Michael thank you for highlighting such an obvious contradiction in society’s outlook.

People shout “shock and horror” at animal deaths but are “mute and dumb” at human murder(no matter how discreet or guised it maybe).

Yedge

What a pathetic and coldhearted commentary. How convenient to forget torture. Chaining them up with no water or food, the rape stands, the forced fights to the death, the killing of puppies. Pit bulls can be some of the sweetest dogs on the planet - any breed can be mean if they are trained by evil people to be that way. How convenient to forget that the vast marity of serial killers started out by torturing and killing animals. This uninformed writer doesn’t mention that at virtually every dogfight that is raided, they discover drugs, weapons and people wanted for serious crimes against people. Tell me again what dogfighting and animal cruelty have to do with this case in LA? Or Iraq, Darfur, slavery, abortion, etc, etc that Vick’s other apologists bring up. Thank God that the American people have shown outrage of this evil criminal activity that Vick ran for 6 years, and aren’t as callous and ignorant as this animal-hating commentator about cruelty to innocent and defenceless animals.

I am so tired of these trite comparisons.  Poor people are starving, but we’re angry at Michael Vick...test scores are falling, but we’re angry at Michael Vick…

ENOUGH ALREADY! 

These argument formulas are trite at best. Vick will pay for his crime; I pray some good comes from this; we must move on folks.

Instead of celebrating the fact that the media have finally done something right by taking the side of abused animals against an arrogant, cruel and obscenely overpaid football player, Michael Cook sets up false comparisons and engages in banal rhetoric to prove… what? That people are insensitive to the suffering and death of other people? What a shocking discovery! Is proclaiming this self-evident truth worth belittling the efforts to stop animal abuse? This is petty pseudo-moral journalism at its silliest.

I hope this is read by millions. Michael Vick made VA Tech the football powerhouse it is today. He brought great pride to the Commonwealth of Virginia. He was for most of us a hero.

The press and the court’s say that this is no longer case; Michael Vick is not a hero, he is fallen and therefore damaged goods. To this I say balderdash.

Before the dogfighting fighting news he was a good man, and in many respects a great man.

For having dogfights to the death, he is somehow supposed to forfeit all of his good. For what?  Because he is not perfect. David guaranteed Uriah’s death by having him lead his troops in an advance only to have his men pull back. This is awful, it is evil, it is without a doubt one of the most evil deeds in the Bible.

Yet, we read Psalms and quote them. This from a man who committed a heinous act against God and man.

Michael Vick should not be brought low. He should repent and be forgiven.

I more than likely will never have the honor of meeting Michael Vick. He remains a hero of mine and I only hope that in a world of few good men, he will be forgiven and returned to his rightful place as a hero from Virginia.

Sincerely,

Rick Eanes

I love animals and I love dogs in particular,therefore Ihate cruelty of any sort shown towards them and agree that what is happening there is indeed a crime, but lets not get things out of proportion, animals and humans are on an unmeasureably different scale and Im sure this is what Mr. Cook is getting at,( I also disagree with him being accused of being an animal hater) it is a much, much greater crime to torture and kill a human being created in the image of God with a soul which is immortal than to hurt an animal. Think about this.

Why does everything have to have a comparison? Why not just comment on the action of Michael Vick without all the hysterical comparisons?  I suppose the next argument in his pathetic defense will be that he was abused as a child and his parents were poor.  Well, boo-hoo - lots of great black men had a poor start in life and didn’t end up like this looser.  As far as the comparison to the sick people in New Orleans, the difference is like night and day. The dogs were killed for the mere convenience of an out of control lunatic, not content with his fame and fortune in the football world, but for the “crime” of not being the best. Those poor people in New Orleans were suffering, and in need of help - which was not forthcoming.  We don’t know the extent of the injuries, we were’t priveledge to the information the jury heard - so I will err on the side of caution and give the benefit of the doubt to the doctors on the scene at the time. If Michael Vick is able to resume his career after he serves his time, I hope he will be given the same sentence he gave his dogs when he is no longer a viable part of his team.

The author has done a good job in attempting to point out a contrast - death of dogs vs. the death of people.

What is left unsaid, however, is not the contrast, but the things they hold in common - DEATH.

As has been said before - we live in a culture that has been trained to accept death.  Abortion, killing the sick, killing the dogs - it’s all just part of an insane death wish within our society.

We are removing one third of our children - and there is hardly a cry - while our strength is slipping away because we do not reproduce ourselves.

For years, they have told us that large populations bring poverty and starvation.  Tell that to the people of China and India.

One commentator has aid, ‘Thank God that the American people have shown outrage’ over the death of dogs.  When will we show the same outrage over the death of our children.

A very well written article. It is a shame that some do not appear to have the capacity to appreciate and understand what is being said.

It is a very sad day for the human race when there is more of an uproar about six dogs being killed in brutal circumstances, than the death of hundreds of thousands of children throughout the world, who have died in circumstances that could and SHOULD be helped by those who care far more about animal rights. Need I say that this day has already come.

It sickens me to see the amount of ‘animal rights’ organisations which lobby and protest against animal rights abuses. Precious time and money is allocated to protect the rights of animals, which ironically the animals themselves abuse significantly. If only such people could be as dedicated to their own race!

Thank you for pointing out our crimes too, Michael!

Joel Marks writes in “Thought For Food – Re: Veal | Philosophy Now:  The stakes are raised in reasoning when the issue is a moral one, by which I mean something that significantly affects others. The kind of case that comes most readily to my mind is the human treatment of other animals, who as a group are probably both more innocent and even more abused by us than the members of our own species. Take the notorious case of veal. The calves are raised in pens so small that they cannot even turn around… for their entire lives! The purpose is to produce a tender meat for human pleasure. I cannot conceive of any good justification for such a practice. It strikes me as wrong pure and simple, indeed criminal (in the moral sense; but I would also make it so in the legal sense). The argument is simple: To inflict tremendous suffering on innocent creatures for a purpose that is ultimately frivolous, is very wrong. The production of veal does this. Ergo Q.E.D.”

Has anyone tried the world famous “Kobe Beef?” Oh my goodness! This article makes you wanna think; ...and invokes one to a very practical course of action. To be a vegetarian. But, how does one kick-off an old, age old, bad habit?

ck :-)

I’d like to ask Michael if he has a dog at his house.

As others have pointed out here, you are conveniently ignoring the fact that Vick enjoyed torturing the dogs—otherwise why not simply put a bullet in the heads of those he didn’t like?  He liked the slow killing. 

What kind of evil lurks inside a so-called human being who delights in holding a dog’s head under water in a five-gallon bucket while it kicks, struggles to survive and drowns? Multply this by three and you have the great Mike Vick. What kind of person hangs eight dogs from trees in his backyard then steps back to watch them writhe, gasp for a breath and die? Slow torture.....just for fun...that’s our man Vick. Who would ever think to hose a dog down to get it wet so you can electrocute it? That’s the Vickster.

Of course, we should be outraged by other crimes in our society, including those against humans, but the outrage people feel on behalf of innocent animals is also true and deep and morally justified. Arguments to the contrary are only weak attempts to minimize the horror of Vick’s barbaric activities over the last six years, which puts the writer on the same level as the man who gets his kicks holding a dog’s head under water and feeling it go limp in his hands as he kills it.

Six years of gambling, torturing and killing.  He deserves nothing less than a lifetime ban from the NFL and maximum prison time.  Email NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at Also contact Hon. Henry E. Hudson, United States District Court, Eastern Virginia, 1000 E. Main St., Suite 305, Richmond, VA 23219-3525 calling for the maximum penalty under law.  There is no place in a decent society for a guy like Vick.

Fellow poster Rick Eanes says:  “Before the dogfighting fighting news he was a good man, and in many respects a great man.”

Earth to Rick.  Can you hear us?  The guy has been torturing, killing and running a multi-state gambling operation for six years. SIX YEARS.  That means even “before the dogfighting news” he was clearly NOT a “good man.” On the contrary, his behavior is more closely associated with serial killers, such as Dahmer, who thrilled in torturing and killing animals.  Hey Rick, save your goodwill for someone other than Vick who truly deserves it.

Mr. Cook belongs to that group of people who simply don’t get it. It is not that dog lives are more valued than human lives, as he and other less-intelligent members of that group would argue, it is that a monumental flaw in Vick’s character was revealed by his actions.

What is that flaw? I believe it is that rare combination of arrogance and stupidity. So Vick gets paid tens of millions of dollars to play a game, but cannot seem to resist exploiting innocent animals in the vilest manner imaginable? He could be the stupidest human being on earth.

This is where the outrage comes from. The comparison to the New Orleans doctor is absurd. Her actions were motivated by regard for the welfare of her gravely ill patients in the face of impossible circumstances. Sure, you can argue that she could have made better decisions under the circumstances. But her actions were reasonable under those circumstances.

Vick owned and operated a criminal enterprise for six years, the goal of which was entertainment at the expense of animal suffering. Only a much lesser mind can even begin to make such a ridiculous comparison.

Vick’s done - and deserves to be. Mr. Cook, please take some sort of course in formal reasoning before embarrasing yourself again.

This article makes no sense.  How can you compare the deaths of those patients in New Orleans with the dogs in the Vick case???

Though the deaths of these very sick elderly patients were tragic, they died because of the compassion of a stressed out physician.

The poor dogs in the Vick case, on the other hand, were starved and tortured to death by horrible means for the fun and pleasure of a sadistic sociopath Vick and his buddies.

People are outraged at Michael Vick because of the sadistic and cruel way that he killed these innocent and defenseless dogs!!  If the victims of these heinous crimes had been people then those in the public would also be outraged as these crimes were so hideous.