like Vick might actually be better off doing some heavy-duty, hands-on animal-related community service–and I don’t mean just every now and then for a few weeks. If done right, he might even learn to view animals as more than mere objects to be used in whatever cruel way he sees fit. Of course, it’s gratifying to think of this jerk cooling his heels in jail for the foreseeable future, but what good would that do in the long-run?</p>
<p>Vick’s psychopathology isn’t remediated by community service of any type. It would take high motivation, highly skilled professional counselor AND MAJOR AMOUNT OF TIME. Time as in over 5 years. No amount of poop scooping wilil make him OK. This is a core personality issue with VICK. While you can choose to view him as a victim; the remedy for VICK is long and costly. It is possible you could ding his wallet for the treatment, but many think his deep pockets won’t survive the next 10 years. Personality disorder is not easily treated. Jails are full of these folks. In that we agree.</p>
<p>Keeping him in jail is the penalty for abuse of society. Simple concept. Most will agree prison isn’t about rehabilitation.</p>
<p>"Yeah, my heart is really breaking for this guy. I can sure see why he was forced to turn to a world of crime and torture. (cough, cough).</p>
<p>Excuses like this get really old after a while. Plenty of people grow up in single family homes, on welfare, and they don’t end up psychopaths and criminals. "</p>
<p>I agree. Among people whom I know are: a lawyer who has worked for Amnesty International whose parents were drug dealers who pimped her to their prison guards in exchange for the D’s smuggling drugs in; a teacher with a masters degree who became a teen mother at age 14, grew up in a single parent home in the hood, and whose brother was murdered in front of her when she was a child; a massage therapist who was in several foster cares after mother was imprisoned for killing her father.</p>
<p>All of these people are involved in peacemaking groups. None had the advantages that Vick had due to his football prowess, which also led him to get scholarships, mentoring, accolades, etc. The people I know had many excuses to take the kind of path that Vick chose, but they chose better lives for themselves.</p>
<p>“The whole idea of him being given community service and working in animal shelters I find scary, too. This type of “punishment” wouldn’t really have much of an effect on other sickos like him.”</p>
<p>I agree. I want to see him get prison time.</p>
<p>We send crack addicts and prostitutes to prison. I would rather see crack addicts and prostitutes get rehabilitation, community service, etc. and people like Vick – who did very vicious things – serve prison time.</p>
<p>The ONE consolation about sending VICK to ClubFed is that he likely paid enough tax to actually cover his cost of housing. Unlike most other types. Paying for Vick to cool his heels for 12 months is very much a low cost proposition.</p>