Ashley passed me the link to this article by someone who points out that there is a wee bit of hypocrisy in an organization that kicks out a dog abuser, but not woman abusers.
[Vick's] in big trouble with the NFL [besides the law], which has said he might never play professionally again. According to Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL’s Player Association, “the practice of dog-fighting is offensive and completely unacceptable.”
I just wish the NFL had the same outrage toward spousal abuse and other forms of domestic violence. But they don’t. Not by a long shot.
Scores of NFL players as well as players from the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball have been convicted of domestic abuse, yet they play on with no fear of losing their careers. Most pay small fines, if that, and are back on the field immediately.
The message is clear. Beat a woman? Play on. Beat a dog? You’re gone.
What could possibly account for this bizarre situation?
Part of it is that it’s the dog days of August–the notoriously silly season for news–so the Vick story has attracted tremendous press attention. But it’s been all over TV as well during the past four months, since Vick’s indictment in April.
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lept | 01-Sep-07 at 4:13 pm | Permalink
On its own it is not that silly a story (in my opinion) but your point is a valid.
That being said, I had an interesting conversation with some cops after complaining about the violent treatment of a dog in my then neighbourhood:
the cops noted how important it was for them to be aware of these kinds of incidents because dog abuse ‘is frequently a sign of someone who is inclined to either spouse or child abuse’.
This proved to be the case a few weeks later.
Obviously not a universal law but significant, I suspect.
Paul | 04-Sep-07 at 5:23 am | Permalink
I guess you’re right, but it wasn’t just beating dogs, it was killing them in inhumane ways. I don’t think simply beating a dog would be grounds for ejection from the league. Plus, we’re pretty desensitized to spousal abuse, I mean, everyone does that. If everyone lost their job for hitting their wife (or husband) then who would pump our gas and ask if I want fries with that?
Without actually knowing much about this, I’d say that it was more the gambling, torturing and killing of the animal that sparked the outage.