The Weaving Truth About Michael Vick

If it's all white, then it's all right!... - Chris Rock

Since Vick was sent away about two years ago, there have been many articles, columns, tv and radio rants, protests, demonstrations, ads, and opinions on the Michael Vick situation in which he was brutal to dogs. Just from the sample I read and heard, all were too simple minded with the exception of a few people (one outstanding article was written by ESPN's Bill Simmons...probably the best one about the subject). You could almost draw a line down the middle to make two opposing camps. On one side, there is the Vick-Should-Rank-Up-there-with-the-Likes-of-Ted-Bundy Camp (Bundy Camp). On the other side, there is the Vick-is-Nothing-More-than-a-Victim-of-the-Man Camp (Victim Camp).

As usual, people think they can reach the truth easily with a simple thought. Seems as though, however, the truth is never reached that easily, especially in complex, layered situations such as Vick's. The truth can only be reached by weaving through all the biased opinions and information and dealing with the actuals facts. Too many times do people rely on emotions and their own unique personal experiences to make blanket judgments on those that do not have the same experiences. This is what happened, and is happening, in the Vick situation.

Weaving Through Vick's Life Experiences

When you are surrounded by a certain culture growing up, it is doing to be very difficult to go opposite of that culture once you grow up. Think about this scenario:

There is a kid born to well-to-do parents. This kid grows up with all the positive enrichment a kid could be given. The kid is surrounded by his college-educated parents and their college educated friends and family. The kid is constantly being taught to contribute to society through community services. Growing up, they get to go to good schools in which they are surrounded by top-notch, committed educators, outstanding college-bound students who had lives just like the kid's, and a culture of what society calls success. Then when the kid goes home, he can actually get help from his educated parents with homework, who also put the kid in summer programs, all the expensive SAT prep courses, and other such enrichment programs. The kids gets through high school and gets into good colleges. Then they complete college, all the while abiding by the law and being a model citizen. Then they finally reach adulthood...


Now that the kid is an adult, could you see them becoming Michael Vick?


We are what are life experiences were. If those experiences were detrimental, a lot of work has to be done to overcome them. Whenever I see someone who had an ideal or close to ideal upbringing tear down someone who had an upbring that was substantially less than ideal, I cringe.


When I hear those with relatively decent upbringings attack others that did not, I always tell them that it would be just as difficult for those in a bad upbringing to turn their lives around as it would be difficult for them to all of a sudden become a detriment to society. Think about if we asked Peyton Manning, the NFL's Golden Boy, to become the financier of a major dog fighting ring. There is no way Peyton could get the mindset to even think about doing something as ridiculous as that because he did not grow up in that kind of culture. Vick did, however. Asking Vick to become Peyton Manning would be just as difficult as asking Manning to become a dog fighting ring financier. Vick grew up in a culture in which dogs were of no value as lovable pets and valuable as pawns in a culture that embraced dog fighting.

Weaving Through America's Sentiment with Dogs

Throughout my life, I have had all types of pets. We had cats, a dog, and fish (my father, to this day, has a love affair with Oscars). I think pets are cool. However, there is something that disgusts me almost as much as Vick's dog fighting ring, America's love affair with dogs.

*SMH*

I have no idea when it started, but our overarching culture puts dogs at near human status (and to some disturbed people, at a equal level to humans). I am not one to be totally insensitive to animals, I did have pets growing up, but people out there that spend tens of thousands of dollars on their dogs gives me the creeps. On my way home from work recently on a rainy day, I saw a probably middle aged woman walking her dog. The lady, smartly, was dressed in warm clothing with a raincoat and umbrella. Meanwhile, her dog was dressed in a raincoat and hat. When I saw this, for a moment I wanted to open up a dog fighting ring myself. My goodness. That was horrible. This love affair with dogs goes a little over the top. I have family members that buy clothes for their dogs, have these fancy "dog bags," refuse to let their dogs drink tap water, and carry them like babies.

This love is fine (if that's your thing...but it ain't mine), but it is also arbitrary. There are literally millions of species of animals on Earth and dogs just so happen to be domesticated by humans. I know that dogs have a story about how they were domesticated by humans eons ago. Since this love is arbitrary, it should be acknowledged that everyone is not going to have the same love affair with dogs. I like dogs, and I prefer dogs over cats any day of the week, but I'm not buying any clothes for that damned thing. They have gone millions of years without needing clothes because of a little thing called evolution. They are born with a natural piece of clothing. Also, I won't get too upset over what Vick and his homies did because I don't get upset when I or anyone else eats a juicy steak, piece of chicken, wear leather coats, or go hunting and fishing. I get that there should be a watermarked image of an American Foxhound on the U.S. flag, but this country needs to realize that not everyone thinks dogs are equal to humans. Vick, nor anyone else, is required to hold dogs in such high esteem.

Weaving Through the Racial Aspect

This is a tough situation to look at with respect to race. Going back to the Camps analogy, those in the Victim Camp are primarily black while the Bundy Camp is primarily white. On the surface, it appears to be a classic black-white issue. Upon closer inspection, however, it's really not about black and white directly. As usual, it is more about socioeconomic upbringing more than it is about race. It is easy to conclude that being black creates a higher chance of being incarcerated, but that is wrong. Having a genetic trait that gives you darker skin color does not increase your chances of going to jail. Rather, it is socioeconomic status that serves as one of the true indicators of one's chances of going to jail. When one is poor and has low education and income, they have a higher propensity to commit crimes to survive (such as robbery or something of that nature) or to belong to a group that gives them the support that they lack at home (such as gangs). Being [insert any race] does not predict any kind of behavior. It is the social factors that do. Given the history of blacks in this country, they just so happen to have a high percentage of people in lower socioeconomic status which leads them to higher rates of crime and incarceration.

The Victim Camp (of mostly blacks) is wrong about Vick being victimized. They plead that dog fighting was part of his culture, thus he just didn't know any better and the Man is just bring him down. I grew up in a culture that said smoking weed is acceptable. However, I knew something very important about weed, it is outlawed by the United States government in all states (note: states that legalize marijuana could still face litigation from the feds if the feds feel it's necessary to due so...no matter what you hear from California, the federal government has not legalized any kind of use of marijuana, that includes recreational and medial...)! Therefore, I never made any kind of contact with weed because I did not want to face the possible repercussions (fines, jail, marks on my records, job loss, losing out on getting accepted to college, et cetera). Yes, Vick grew up in a culture that accepted dog fighting, but he knew damn well it was illegal. Vick was living as an idiot with his string of indiscretions. He gave the finger to Atlanta fans after a loss. He was notorious for having a poor work ethic in Atlanta. He was caught at a security checkpoint at an airport with weed in a secret compartment in a water bottle. Then, the kaboom was laid down on him with the dog fighting scandal. Vick was not worthy of being defended. No so much for the dog fighting culture, but rather his terrible judgment. He broke the law. If it were that serious, he should have started a dog fighting ring where dog fighting is accepted, like some parts of South America. Otherwise, don't blow a $100 million over some measly dogs. For blacks to play the race card is absolutely ridiculous (see my Black Forum FB note).

The Bundy Camp (of mostly whites) seems to be fine because they have the law on their side (despite some of their grotesque affections for dogs). However, they are wrong about the post incarcerated Vick we are seeing. Vick did the crime and he has paid his debt to society. He has worked extensively with animal rights groups and rededicated his life to being more serious about his career. I honestly believe Vick really learned something from what he did and his subsequent incarceration. I feel his sincerity somehow. However, the Bundy Camp thinks he should still be punished even more. He was likened to a child molester by one person after Vick said he'd like to own a dog as a pet someday in his rehabilitation process. He thinks that Vick should be treated like a registered sex offender for molesting children. Great. Dogs are now equal to our children. Some can't even stand to know he's alive because of what he did to dogs. This does not sit well with me because there were two people in the league who literally killed people, actual people, since Vick has been in the league. Leonard Little of the Rams and Donte Stallworth, then of the Saints, were guilty of manslaughter in which they were drunk behind the wheel of a car and killed people in an accident. Where was the Bundy Camp when actual people were killed? Nowhere to be found. But you kill a dog and the mob mentality comes out. That is strange to me.

Arriving at the Overall Truth

1. Vick grew up in a culture in which dog fighting was acceptable. Vick did not grow up in a situation in which dogs were lovable, harmless pets. Those in the Bundy Camp fail to realize this and should just accept that what he did was more stupid than anything because he broke the law. Where is the outrage from the Bundy Camp when we see white politicians hunting?

2. Pre-incarcerated Vick was a knucklehead. While he grew in a dog fighting culture, he knew it was illegal. He also had a long line of knucleheaded events.

3. This was not a racial issue, but rather a socioeconomic issue with knuckleheadedness playing a roll as well. The Victim Camp (of mostly blacks) needs to acknowledge Vick was an idiot by breaking the law. The Bundy Camp needs to stop trying to make Vick out to be the anti-Christ all because of their ridiculous over-affection for dogs. He has paid a large debt to society (and remember he is a parolee) over being cruel to dogs. They need to understand better the power of one's social environment during their upbringing. Asking Vick to go against his cultural upbringing is like someone asking one of them to start a dog fighting ring.

4. Vick has done everything that was asked of him. What he did was heinous and stupid, but he did what he had to do to overcome it. Some may not like what he did, but many people probably wouldn't like how so much money goes into dogs as opposed to that money going toward bettering the conditions of poor kids in this country so they won't grow up to participate in dog fighting. Vick was charged for dog fighting and he was paid for it. Everyone should accept it and just let it go from here.