It's undeniably grisly. And he's innocent until proven guilty.
One piece of the indictment is really troubling:
In or about March 2003, VICK retrieved a book bag from a vehicle containing approximately $23,000 in cash. The cash was provided by C.W. #2 for winning both dog fight matches.
That one seems pretty straightforward. With something like that it would seem like the next logical issue is basically, is C.W. #2 lying or not?
Because if he isn't, that's pretty darn clear evidence. I suppose it would have to be corroborated to hold up in court.
I guess one of the keys is what possible motivation C.W. #2 would have for lying about it. By admitting this it's obvious that the witness admits their own involvement in the dog fighting so who knows, maybe it's a way for him or her to cop a plea.
Regardless, there are enough witnesses and sufficient stories to suggest that at a minimum, Michael Vick doesn't appear to have been entirely truthful about his involvement in the dog fighting.
Personally, I think dog fighting is sad and couldn't see myself wanting to see it. Of course, I grew up on Country Club Lane (literally...). More and more I'm just not surprised to learn that certain things I consider to be horrifying are normal to others, it's a product of their upbringing.
And, frankly, if I grew up thinking it was okay, I would probably be an adult who thinks it's okay. I don't judge any of the individuals involved with it. I disagree with it and think it should be stopped and the individuals should be punished if they are guilty, even though punishment isn't the most effective answer in my book. (I can already hear those of you that are saying "Sometimes punishment is the only thing that will get through to people like this" maybe you're right, I don't know)
But I don't think they are bad people, they are a product of their conditioning and dealing with that conditioning is the way, I think to achieve meaningful, lasting change.
What a sad upbringing that must have been for those men that they don't see anything wrong with hurting animals. We had an even worse case here in the UK where a grandmother (with her daughters) encouraged her two grandchildren to fight against each other and told them off when one of them didn't want to hurt the other one. Sick.
Posted by: Franziska | July 27, 2007 at 06:57 AM