Mike Vick and the American Conscience
It always interests me what we fasten on to as a culture in terms of news. There are certain things that polarize folks such as health care, war, and abortion. Then there are things that people almost universally agree on. It is this type of stuff that I think is a fascinating commentary on American culture.
One such issue is the Michael Vick dog fighting case. I have yet to hear anyone come out and say that the brutal business of dog fighting is anything but objectionable. The most sympathetic statements that are heard relate to giving Vick a second chance after he has ‘paid his debt to society.’
Furthermore, people really seem to be comfortable talking about how horrible a guy he is. After all he killed dogs! He capitalized on the violent treatment of dogs through his side business.
Now I am not out of step with everyone else on this. I think what he did was wrong. From what I have read there is little doubt that he was vicious and unfeeling.
What I am after, instead, is the social observation that people are so comfortable talking about this issue and condemning his actions while living in a country that sanctions the free choice to kill human life.
We live in a country that reports over a million abortions in annually. With a total of nearly 50 million since Roe v. Wade was legalized in 1973.
While boasting in our progressive health care and treatment of women most people don’t want to talk about the facts and ramifications of this issue. People don’t talk about it unless they are a passionate spokesmen for either side of this polemical issue.
If the topic is talked about it is most often hushed by either uncomfortable silence or the irritating and thoughtless spew of relativism, “It is a choice that is up to each individual.”
But killing dogs? Oh, yeah, we can talk about that! And we can condemn it. And we are very comfortable pronouncing a social anathema on Vick for his ‘inhumane’ treatment of dogs.
Someone might say, “Vick was just barbaric. He brutally and recklessly killed these dogs after mistreating them.” This is true. However, if you were to ask this same person about the procedures surrounding late-term abortions I wonder if you would get the same vitriol. (if you want more info on late term abortions see this helpful & non graphic video)
Why is it that abortion is relegated to a controversial taboo and Vick’s dog fighting is not? Why are we united in condemning Vick and not condemning abortion? Why is our flame of righteousness burn so bright in the face of Vick but is flickering in the face of 50 million abortions? What is wrong with the American conscience?
There are lots of things in common between the two issues. In both cases you have the willful disregard for life, the deaths are both accomplished by humans, there is plenty of merciless brutality toward the victim, and there is a self-sovereign decision to end the life.
However, there is one significant difference: you get time in a federal prison for killing dogs but you get federal funding for killing babies.
Maybe us righteous and progressive Americans are more like Mike Vick than we think. We are definitely acting more like animals than the animals.
God help us.
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Wow! Excellent article. Very convicting. Very insightful. Your last sentence, “We are definitely acting more like animals than the animals” will stick with me today. Thanks
Thanks for writing this, Erik! It needed to be said. Your second last paragraph will stick with me today.
Nice article Erik. Very well thought through, on point and insightful. I believe most Americans have become passive to the thought of abortion due to passivity on both sides. I think that the news media is responsible for that. Oh yeah… and sin. If the media were to report just the procedures of late term abortions let alone any images the debate would be over. But this same media has created a frenzy over Vick and his treatment of dogs, “man’s bff”. Both are barbaric, yet one is legal and one is not.
“dogs, ‘man’s bff’” that is hilarious.
I should also say that I am a long time dog owner and that I recently refused to let my son buy a Vick jersey even though it was only $3.
I still wish he would have gone to the Browns instead of the Eagles. High 5′ing men dressed like dogs would have done a lot to heal these strained relationships with all of the PETA types.
Thoughtful and convicting post. Thanks. I watched the video you referenced and it broke my heart.
I’ll never forget marveling at the miracle of life in the womb when I had my first ultrasound. Then, just minutes later, I thought about my sweet daughter, whom I’d seen in that ultrasound, and I realized more fully the devastation of abortion. Truly sobering.
Well done. However, some may argue that the dog is fully canine whereas the unborn fetus is not fully human. Sad and uniformed as it is, this is a point of contention on the status of the unborn.
Erik, good post. It is a good comparison of the issues. One life, a dog’s, is obviously more valuable than the other, a human baby’s. One of the issue is that we can see these poor abused dogs walking around on TV. Yet, these murdered babies are kept hidden from sight.
“you get time in a federal prison for killing dogs but you get federal funding for killing babies.”
That pretty much sums it up in a nutshell Erik. Thank you for the powerful reminder of our nation’s misplaced priority when it comes to the value of life. May we as Christians who hold the truth of the gospel as being precious never fail to boldly speak out against the atrocities of abortion.
Mike
Great Article! Thanks!
[...] Great post! It might give you a conversation starter the next time someone brings up the subject. [...]
Many evangelicals have a good answer to Erik’s questions: abortion is in the best interests of its victims, while dog fighting is not.
This conclusion is difficult to resist, given three ideas, widely held among evangelicals:
A. God does not condemn unborn babies to hell.
B. God does condemn some adults to hell.
C. Hell is a place of eternal torment and everlasting separation from God.
(Of course, some will reject A, affirming instead that unborn babies deserve far worse than abortion. But then we still have ready answer to Erik’s questions: such people can say that the dogs, unlike the fetuses, presumably aren’t deserving of far worse brutality.)
[...] This post was Twitted by ahable [...]
Not really getting your point CT. Seems more like a trolling venture.
[...] and fans–including myself–felt that Vick should be given a second chance, and he was. Erik, from the IrishCalvinist blog, makes a very keen and deeply troubling observation. That is cruelly torturing and killing dogs put Vick in prison for two years (and I’m not [...]
CT is a troll. He puts forth the same fallacious argument on multiple Christian blogs every time abortion comes up. Don’t encourage him.
Erik, I regret that the choice was made to use the Vick controversy to propagate your position that abortion should be made illegal by the government.
What’s most disheartening to me about the matter is how we as a society believe very little in offering second chances, how we hold others to a higher standard than ourselves, how quick we are to condemn and slow we are to forgive, and, quite frankly, how upset we get over puppies compared to the tragic issues of poverty and broken education, or the horrors of sex trafficking and genocide in our world today.
I was just watching some news channel this morning and there was this woman sobbing about how the Eagles could bring someone like “Vic” to their team when he had done such terrible things to these dogs, How her heart hurt so much for the dogs. I wonder if this woman ever loses any sleep about all the people that die and go to hell everyday or all the abortions that occur every year or what about the people who are strung out on crack and prostitute themselves or people who are working three jobs trying to feed their families in these economic times. I’m not an animal hater, don’t get me wrong, but I think our priorities in this country are all wrong. The sanctity of human life is means nothing today, look at the modern day “Gladiators” in all of the UFC kind of entertainment that is out now. Abortions, senseless beatings, pornography, sex crimes against people of all ages…..We should be weeping and crying out to God for this nation, that maybe revival will stir in the hearts of men and women and we will start working on the things that really matter in this life….. Great article Erik
[...] To put it another way, almost half of all Americans believe in abortion “rights”, while nearly 90% (football fans) believed Michael Vick deserved prison time for his actions. If I were an alien and landed in America, I’m pretty sure that I would assume that dogs are more important than humans, or at least human babies. If you doubt this fact, just observe the media and any social conversation regarding Michael Vick. Unequivocally, Michael Vick is labeled as inhumane. But, it is deemed rude or unloving to suggest a woman who chose an abortion is inhumane. I’m not at all defending what Michael Vick did. I’m not at all condemning women who’ve had abortions. I’m simply wondering how this happened?? For more reading on this topic, check out this blog. [...]
[...] thoughtful post here by Erik Raymond, wondering why everyone is comfortable condemning Michael Vick’s ruthless behavior against dogs, [...]