ASPCA Turned Down Vick
I was heartened to read the ASPCA's statement on Michael Vick, and learned that they turned down Vick's offer to work with them on the dogfighting issue, before The Humane Society of the US decided to work with Vick. The ASPCA's view is similar to mine. I believe Vick should be allowed to have a job and support himself, but he doesn't have to be a professional football player, glorified on TV in front of impressionable children. The ASPCA wrote:
Although Mr. Vick has served his time and is now entitled to employment, the ASPCA was strongly against him being able to immediately re-join the NFL, to play alongside highly paid elite athletes who are looked upon as our heroes and role models.
And the ASPCA is not a staunch animal rights organization. They advocate mainstream animal welfare positions, and don't even promote vegetarianism, let alone veganism. For them to turn down Vick's offer is significant, because it shows that ardent animal rights activists are not the only ones who think that Vick does not deserve to be returned to his former celebrity.
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As a long-time vegan and animal rights activist, I believe we should get over Michael Vick and whether or not he should be reinstated and concentrate on educating people about showing respect and compassion towards all sentient beings.
Yes, it’s horrible what he did, yet it’s not all that different from what hunters/slaughterhouse workers/vivisectionists do to other animals (even our beloved cats and dogs) each and every day, with society’s support and encouragement.
Vick is in the business of playing a game to make lots of money. Whether he’s a role model or hero to others is not what he’s getting paid for; it’s simply a side-effect (I’ll wager his hero status falters a bit with the fans because of this).
Don’t pay to see him play if that makes you happy but let’s get back to the business of raising awareness of how our society cruelly treats all animals – as Francione says, we are all Michael Vick – and leave this goofball alone. Like it or not, he served his sentence, as short as it was.