The case for vigilante justice.
If you can throw a football and make a boatload of money for the organization that is paying you far more than you deserve, far more than decent people make working two and three jobs, then you can abuse animals with such savagery that the rational mind can’t fathom it.
Remember Michael Vick? He’s the NFL quarterback who did twenty-one months in stir for “pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture.”
That sounds so…banal, doesn’t it? “An animal fighting venture.” Kind of like two cats boxing it out. You know, the way cats do.
As disgusting as the reality of forcing man’s best friend to fight for money, Vick did far worse. He tortured and killed “underperforming” dogs by hanging, electrocution, drowning, and, when the urge struck, with his bare hands. In case you’ve forgotten any of this, the following, recent LinkedIn post by a woman who witnesses animal abuse on a daily basis will remind you. And, if it doesn’t make you as angry and as sick to your soul as it did me, I don’t want to know you.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7035995827433025536/
Look at the scars on Lucas’ face and tell me, please, why is this human scum a free man? Why was he named “comeback player of the year?” Why is he free to possibly inflict more torture on innocent animals? In my opinion and readers, this is my opinion, I believe in an "eye for an eye."
I know how that sounds, but the deeper you delve into this horror show, the worse it gets. And if you’re a lifelong animal lover like me, then you believe in an “eye for an eye.”
Please don’t bring up God and/or his love. Or, his forgiveness. God has no place in this as he turned a blind eye while Vick was holding a small dog by its legs and slamming it to the ground. Repeatedly.
There are some acts I cannot and will not forgive. I’d make a lousy deity.
Football. No, thanks. But that said, even if I was a lifelong fan, I would never watch another game after learning that this soulless excuse for a human being was given the opportunity to make a “comeback.”
Kids looked up to this thug, this brute. Now, how many of them do you imagine will consider dog fighting a cool side hustle? Some kids are so stupid, especially the ones who can’t understand anything that doesn’t emanate from their phones, and are so very susceptible, that they’ll believe anything. For all I know, there’s a dog fighting ring on the Underground TikTok, if there is such a beast.
And what of Vick’s kids? How did his tossing the family dogs into a ring and letting pit bulls maul the shit out of them affect them? What type of individuals will they turn out to be?
This football player, this “comeback kid,” also kicked the family pets around like they were pigskins. In front of his children.
I apologize for my fury. But, seeing the scarred face of that poor creature on LinkedIn set something off in me and it’s burning a hole in my gut, which is why I needed to write about Michael Vick, even though he may be old news.
But, why should we forget old news? Should we forget Sandy Hook, or George Floyd, or Tyre Nichols a year or two down the road from his murder? Or the other acts of violence, so many of them fueled by hatred, that pop up in our news feeds with such regularity that we can’t separate one catastrophe from the next?
Vigilante justice. What’s so wrong with that when heinous acts like those committed by Michael Vick are resolved with slaps on the wrist?
Nothing. There’s nothing wrong with a punishment that fits the crime.
If I were big, burly, an avenging angel with an attitude, or younger, with a posse of like-minded peeps, I’d punish Michael Vick the way he deserves to be punished. I’d make him rue the day he emerged from his mother’s womb.
I would do it for Lucas and all the other dogs he tortured and killed. But, that’s just me.
© Sherry McGuinn, 2023. All Rights Reserved.
If you have the time, and curiosity, please check out my Substack newsletter, Sherry Raw.
Comments / 4