Quote Originally Posted by Bird View Post
The Michael Vick fans among you might want to read this story from today's Dallas Morning News. I think she makes some very good points.
Instead of praising NFL star who tortured, killed dogs, applaud one of his victims | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Columnist Jacquielynn Floyd | Dallas-Fort Worth News

On second thought, football fans, especially Michael Vick fans, won't want to see such a story.
Well, admittedly I did not realize the extent of his barbarism. I never dug into much more than the headlines "Vick has dog fighting operation" kind of stuff. Which, of course, is bad enough. I had no idea he gets kicks out of personally torturing them over and above making them fight each other.

This makes Michael Vick (even more of) a despicable human being.

Does it make him any more or less despicable than rapists or murderers or child molesters that serve their time and are let back into society? I am not terribly forgiving to those folks, but I accept that our society chooses to give them a second opportunity at life, particularly if there was no previous history of criminal activity. What they make of it at that point is up to them.

Who is more likely to fall back into criminal activity, the man who is let out of prison that has little to fall back on? Or the man that has another opportunity to make millions if he walks the straight-and-narrow? If any convicted criminal can be thought of as having an opportunity to turn his life around, I'd think it would be the latter. Doesn't make what he did any more palatable.