thebandit27 Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 For the most part, I'm pretty shocked at some of the responses here. First off, let's stop throwing around the word "murder". Murder (at least according to Webster) involves killing a human being; Vick killed dogs. Yes, dogs lives are valuable too, and what he did was horrendous, but he is not a murderer. However, for those of you that lack perspective: - He's bankrupt, and owes over $20M in bankruptcy court. - He spent a year-and-a-half in prison (approxmiately 17 months more than Donte' Stallworth and 15 months more than Leonard Little, who actually did kill human beings--oh and by the way, Little received a subsequent DWI 8 months later, and is still aloud to play, where's the public outrage there? Oh, I forgot, if it's not currently discussed in the news it doesn't matter to some of you.) - His image is permanently scarred in the court of public opinion What more do some of you want? People commit crimes every day. No, that doesn't make it okay. However, when people get out of prison, they often resume their life's work (assuming they abide by the law), and do so successfully. I can personally can attest that an individual in my former line of work (as an engineer) drove under the influence and killed a person. While that individual was fired from our firm and went to prison, they were hired within a few months of their release by a competing firm. So far (to my knowledge), this person has had no subsequent incidents. Last time I checked, the purpose of prison is to rehabilitate individuals so that they can contribute effectively to society upon their release. Life, in my opinion, is about forgiveness. Even if you don't think people deserve it. Who are any of us to say who is and isn't genuine in their remorse? Look, I can't guarantee you that Vick really is sorry for what he did, but don't you folks think that it's flat out wrong to assume that you know someone's mentality from watching a press conference? People change, it happens every day. My mentorship has always taught me that the things you teach others most effectively are derived directly from the mistakes you make. Who's to say that Vick doesn't end up a positive influence on kids regarding the dangers of illegal dog fighting, cruelty to animals, organized crime in general, and failure to accept responsibility? Nobody on this board, I can guarantee you that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DazedandConfused Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 do alcoholics stop drinking unless they are told they have to? do drug addicts stop using unless they are told they have to? most people dont see anything wrong with their actions until something intervens causing them to take a hard look at what they have been doing. I agree with the other negative reaction to this post stated above. In addition to that perspective, I also see this situation being quite different from the alcoholic in that this diseased person made a bad decision to drink and reduce their decision-making ability and even much worse someone else paid the penalty for their mistake. However, in Vick's case while the alcoholic did not set out with the idea in mind of killing or hurting someone or something, he destroyed his decision making ability and hurt someone. vick on the the other hand with all the mental and emotional decision-making he could muster decided to hurt and brutalize other beings for money and whatever perverse pleasure this gave him. I am quite willing to forgive someone for making an error that had the unintended effect of hurting someone AFTER or in conjunction with them paying the dictated penalty for their crime. However, Vick did not make a "mistake" which led to him doing unintended inhuman things. Vick specifically decided repeatedly to do inhuman things. To a significant degree I am not willing to simply forgive him even after he pays for his crime There is some additional punishment based in him feeling the shame from society which I think is more than appropriate in addition to the penalties he has served with loss of his freedom. I am content with society not punishing him by denying him freedom and imprisoning him more (though mere months in prison strikes me as a pretty light sentence for the inhumane acts he created- 10 years more in prison seems like a fair sentence to me for what he did but that is another issue). However the idea that he like all others who made mistakes deserves a second chance strikes me as wrong. He gave away his rights to a second chance by the sheer intended brutality of his acts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 I can honestly say I didn't want him...... People thought that we should take him on because we took a chance and took TO on. I say that is just too much for this franchise as we dont have an ironfisted coach to keep all the BS in line and already have potential issues with a few of our own. We didn't need Vick and the neg pub and potential future problems he might bring on top of that. In addition to that.....the guy was never a GREAT QB to begin with.....we are not talking about TO and his fantastic production that you put up with the rest that comes with it....we are talking about a QB who has accuracy issues and wants to run around too much. If we are going to bring in a backup to look at lets bring in a actual backup veteran QB that makes his throws from the pocket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DazedandConfused Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 For the most part, I'm pretty shocked at some of the responses here. First off, let's stop throwing around the word "murder". Murder (at least according to Webster) involves killing a human being; Vick killed dogs. Yes, dogs lives are valuable too, and what he did was horrendous, but he is not a murderer. However, for those of you that lack perspective: - He's bankrupt, and owes over $20M in bankruptcy court. - He spent a year-and-a-half in prison (approxmiately 17 months more than Donte' Stallworth and 15 months more than Leonard Little, who actually did kill human beings--oh and by the way, Little received a subsequent DWI 8 months later, and is still aloud to play, where's the public outrage there? Oh, I forgot, if it's not currently discussed in the news it doesn't matter to some of you.) - His image is permanently scarred in the court of public opinion What more do some of you want? People commit crimes every day. No, that doesn't make it okay. However, when people get out of prison, they often resume their life's work (assuming they abide by the law), and do so successfully. I can personally can attest that an individual in my former line of work (as an engineer) drove under the influence and killed a person. While that individual was fired from our firm and went to prison, they were hired within a few months of their release by a competing firm. So far (to my knowledge), this person has had no subsequent incidents. Last time I checked, the purpose of prison is to rehabilitate individuals so that they can contribute effectively to society upon their release. Life, in my opinion, is about forgiveness. Even if you don't think people deserve it. Who are any of us to say who is and isn't genuine in their remorse? Look, I can't guarantee you that Vick really is sorry for what he did, but don't you folks think that it's flat out wrong to assume that you know someone's mentality from watching a press conference? People change, it happens every day. My mentorship has always taught me that the things you teach others most effectively are derived directly from the mistakes you make. Who's to say that Vick doesn't end up a positive influence on kids regarding the dangers of illegal dog fighting, cruelty to animals, organized crime in general, and failure to accept responsibility? Nobody on this board, I can guarantee you that. I think it is great if Vick actually does take actions to be a positive influence for kids. As a football fan, I do wish he would not mess up the entertainment vehicle of football to do what he feels are positive things. What Goodell and the Iggles have done in my view is take a perfectly wonderful sport and allowed the soap opera of Michael Vicks life to intrude further on this great game. I for one may watch the first general report they do on ESPN or in some pre-game about Vick, but I probably will not. I find the competitive spirit and the game itself entertaining and fun to watch. However, I find Vick's actions so brutal and inhumane that for me it takes away from the entertainment value of the product. I am overjoyed the Bills did not sign him because if they did, reminders of his inhumanity might well cause me to simply stop watching the team I love. maybe that is mere testimony to me not loving the team enough. Actually, I think it speaks more to how offended I am by the inhuman actions Vick profited from and reveled in. Forgive? Maybe under some circumstances. Forget? Never because of the brutal inhumanity of his actions. The NFL is marred for me by any mention of Vick and a reminder of his inhumanity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bufcomments Posted August 14, 2009 Author Share Posted August 14, 2009 I think it is great if Vick actually does take actions to be a positive influence for kids. As a football fan, I do wish he would not mess up the entertainment vehicle of football to do what he feels are positive things. What Goodell and the Iggles have done in my view is take a perfectly wonderful sport and allowed the soap opera of Michael Vicks life to intrude further on this great game. I for one may watch the first general report they do on ESPN or in some pre-game about Vick, but I probably will not. I find the competitive spirit and the game itself entertaining and fun to watch. However, I find Vick's actions so brutal and inhumane that for me it takes away from the entertainment value of the product. I am overjoyed the Bills did not sign him because if they did, reminders of his inhumanity might well cause me to simply stop watching the team I love. maybe that is mere testimony to me not loving the team enough. Actually, I think it speaks more to how offended I am by the inhuman actions Vick profited from and reveled in. Forgive? Maybe under some circumstances. Forget? Never because of the brutal inhumanity of his actions. The NFL is marred for me by any mention of Vick and a reminder of his inhumanity. If Tony Dungy can forgive his actions so can you. If Dungy, who is held in very high regard inside and outside of football BTW, can help Mike Vick of all people to lead him towards a Christian life or maybe in this case a normal life outside of football then I am all for it. Malcolm X was a pimp, drug dealer, robber plain old thug when he was young. But is he remembered for that???? NO He is remembered for being a Civil rights Leader. Not comparing the 2 men but you get my drift. People can and do change Vick is being giving an chance to reclaim his. No we will not forget what he did to those poor dogs. But the guy is what 29 yrs old? I hope he regains his swagger and comes back and plays like he did when he was the Mike Vick experience. You should not dwell on the past ,look forward to the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts