This week I decided to write my blog over what I see as cruelty to animals after watching the video in class about Michael Vick and reading about cockfighting and gandering in our readings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZYk91q0Tyk
That is the link to the Michael Vick video on dog fighting.
After viewing that video, I have lost all respect for Michael Vick. I had heard about the situation before, but I never looked into it very much. Dog fighting and killing dogs that did not meet his standards should in no way be considered a sport in my opinion. It's ridiculous that things like that still happen today. . In class we were posed with the question of what if it had been Tom Brady instead of Michael Vick? Would the turnout of the criminal case be any different? In my opinion, it wouldn’t matter who the charges were against, a crime is a crime and everyone deserves the same punishment. In the book we also read about "sports in early America" where cockfighting and pulling a gooses head off were considered favorite pastimes of the common people in southern colonies (American Sports, Rader).
Another thing I wanted to reflect on from class were all of the sports that were played during the revolution. I never realized that there were so many different games played for leisure during the revolution era. We listed over 20 of them in class from Bonnie Ledbetter's article Sport and Games of the American Revolution. I think it's interesting that there were quite a few that are still played today.
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Great point about the animal cruelty in early America. The gander-pulling were just disgusting. I don't see why that would even be considered fun. If they wanted a goose for dinner they should have just killed it humanely and been done with it.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with what you have to say about Michael Vick, I have definately lost any respect I had for him.
Seeing the clip about what Michael Vick did with the dogs that fought on his property was pretty eye-opening to me as well. It is difficult to comprehend the mentality that someone would have to do such horrific things to animals. I don't know how animals were regarded in early America, but I think today we are much more accustomed to having animals as pets. Perhaps that also influences the way that some people responded to Michael Vick.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the text it does blow my mind that pulling gooses heads off was a sport back then! It makes me sick to my stomach that people then found that to be entertainment! I also have to agree with you about losing respect for Vick! He was a great quarterback but after everything he has done it would be hard to ever cheer for him again! I do feel that even if Brady would of done this the same results would of happened! I do not feel race had anything to with the punishment he received, it was all def. from what he did to those dogs!
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