Olympic sprinting = torture, apparently

Kathy Rudy at the Atlanta Journal Constitution writes what is really a scathing defense of Michael Vick, despite her half-hearted appeals that she's "against dog fighting", by stating basically that the entire case is racist. Why is it racist? Because white people watch rodeo, horse racing, and dog racing, and those sports aren't illegal.

She's really making a comparison between a horse running for about a minute and a half and a dog fighting for its life for 40 minutes.

Sure, there's some nasty stuff that goes on in rodeos (most of which, personally, I need no deed to continue), and the prospects of former horse and dog race competitors is usually a humane death at an inhumanely young age, but to suggest that there's some sort of similarity between watching horses or dogs run around a track for a minute or two at a time and watching dogs or roosters fight each other to death over the course of nearly an hour is ridiculous.

The difference is not just that dog fighting and cock fighting are illegal, but the difference is that the purpose of dog and cock fighting (and bull fighting, bull and bear baiting, and dog/rat fights, etc) is to watch two animals try to torture each other to death. The entire training methods involved include torturing, starving, and beating the animals until they are willing to fight to the death. In racing, they run around the track. Yes, there's a change of injury to horses in horse racing; however, there are long lists of rules designed to prevent this. In dog fighting, the injury to the dog is the explicit goal of the fight.

This is like trying to compare the Olympics to ancient Roman gladiatorial matches.

White culture's hypocrisy about Vick
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

As a strong advocate of animal welfare, I despise dogfighting. I have worked in dog rescue for many years, and know firsthand that pit bulls are among the sweetest, most devoted animals on earth. The pit bulls used in the dogfighting ring operated from property owned by Atlanta Falcons star Michael Vick deserved a far better life.

Yet, I find what's happening with Vick, who pleaded guilty Monday to a felony charge, alarming.

We need to face the fact that dog fighting is not the only "sport" that abuses animals. Cruelty also occurs in rodeos, horse and dog racing (all of which mistreat animals and often kill them when no longer useful). There are also millions of dogs and cats we put to death in "shelters" across the country because they lack a home, and billions of creatures we torture in factory farms for our food.

Vick treated his dogs very cruelly; there is no question about that. But I see one important difference between these more socially acceptable mistreatments and the anger focused on Vick; Vick is black, and most of the folks in charge of other activities are white.