Michael Vick: You Can’t Have it Both Ways

Michael Vick submitted a hand-written letter of apology to the Federal Judge who decided his 23-month sentence. In the letter, Michael Vick accepts responsibility for his actions and that his actions caused the death and suffering of numerous pit bulls.

“I take full responsibility for my actions and am ashamed that my actions hurt animals and allowed animals to be hurt and killed,” he wrote. “. . .I just ask for a second chance.”

He goes on to say that dog-fighting was a common occurrence where he grew up, in the projects of Newport News, Virginia. According to Vick, he knew drugs and guns were wrong, but that dog-fighting never got anyone into trouble, so he did not know it was a criminal action. He asks the judge for leniency, stating that he is a “humble, soft spoken and caring” father of three who basically just made a huge mistake. An error in judgment.

Michael Vick almost had me until I really thought about what he was saying. On the one hand, I am surprised he did not die trying to lie his way out of this. On the other hand, he never accepts 100% of the responsibility for it either. He says that he does, but he does not. I am glad he is taking some level of accountability for his actions, but he is insulting the intelligence of the people who once looked up to him by making this asinine claim that he was somehow oblivious to the blatant cruelty that is dog-fighting. He grew up in poverty and I am not denying that dog-fighting is a common activity in certain subcultures. But how could he lay claim that it never dawned on him that it is wrong? It is wrong on so many obvious levels.

To me, you can’t be a humble, charitable, loving person and also kill dogs for money. It is not possible to do such sociopathic, hideous things part of the time and then go home and be perfect the rest of the time. If I could rewrite Michael Vick’s apology letter, it would go like this:

Dear Judge,

What I did was entirely and completely reprehensible. I killed and tortured living creatures to make a profit because I had no regard for living things other than myself. Now that I have gotten in so much trouble, I realize just how wrong it really was to murder pit bulls and force them to kill each other. I have a new appreciation for this once-inferior life-form and I vow I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it right. I realize that I will never be able to completely undo what I have done to these poor creatures, but I will spend the entirety of my life trying to come as close as possible.

Sincerely,

Michael Vick

That would have been so much closer to the actual truth than the other garbage he submitted. The truth would have been worth more than his endorsements from George Foreman, his mother, and God Himself combined. Excuses do not become you, Michael Vick. I think you ought to try something closer to my version for your next judge in Surry County when you get nailed there, too.

©2007 LBB

~ by tex on December 14, 2007.