Let me review the facts:
Paris Hilton is caught driving on a suspended license--45 days in jail and massive media circus
Lindsay Lohan is caught not once, but 3 times driving drunk and with cocaine AFTER she escapes from her third stab at rehab--1 day in jail
Nicole Ritchie is caught driving the wrong way on the freeway with substanes in her bloodstream--81 minutes in jail
Michael Vick gets caught fighting dogs (not people, dogs)--facing more than a year in prison and being evicted from the NFL.
I don't understand justice. Now, I like dogs. I am particularily fond of uppity poodles. But, I do not understand how dog fighting A) consitutes a federal crime, B) deserves this amount of media attention, and C) is evidently worse than coke, weed, underage drinking and drunk driving. Really. All jokes aside. In all seriousness.
How does this work? Until three days ago, I had only heard Vick's name once or twice. I thought he was heir to the Johnson and Johnson vapor rub fortune. I do not follow football; I"m a fairweather fan. But, when I heard this story I thought "hmmm. that's bad, he got caught letting dogs eat each other" Then the thought truly was dismissed from my mind. I felt bad for the dogs, but I figure: people hunt, I eat meat, animals die.
Let me share with you some things that really deserve immediate and extensive media, if not legal attention:
A five year old Iraqi boy is set on fire by insurgents and is burned beyond recognition;
Texas man puts two-year-old in dryer for punishment;
The UN estimates that more than 450,000 people have been murdered in Sudan by the Janjaweed, an insurgent group;
In India, latest estimates indicate that more than 5,000 brides die each year because their dowries are "insufficient;"
Israel turns away Sudanese refugees;
More than 1 million children are forced into child prositution each year;
Crazy ruler of North Korea believes he is the direct son of God and continues to develop nuclear weapons that could, quite literally, blow us all off of the face of earth and into oblivion;
Massive hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, dust storms, gnats, and a plauge of locusts carrying West Nile, threaten to also, quite literally, annihilate us all (thanks Hummers, F150s, Coal mines, nuclear power plants and hairspray!)
Polar bears have nowhere to live, nothing to eat and are turning yellow because the temperate in the North Pole is high enough to melt thousand year old ice caps;
Dedicated teacher gets robbed of books in car;
And though we know the baby's daddy, we STILL don't know who or what killed Anna Nicole and her son...
And we're concerned with dogs? I don't get it.
Animal people, like I said: I like dogs. I don't particularly agree with Michael Vick; quite frankly I don't really care.
How much longer are we going to be bedazzled by the tricks, flash and dance of the right hand and ignore the dealings of the left?
*M*
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2 comments:
*M*, I largely agree with you here; people's priorities seem way out of whack. The term "infotainment" seems appropriate at least for the Party Girls, but I don't blame the media entirely for that trend because they (the media, not the Party Girls) essentially give the people what they demand.
As for Michael Vick, the federal offenses have less to do with dogs and more to do with sponsoring dogfighting. But the appalling thing about the dogs is the way some of them were put down.
I favor animal rights but on principle; it's not a cause célèbre for me. But the man (and his associates) killed dogs not only by the "conventional" method--shooting them--but by electrocution. By hanging. In one case, by slamming a dog's body to the ground. These are reprehensible, cruelly misguided acts of power, and pride, and ignorance.
Sorry. Didn't mean to get speechy. But I get riled up about things. Most things, actually.
Thank you for your lovely comment on my blog. I've been perusing your site for a few days now and I think it's delightful. I particularly enjoy the grapefruit-for-the-grinder bit. And I voted against playing the race card. It pulls all the focus and ultimately gets in the way...we white folk have a hard time seeing past it (surprised?).
Zephros,
My best friend is concerned for my soul; she thinks that I have relinquished my place in Heaven because of my apathy concerning the M. Vick case. I do not agree with dogfighting. It's bad. But, I also don't agree with the zeal and fervor other groups have gone agains Vick. I wouldn't be so (confused?) if people took that same energy and got really angry about the war in Iraq; the slow, but steady, compromise of our civil rights; the number of women who are killed and abused by their spouses each year; the number of children who are abused each year; the number of Americans without health care; the fact that the earth is melting under our feet; and the fact that we are now a debt-consumed society. Is M. Vick wrong? Sure. But why does this case deserve so much attention and so much of a focus on punishment when there are so many other things that are at least as equally, if not more, important?
And, I agree with you. I know (as a rational person) that I should not (and I did not) play the race card in my letter. However, I don't know how many people know how it feels to be demeaned and talked-down to and then besmirked by someone else--especially when that person has the guise of power. It is very embarassing to clearly be in the minority (either as a woman, or of a different race, or with a different educational background) and literally feel like you are being treated poorly because of that difference. When the cashier turned to the young men behind me and laughed, I was horrified and embarassed. When I drafted (not finished) my letter, most of it was written in anger: when I revised it, I took a step back and focused on the relevant pieces of information.
Thanks for your comments. I like the speechy bits. People should get riled up...it shows they care about something.
Good luck next semester,
*M*
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