In recent months, the media's infatuation with bloodshed has focused intently on the dog fighting exploits of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. For those unfamiliar, authorities discovered some 70 pit bulls along with dog fighting equipment and other indicting evidence at one of Vick's homes. The star quarterback is now entering into a plea bargain and faces up to five years in prison. I disagree with the majority of Americans, if opinion polls can be believed, and put forth the argument that Vick does not deserve a single day in prison or any other punishment.
According to a recent Reuters story, dog fighting is outlawed in all 50 states and is a felony in all but two. But such laws are in desperate need of revision and should be scrapped outright. Vick's enterprise was an interstate racket that actually placed exorbitant bets on the outcome of the dog fights. Gambling should never be illegal either, but that is not the focus of this column. What needs to be challenged is the notion of giving animals rights. Animals do not have rights.
It is important to challenge any emotional reaction one might have to this idea and really examine the logical merits of attaching rights to animals. Humanity is the sole moral agent on Earth. In other words, without it there would be no justice, equality, love or any other uniquely human concepts. There would be nothing more, no pun intended, than a dog-eat-dog animal kingdom where survival of the fittest is the rule of the land.
Some would argue that humans are no better, but the fact that we have even devised such a concept as rights is proof that we are. Animals do not possess the intellectual capacity to conceive of rights; therefore, they do not have them. It is foolish to ascribe human qualities and concepts to lesser creatures that, without our domestication, would simply be eating one another. In any rational legal system, animals would be regarded as pieces of property. It might be despicable to gratuitously harm and butcher dogs, but it should be within Vick's rights as a property owner.
What is most astounding is the hypocrisy of so many Americans on this issue. I cannot help thinking that if Vick was revealed to have maimed and butchered dozens of cows, the outcry would have been nowhere near as calamitous. For a country that consumes such an abundance of meat and poultry without a second thought, it is amusing to see how quickly Americans rush to the defense of dogs. In some corners of the world canine cuisine is very much in vogue, yet here we gag at the thought of consuming man's best friend. In India cows are sacred, yet here we slaughter them at will and salivate at the thought of that next cheeseburger. The point is that it's all relative and none of it has any rational basis.
Those labeling themselves as defenders of animals should at least have the integrity to defend them all. And rather than demonize Michael Vick, they should turn their ire on those most notorious of butchers'McDonald's and Burger King, to name a few. A quick search on YouTube will yield plenty of videos, distributed by legitimate animal rights activists, that display just how brutally and unmercifully cows, pigs, chickens and other yummy delicacies are treated at the slaughtering houses before Americans gleefully choke them down. I guess it's convenient to set one's bleeding heart aside at the front door to Wendy's.
In pointing out such hypocrisy, by no means am I endorsing the wild religiosity of such cults as PETA. But at least they are consistent with their insanity. At the end of the day, what is most disappointing is that so much enthusiasm and intellectual vigor is being wasted on animals when injustice against humans is still rampant. So rather than spend money on a vegan diet, donate some money to groups like Amnesty International that actually aid humans capable of a full range of emotion and creativity.
Some would call my beliefs speciesism, the idea that one species is superior to another. I would agree wholeheartedly. I am a proud speciesist.
Columns represent the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Post.
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Joe Vance
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