By what standards should we judge our treatment of animals?  State law, federal law, god’s law?  Does it matter if we’re in rural Virginia, New York, Hawaii or Indonesia?

The answers to all of these are yes, and therein lies the problem.  Standards for the treatment of animals vary widely among different races, cultures and upbringings.  A rural, or in this case, inner-city upbringing seems to create a lower standard for ‘ethical’ treatment.

JakGrabbit would never fight dogs, and for that matter, neither would I.  I believe it is cruel and inhumane…but that’s just because I was raised that way.  Being raised in a relatively well-off neighborhood gives you the luxury of respecting animals, because, ironically, for us they are entertainment - they do not provide labor or sustenance.

I think it’s OK to purchase a dog like the animal is an object, and I think it’s fine to enslave said dog into a life of doing stupid tricks for my entertainment.  And if some shoes are eaten, then maybe the dog will get a slap or two.

But I also realize that for some people, a dog is literally a piece of meat.  For some people, animals do not have feelings and can be killed for sport or entertainment - even if they are cute.  And while I would not do that personally, I realize that this is simply a byproduct of our background.  It would be unfair to impose my upper-middle class, TV-dinner from Star Market background, on someone from, say, a small rural town in Virginia.

Yes, we would hope that Vick’s wealth has produced a stronger sense of decency.  But I think we should also understand that people are raised to view animals in a certain light - and if you’re raised to see animals as a utility, then a $50 million football contract won’t change that.

Frankly, we’re lucky if we can successfully create standards for the treatment of human beings.

And that’s where we really need to think about the Vick case.  I do think Vick should go through whatever legal proceedings are applicable to this case - I’ve never wavered on this.  But what is really going to matter here is the, sigh…court of public opinion.

The NFL is a public organization that is highly aware of public opinion.  We can simply disregard Vick as an asshat piece of shit, because he is a millionaire and pro football player.  Or we can try to understand where he’s coming from.

Look, I’m not one to quickly give second chances, but millions in fantasy football dollars are at stake here.  If Vick’s career is ended on this, be clear, it is ended because people are not willing to understand that animals are treated differently by people of different backgrounds.  They are making this into a personal matter, portraying Vick as someone who is evil, when really, it’s just a difference in viewpoints.

Sure, there should be a universal, objective standard as to how we treat dogs, cats, bunnies, hamsters, spiders, roaches and herpes.  But right now, there is not.  And until that point, we should hold off judging others by our personal standards, and instead realize that our viewpoints are not universal, may not be ‘objectively’ correct, and may be subject to the bias of wealth.

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