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Animal Rights versus Human Rights

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Michael Vick dog fightingThe San Francisco Chronicle published an article complaining that America seems to be more intersted in animal rights than the rights of African Americans, in light of the recent 23 month prison sentence for Michael Vick.

Here's an interesting quote from the article...
In American culture, ethnic groups external to African Americans appear to have become more upset over dog fighting than African Americans are. If we were to look at animal welfare rights versus the rights of African Americans, one might conclude the welfare of animals gets more attention in some circles than the welfare of black people in this country. There are more groups fighting for the rights of animals than for the rights of African Americans.
Here are my observations on this.

Animal rights is not a big issue in the United States; only a teeny-tiny percentage of Americans really give a damn. Across the country, people don't really care. Dog fighting rings get busted all the time, and they may only get a few sentences of mention buried in the back of the local fish wrap.

In this case, Michael Vick was a football star, and he was indeed one of the big stars of the NFL, not just a rank-and-file player. That's why his crimes were given so much attention. Had he been any other black guy, or guy in general, his dog fighting operation might not have even been mentioned.

You don't hear Barack Obama putting chicken rights on his POTUS platform, and you don't see Hillary shaking her fist over the problem of dog fighting in America. If animal rights were more important than human rights, it would stand to reason that Presidential hopefuls would crawl over each other to get PETA's endorsement. But they don't.

So the person writing the article in the San Francisco Chronicle seems to have the same "selective vision" as the animal rights activists have, choosing to view the world's problems through their own set of eyes, instead of looking at the big picture.

The media coverage on Michael Vick was never about the dogs. It was about a celebrity that got busted by the cops. It was about tabloid journalism.

Dog bloggers tried to capitalize and bring attention to the problem of dog fighting, but they accomplished no more than just preaching to the flock. This was a tabloid matter from the beginning, and our nation saw it as that.

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10 Comments:

  • i dont think thats true, animals should be treated the same as humans because they have felings and thank god that stupid ass michael vick went to jail, how would he like it if he was a slave likfe in the old times and tortured all the times.animals should be saved and cared about!!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:26 PM, December 20, 2007  

  • I think it's important for your readers to know that this is not an article but an opinion piece, and that it is written by someone with an agenda. This should be quite clear to anyone who's actually read the whole article.

    The problem here was never the color of Michael Vick's skin, it was the fact that he broke the law. If he'd been doing drugs or drunk driving, it would have been in the press just as much. Not because he's black, but because he's a celebrity.

    Other celebrities are in the news all the time for the illegal things they do. When Winona shoplifted, it was all over the news, too. Where was the outrage, then?

    The problem is not that people care less about black people than they care about dogs. The percentage of people who care about animal welfare is teeny tiny in this country. A big case like this gives them the ability to get more people to look at the problem.

    At the same time, you have huge organizations and lobbyists who step in whenever a black person like Michael Vick ends up in the media in a case like this, trying to get him off free because "anything else would be racist / more interested in the welfare of the dogs than the person / insert any other reason here."

    Why can't we all agree that when laws are broken, those who break the law need to be punished. Who cares if that person is black, white, or purple?

    By Anonymous AbbyK9.Blogspot.Com, at 5:21 PM, December 20, 2007  

  • Race and/or ethnicity has nothing at all to do with the welfare of animals. What a stupid thing to think. There are many repressed beings in our country who think that not all races are equal. Hello and open your eyes. All humans are equal in this country no matter your color. When will these people see this, that color isn't an issue anymore. It hasn't been for a long time now. Please get over it.

    By Anonymous Vesta, at 9:29 AM, December 21, 2007  

  • good thing michael vick went to jail for mistreating animals hope he goes to the electric chair instead!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:06 PM, December 22, 2007  

  • Why can't everyone in this world just mind THEIR OWN business? If everyone focused solely on their beliefs, and stopped criticizing others so much, this world would be a MUCH happier and more productive place. But, because of the ignorance and insecurities of their own beliefs, they end up wasting a lot of time and energy for themselves and the others they're arguing against. If their negative time and energy was spent more positively, towards their own beliefs, a lot more would get done!!!!! These kind of people need to sit back and re-evaluate what it is they really believe in and focus on that issue...NOT EVERYONE ELSE'S!!!!!!!!

    By Blogger ALL4ANMLS!, at 12:15 PM, December 22, 2007  

  • Carrie Underwood said it best "Man created dog, so man needs to take care of dog". In other words, dogs only know what man teaches them. I salute Carrie for standing up. Man, God (or whatever) created man, and that's a whole other mess.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:51 PM, December 23, 2007  

  • though im vegetarian and consider myself an animal rights activist, i have also learned to understand the african american perspective. As one black friend said to me: "it wasn't too long ago that we were treated like those dogs, and no one cared"... another black friend of mine explained that the "vs" reaction comes out of being repeatedly invalidated and the personal hurt this causes. I will never pit the rights of humans against animals because humans are animals.

    By Blogger healer, at 11:35 PM, January 31, 2008  

  • I believe animals should have the same rights as humans and any abuse on animals should be equal to abuse on humans and charged equally. If you kill an animal you should face life in prison. No excuses they have feelings and understanding just like humans sometimes more understanding then some humans. http://www.amazingdogsplace.com/

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:38 PM, February 18, 2008  

  • i dont think thats true, animals should be treated the same as humans because they have felings and thank god that stupid ass michael vick went to jail, how would he like it if he was a slave likfe in the old times and tortured all the times.animals should be saved and cared about!!
    --good thing michael vick went to jail for mistreating animals hope he goes to the electric chair instead!

    <-->this comment section smells strongly of white liberal racism. I would say more but nobody will listen.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:09 PM, March 16, 2008  

  • Animals dont get to choose to fight, they are made to fight. People have to take up for them, they also dont get a vote. African Americans can take up for themselves. Nobody is going to throw you in a ring to fight to the death without your permission. You are too hung up on rights for yourself to look at the big picture of right or wrong.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:51 AM, April 17, 2008  

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