He is only partly right. I think the big difference he fails to address is that in both the heinous cases he mentions, the perps were caught as the story broke. Their guilt is evident, and people generally assume they will be severely punished for their atrocities. A great deal of the outcry when the Vick story came out centered around the seemingly likely chance that he could go unpunished. Until his partners rolled on him, a conviction would have been difficult, and that upset people greatly who felt he was guilty and might get off scott free. Just my $.02 anyway…

I agree with some of what he is saying…but he is wrong aboot how people seem to care more about celebs and animals than other human beings. That is the MEDIA’s perspective on what they think the pu blic wants to read about. Yes, some people are obsessed by celebs, not I, but if the media would simply stop writing about them, I doubt too many of us would be disappointed.

I am never amazed about the horrid things people will do to other people - I am simply disgusted. What has this human race come to when all we do is injure, torture, kill, etc. other people? While not pleasing stories to report about, they certainly merit some media coverage and public concern. More so than celeb rehab stints or how much money they make and pretend to spread it around to charities, while still living high on the hog in the multi-million dollar estates and expensive cars - that just sickens me.

Our media needs to be stirred up and start giving us important stories to read about.

Yes, a huge part is the celeb piece. Furhter, the distinction seems to be the subservient nature of the relationship between man and pet. Pets are by in large dependent upon us and we accept them largely for our own benefit. I do find the reference to “nobodies like Megan Williams, Channon Christian or Christopher Newsom” quite offensive - I sure care about them a hell of a lot more than the overpaid jackasses our society swoons over. Frankly if Vick (or Madonna, or Jack Nicholson, or . . . ) fell over dead it would have absoulutely no impact on me. Even though I’ve never met them, I consider these “nobody’s” infinately more valuable people.

I think the article is short sighted and lacks vision. His opinion is as basic as one would expect from a teen. The truth is, the folks reponsible for the torture of that girl will be punished with or without public outrage. On th eother hand atrocities against animals are often brushed aside from the public eye, especially for celebrities like Vick. Many people in the public eye still defend his actions and say, Oh, it’s OK they were just “dogs.”
I guarantee not one person has come forth and said, “Oh it was just some woman.” Or “It was just some “N*****.”
The reason people stand up and fith for the rights of animals is because journalists like this man trivialize the torture of animals.
In all of his prostelatizing about caring for people, I wonder if he supports the Bush Admin policy of torture that continues everyday. Or if he has ever written an article as an outcry for those ehuman beings? Or does he see Muslims as foreign to his Christian viewpoint as he sees dogs and humans.

I was going to make the same comment as hoss. There is not much to say about the cases of those people being tortured, raped, and/or killed. Those things are awful, obviously, and every sane person knows it. On the other hand, people disagree about animal cruelty. Disagreement creates discussion.

I agree with hoss. I feel the writer misses the point entirely. Many of us assume that the public understands how heinous rape, kidnapping, and rape is. We feel comfortable with our legal system to punish the guilty, yet I (and hopefully most) feel sympathy for the families affected.

Animal rights activists tend to have to be the squeakiest wheel in order to get people to notice. They tend to go become so loud that middle of the road people are put off. Their reaction is a bit of a catch-22.

Let us not forget that animals cannot speak for themselves, so a collective voice in their defense from humans speaks well of our own species. It’s nice to praise our kind for something.

I think the main reason for the greater outrage regarding the dogs as opposed to that of the humans is that dogs are much more vulnerable than are adult humans. Dogs and other animals don’t really have much rights - so when a heinous crime of this degree is committed to them, it seems more outrageous than that committed against an adult human.

Now, if the victims were children or the elderly, I think the outrage would be much greater - again it’s beating up on the most vulnerable in our society.

when I read that story about the torture I felt sick to my stomach. I am in the dog business and I also feel that Michael Vick should hang by his testicles. I agree sent animals and pets bring out a certain “thing” in us, more so because of their helplessness. This young lady also was so helpless in this situation My feeling towards her perpetrators probably should not be printed. I disagree when people say that it is more one-way than the other. Anyone of decency can also see that the crimes against this young lady who are absolutely horendous.

You know, I also think that one aspect this commentator is leaving out is the fact that most abuse on humans begins with the abuse on animals. Vick didn’t torture and abuse these animals because he needed money or whatever, it was just a sick little game to him and who knows what he would be willing to do to another human being. It is absolutely untrue that we are not outraged about human suffering, but it seems that animals, just like elders and children, do not have a chance to fight back. They are such innocent victims and we should start by protecting them. In this regard I completely agree with Lanie. But you know, it is interesting to me that this commentator would in some way defend Vick’s actions. Just like some “brilliant” association tried to defend his actions as being part of his culture… that’s complete BS is you ask me. I know plenty of people who grew up under not so nice circumstances and they don’t go around torturing animals, children and elders.

I believe that we should be happy that we this society finally starts to care about animals and their rights, finally these problems are being taken seriously, we are already fighting the abuse of humans.

Excellent points have been made; thank you all! (gosh, we didn’t think we had more than about 3 readers…ever!)

The point that i rather expected but haven’t seen yet is ‘bad news overload.’
i often feel overwhelmed by the constant onslaught of horrific reports from all over this tiny little blue dot we live on.
i’m usually exhausted enough without being further worn out by the tragedies unfolding every day.

so…next question: how then shall we live?

a note on Julia’s comment: here in our county a year or two ago, they passed tougher laws regarding people who abuse animals, in recognition of studies showing that people who abuse animals often go on to abuse other people. the hope is that tougher laws will help put behind bars those who abuse animals, getting them off the streets — and maybe getting them appropriate and effective psychological help — before they start inflicting abuse on people.