To all the people who argue that Michael Vick did his time and paid his debt, I know. It’s hard for you. He was a great quarterback or whatever… But, he was also something else. Here’s your trigger warning.
If you want him to be honored as a captain… a leader that others should follow and admire, you are saying that leaders torture dogs that don’t perform well, that they hang them from trees to choke them to death, that they drown them, smash them to the floor over and over until a dog’s neck is broken. You’re saying that a leader that others should follow attaches electrodes to dogs they want to punish and kill, electrocuting them by throwing them in a pool where they don’t die right away but claw and tear the pool sides in a frantic and hopeless attempt to escape. You’re saying that a leader has an aggressive breeding bitch’s teeth pulled so he can breed her more easily. A leader uses pet dogs as bait dogs and grinds their teeth down with a dremel so they can’t fight back.
Are there other horrible things that people do? Yes, there are. But today’s topic is not those other horrible things. Today, it’s about Michael Vick. Can someone who actively participated in such inventive and wanton cruelty and terror be capable of remorse when he had not the slightest remorse through all the torture? It doesn’t seem very likely, but if he was the the leader that others should follow, and he felt real remorse, he would be demonstrating that leadership himself. He wouldn’t need people to petition. He’d have thanked the NFL and then politely and firmly rejected the honor as indecent under the circumstances.