I agree with you that certainly there is a double-standard here, many in fact. However, I don't understand where you think race comes into this equation?

You say yourself... "Plenty of dog fighting rings being run by white guys that are still running this very second, getting busted and not a whisper of it in the news."... yet, what has that to do with anyones race? You admit in this very sentence that they are being busted. It just isn't making the news. Do you think if Peyton Manning were busted for dog-fighting that it wouldn't make the news? That seems to be your insinuation, because that's the only way race could have anything to do with it.

The reason Michael Vick is in the news is because he is a "celebrity" and a high profile athlete. The fact that he is black is beside the point.

There are plenty of cases of double standards for whites-blacks to be sure, and I recognize and appreciate that we, as a culture and individually, need to recognize and address that issue. But this case has nothing to do with race.

The double standard of accountability for "dog-fighting" vs "spousal abuse" as you point out, is sickening and reprehensible. However, the fact is, IF Michael Vick is guilty, he should be punished. He shouldn't be let off just because our tolerance of spousal abuse is skewed beyond acceptable margins. And whether he is guilty or not has nothing to do with his race.

You want to talk double standards, here is the worst double standard of all.... the fact is, if Michael Vick is guilty, he should be punished, so should white red-neck billy-bob-bubba from the sticks, race is beside the point. But the sad fact, and the worst double standard is this... Michael Vick will likely be punished, and so will Bubba... the difference is, Michael Vick will be right back out there making a bajillion dollars a year because he can play football and he has lots of money... who cares what kind of human being he is... meanwhile Bubba will still be in jail, along with a hundred other poor whites AND poor blacks.

Where is our outrage when Mike Tyson is convicted of rape and then relicensed to fight again? What about when Bam Morris is arrested multiple times for drugs and allowed to continue playing? What about OJ (ok wait, that's too easy, never mind). But seriously, where is our outrage that these guys, regardless of color, are allowed to do these things and get away with them? You want to punish these guys, hit them where it hurts... in their wallets. Quit paying them when they go out of their way to prove what worthless excuses for human beings they are, then maybe change will occur, but certainly not until then.

Our society (and professional sports is absolutely the worst) has no morals, no sense of decency, and continues to reward these parasites that prey on others, whether the "others" are dogs, women, innocent nite-club patrons, whatever... if Michael Vick is guilty, and goes to jail... I say good riddance! And if it were Payton Manning, I would say exactly the same thing.

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Plenty of dog fighting rings being run by white guys that are still running this very second, getting busted and not a whisper of it in the news.

Meh, that's understandable; I'm not a huge football fan, either. From what I understand, Vick is something called a "quarterback", an important figure for "football teams" that participate in an organization known as the "NFL", which gets MASSIVE amounts of attention and massive amounts of money from the American public. It's like soccer, minus the racial taunting. And, apparently, Vick was a celebrated, good quarterback, adding more to his status as an icon.

So, having established that Vick is a celebrity, we move on to the observation that celebrities tend to draw more media attention than somelosernamedBubbaorErlene. What? "No way", you say?

Well, for example, while the national media doesn't report on every boozer who crashes their sports car--no seriously, I live in one of the drinkingest-drivingest states in our Republic, and I never see any of my fellow residents who've chosen to imbibe-and-drive on the national news--but when Paree Hilton spills out from behind her wheel you can bet Katie Couric* is on the scene to hold her hair out of the vomit. Film at 11.

Obligingly, the public gapes on cue. And stares.

And points, too, then oohs and ahhs...then stares a while longer.

That "plenty of dogfighting rings are being busted" gives me some satisfaction, although I'd like them all shut down. I'm indifferent as to whether Vick gets extra attention from the media or not. Does it fit the formal definition of truly Bad Newz from the media? Meh...I'd agree, but Vick owns it, in this case.

No such policy exists about spousal abuse or any domestic violence.

Unless one discounts the U.S. and various states' criminal code as a "policy" of some type, or unless--as with Vick's celebrity status--one is unaware that beating up one's co-habitant(s) is a criminal act.

If Vick had been beating women? He'd be in pre-season games instead of probably heading to jail.

Are you sure? In the Duke Lack of Evidence, Credibility, and Conflicting Reports case, the mere suggestion of violence was sufficient to kick a bunch of hooligans off the team and give them a thorough smearing. Perhaps some believe they deserved a thorough Nifonging for being belligerent turds, regardless of whether they committed a criminal act? I suspect so. Being different cases in different places, though, I don't know that reasonable people can compare different people differentially accused in different places, which is why I only offered that one rhetorically.

*in the general they're-all-just-empty-talking-heads-sense

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Look, he didn't just beat a dog, he apparently helped kill 8 dogs by drowning and hanging them. And he apparently participated in a dog fighting ring. Why people insist on making this an either/or problem is beyond me. As if we can't be concerned about animals AND be concerned about women being beaten. Concern for life is the issue. Here's one area in life where people are starting to finally wake up, but apparently not all that much after all. If we can't even agree that doing this to a fellow creature is wrong without making some long laundry list of other evils that haven't been addressed yet.

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.. these dogs were not just beaten, but were forced to fight at times to the death for profit. Vick was also involved in killing dogs that did not fight well enough.

If he had just beaten a woman... his crimes wouldn't be the same... because it was FAR more than beating.

Please stop being so blinded by your own self-interest.

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Just another shill... this time, sadly, a feminist one, trying to play the suffering of these animals for their own gain.

Would it make you feel any better to know some of the dogs he beat, made fight, tortured, and killed were bitches????? Or do you actually care when a living being is tortured, killed, or forced to fight for the gain of others... regardless of whether or not they have a vagina?

Wonder why there is a backlash against feminism? Wonder why some women hedge their bets on calling themselves feminists? Look in the mirror for the answer.

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Was it the PR firm that Vick hired? How did all this end up spinning into politics so easily? Michele Malkin is blogging about how there is no equal outrage at the killing of the unborn... how soon will it be that Republicans start courting the black vote with this? "It's okay, brother! It's just those liberals after your freedom..."

Perhaps it was PETA that started the top. Perhaps it is our celebrity-lust that causes everyone with an agenda to cut a slice out.

Me? I'm just sick to death of the whole thing.

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First of all the straw man comparison has no bases in reality . He isn't accused of hitting a puppy, or slapping a little doggy , he strangled , electrocuted and bashed in the heads of innocent animals, but instead of concentrating on the abuse and torture of innocent animals, and what needs to be done to stop this barbaric activity , people want to score points by making some comparison, when one has nothing to do with the other . That's a media driven problem .
Vick is the most famous and riches new football player in history who committed many barbaric acts upon dogs, you can't compare the coverage to some unknown defense back , who slaps his wife .

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While I agree with the overall theme of this article -- that the abuse of women seems to be a lesser offense to many people than the abuse of animals, and that this is wrong and revolting, I have to point out that the fact that "Vick is facing FEDERAL charges" implies that federal charges are more important, somehow, than state charges, when really, it is only a question of jurisdiction. Stealing postage stamps is a federal offense -- that doesn't make it somehow more serious than state charges of larceny. As anyone in Texas sentenced to 25 to life for mere possession of marijuana can tell you, state charges are plenty serious on their own.

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This is such a disheartening comparison. How in the world can you compare a woman being beaten, who has the ability to leave the situation to a man who raised and trained animals to fight to the death and if they did not perform well enough for him, he would torture and kill them?

How in the world does someone come to a comparison such as this? And if the beaten woman calls the police, which she is capable of doing, unlike the animals that Vick killed and tortured, she could press charges!

These animals that Vick so maliciously killed had no choice.

It's amazing how some people's perspective go completely outside the box, just to get attention.

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I agree with many of the other posters here that there is no comparison between spousal abuse and dog fighting. And to make the comparison in an either-or way is horrible. As if the dogs do not deserve any help because women are abused. What the hell is that kind of reasoning?

Incidentally, the humane laws do very little to protect animals, far less than the laws that protect women. So even the thesis is wrong. Watch the various shows on Animal Planet that follow animal abuse cases, like Animal Precinct, and you'll see what I mean. I am glad we have a few organizations aggressively pursuing animal abuse cases but there are far too few nationwide.

It makes me angry that anyone would make such blanket assumptions in print without even verifying their claims.

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I wonder if race is an issue...here in Baltimore there sure are a lot of black operated dog fighting rings.
I wonder if Vick had been abusing women he'd get off any easier...not being a woman that kind of discrimination doesn't fly in my face, but even the "red neck bubbas" in my neighborhood would be pretty upset by wife beating.
I am an optimist I believe that more and more people are being outraged by violence and abuse against women, children, GLBT folks, AND animals. It gives me hope.

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just as the physical abuse of people.

But here we are dealing with animals who have no way of fighting back. It is not a matter of comparing one with the other. Animal abuse is a separate issue, and anyone who abuses animals should be punished, or put to death, depending on the severity it the crime.
And this guy should never be allowed to play football again!!!!!

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This player Vick... or whoever... is a bastard, a swine, and should not be playing for anyone. He should be in jail, forever, or work in a coal mine.
Any person with that sort of personality should be put away, forever!
Maybe we can find another name for that sort of scumbag human... a subgroup. Subspecies... Evilians. How is that?

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Beat a dog????? How about telling the whole story about all the hellish things that were done to those dogs, does the word TORTURE come to mind. People have been fighting dogs in the U.S.A for over 100 years. Rural White men used to be the main dog fighters but now it is mostly black men in the city. The men who used to fight dogs believed that the dogs loved to fight and that it was the happiest life for the dog. Most fights are pre-fights to see witch dog will fight or run. most pittbulls don't even have to be pre-fought because an owner can tell if the dog has game or not. Sometimes the dog just makes a good pet and bad fighter. If the dog is a bad fighter and a bad pet then he is put down fast and not tortured. My Uncle fought dogs his whole life and never fought one to the death. Most guys in the old days stopped the fight before his dog got ripped up. I'm not saying that dog fighting is right but it is more a white mans culture than a black mans culture. Black men can't claim it as their culture because if anything they have ruined the so called sport by going over the top with it. The old culture excuse is not going to cut it for Vic because it's not true. Fighting animals and dueling is a white mans culture and I guess a white person could use the culture excuse but that would make the white man a racist. If anything, blacks should be more accountable because black slaves used to be fought like pit-bulls as a sport. The white guy is the always the mean racist while the black guy is just a poor victom of culture.How about just calling something what it is and knock of all the B.S.

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Michael Vick speaks out. See what the news didn’t show here on http://kiisfm.com/main.html

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