Why I like what we're doing to Michael Vick
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Throughout the last few weeks/months, I have kept my ear to the grindstone and tried to make sense of both sides of the Michael Vick saga. Needless to say, there are a ton of factors that are incorporated in peoples arguments ranging from race to ethnicity and back to race. I think these arguments have some merit but do not broach the bigger issue at hand. Michael Vick is being publicly shamed and humiliated and I am loving it!
Whether he is black, white, blue, or green does not matter. What matters is how appalling his "alleged" crimes were and how he is being punished for it. I have heard many arguments made about how the financial penalties he is incurring and the jail time he is looking at are enough punishment, but I disagree. Those are auxiliary penalties that are results of a legal system and as far as I care can be dismissed. Ron's real punishment is the shame that we as a country have poured onto him like Pacman's 80K onto a stripper. We live in a country where in the past 15-20 years we have raised our kids into believing they are something special when in reality they are no better than kids were 50 years ago...... maybe even worse and more narcissistic.
This generation of children also coincided with the advent of the Superstar athlete that is not only seen on Sundays anymore but on a daily basis through the majesty of advertising and marketing. We've been watching these so-called superstars commit indiscretions ranging from murder (OJ, Carruth) to drug trafficking (Newton and....Newton again) and yet in the eyes of many the offenders are the real victims (ok, maybe not in the murder cases). Smaller crimes committed by active athletes are blown out of proportion for a week and when the dust settles these individuals see no reason to change their ways because a one game suspension and a 50K fine are no longer viewed as a big deal by todays athlete. When news broke about Michael Vick's dog fighting ring I figured it would be quickly handled with some community service and fines and ATL would see it's beloved #7 on the field in time for Week 1.
It turns out that people find animal abuse more offensive than most other violent crime and immediately sprang into action calling for Vick's head. In the weeks that followed, America displayed it's collective outrage through opinion pieces, news shows, talk shows, and of course the internet(s). It all culminated into a public shaming that would make Richard Nixon feel good about himself. The idea behind public shaming is so simple that I am amazed we ever got rid of it in the first place. In 20 years, nobody will remember Michael Vick the football player. His legacy (assuming he ever had one) has been tarnished forever and will not be recovered even if he comes back and wins 9 Super Bowls. He will always be known as Michael Vick the dog fighter and it will haunt him forever.
It is sad that there are athletes that were shamed for their on-field failures (Norwood, Lett, Buckner) while people like Ray Lewis are revered for his D but not chastised for his skills with a knife. Michael Vick has been shamed thoroughly and we are a better country for it. What's important now is that we keep it up and broaden our judgmental glares to include politicians, CEO's, and most importantly, hateful religious zealots that turn out to be gay.
Petty criminals do not deserve to be publicly shamed because their lives are sad enough, however, rich and powerful men that take advantage of their fellow man or rail against a lifestyle only to secretly subscribe to it themselves are the ones that need to be taken to task. So the next time a scandal like this breaks and it turns out for example that Bill Bidwell has been TRYING to win a Super Bowl all these years, I hope we will all be standing there pointing and laughing.
