PETA wants to save Michael Vick...we get it, but no  
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007

Early last month, Michael Vick paid a prearranged visit to PETA's headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, to meet with PETA president Ingrid Newkirk.  She told him that PETA's position remains firm on Vick deserving jail time and a lifetime ban on contact with animals.  But she offered him a chance to take a course in basic animal empathy.

On September 18th, Vick came back to PETA and took a class entitled, "Developing Empathy for Animals," a one day seminar.  Let's take a look at the word empathy for a moment.

Definitions for "empathy" include:  the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts or attitudes of another; feelings or attitudes present in oneself; identifying with and understanding another's situations, feelings and motives.  I.e.:  being able to sidestep being entirely self-serving, and learn to relate to the feelings and pain of others (in this case, animals).

Snort.  I love PETA, and one has to appreciate what they are trying to do.  But they are expecting two ridiculous things:  one, for a man who has proven himself to be an animal abuser and killer, to be capable of suddenly awakening to pity; and two, PETA wants the NFL to require everyone to take the empathy course.

You have a heart, or you don't.  You see pain and suffering, and you want to stop it, or you thrive in it.  Michael Vick is not upset because he hurt those pit bulls, he's upset because the jig is up.  In the mind of the public, he is - and always will be - the Tin Man.  He is big, and flashy, but on the inside, there is no heart.  Choking the life out of a dog with your own two hands, big brown eyes looking up at you, with its tail between its legs in shame because it didn't have the vicious streak you required of it to bare its teeth and fight for your illegal animal abuse enterprise...

Alright, I'm not being Christian.  He said he's accepted Jesus, so I'm going to be quiet.  As for the entire NFL needing to take a course in animal empathy - is that really necessary, considering the NFL had nothing to do with one player's off-the-field actions?  And again, empathy classes?  I say we just strap a choker collar on any offenders and put them in a ring and make them fight each other on all fours.

   

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