Sorry Whoopi, but NOTHING Justifies This…
Okay, so call me crazy but I’ve always really liked Whoopi Goldberg. I looked up to her as a little girl because she is such a strong and independent woman. However, her public defense of Michael Vick on The View has left me so disgusted with her that I can’t even think straight. How dare she defend him and pass off his dogfighting as no big deal?! How dare she give him an excuse that some clever defense lawyer will be quick to jump on in court?! So what if “‘where he comes from in the south’” dogfighting isn’t that unusual.” So what if “there are certain things that are indicative to certain parts of the country.” The fact of the matter remains that they are still wrong regardless of how you look at them. I found it particularly disturbing that an African-American woman would make those comments as well. After all, there are certain other things that are also indicative of the south. By her own logic, she has just made racism and hate crimes acceptable because “they aren’t that unsual.”
Justice is not gray; there is a strict line that cannot be crossed. It doesn’t matter if you know better or not. It doesn’t matter if you are raised to think that something is acceptable. If you are breaking the law, then you should be punished. Furthermore, this goes double for celebrities and sports stars. They are automatically in a position to be idolized by children everywhere. Thus, by the very nature of their careers it is their responsibility to be model citizens. When they break the law they MUST be punished for it because otherwise it sends a terrible message to America’s children that they are either above the law or the law itself is somehow unjust. Society cannot continue if it is continually undermining itself by letting celebrities off the hook. Those who advocate leniency are effectively also advocating anarchy. Thus, I urge you to boycott The View until such a time as they either remove Whoopi from her post or she makes a formal and sincere apology for her insensitive and illogical remarks!
Frankly, I am completely appalled by ALL of the people who seem to think that what he did was acceptable. If you go on any website there are countless people who seem to think that what he has done is somehow excusable. There is even a site dedicated to saving Michael Vick! It is a vile and underhanded attempt to undermine all of the good that has recently been accomplished by animal rescue groups and the ASPCA. Sadly, they have been very successful at making pit bulls look evil and worthless in civilized society. In fact, many humane shelters will no longer keep pit bulls–or even dogs that may have pit bull blood. These shelters automatically euthanize them.
Thankfully, the Sacramento SPCA is not one of these. Their refusal to discrimintae against a dog solely based on breed makes me proud to live in Sacramento. They currently have seven different “bullies” available for adoption. If you are considering bringing a furry friend into your family I urge you to consider adopting one of these dogs. They are highly personable and wonderful with children. Plus, since they are rescue dogs you know that they are going to be very loving because they aren’t used to being treated with affection. My family has a rescued pit bull who has become the delight of the family over the last seven years. He sleeps with the kids, lets the babies play with his ears, shares his food with stray cats, and even lets the parrots beat him up without even batting an eye. He’s our 95 pound angel and we wouldn’t give him up for anything!…
ASPCA, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Vick, celebrity scandals, dogfighting, pit bulls, animal abuse, animal cruelty, The View, animal rescues, racism, justice, Sacramento animal shelter
September 4th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Jennifer,
Fantastic and well-thought out article! I think that the relativism that is part of the arguments in favor of protecting Michael Vick are quite disturbing. Just because a group of people have created a tradition does not mean we need to respect it. Dogfighting is akin to traditions like genital mutilation and caste systems. We do not need to respect anything because it is cast under the name of tradition. Whoopi and other people supporting Michael Vick, which is just what they are doing, will face the fire storm.
September 4th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Thank you Nick! It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who thought this was disturbing. It seems like people just get complacent sometimes with things like this. They develop this attitude that it doesn’t really matter because it isn’t happening in front of them. I guess it just makes it easy for them to deny it you know? Anyway, thanks for the support…it’ll make my puppy dog wag his tail for sure
September 6th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
As disturbing as the picture of this dog is,
the slaughter of innocent life happens daily in America.
Human life is more of a priority in my opinion.
I might also add our politicians and leaders commit worse atrocities on people everyday, even to the point of death, much worse than Vick has ever done with fighting dogs.
It seems our priorites are all backwards.
September 9th, 2007 at 8:51 am
This countrys going into the waste basket might fast these days. I can’t believe an individual like Whoopi would make such remarks. Heres a person whom many in this country respected for her accomplishments and she’s making statements that stun people. I have lost all respect for Whoopi after hearing this and wonder why someone so intouch with reality would want to side themselfs with an evil individaul who takes pleasure out of hurting innocent living creatures. I believe some of these big time so called stars think their actually above the common folk of this country and they should be allowed to do what they want without interference. Maybe Whoopi’s just been putting on a show for us all and she really isn’t the person many thought. Its either that or Whoopi wants the View to remain on the hot topic of the day list. Which to me could have been done in a more tastely manner. I lose respect for these so called stars everyday. Its shame a country as mighty and strong as ours can’t have real role models instead of fake people.
September 9th, 2007 at 8:54 am
And to Dave Rockett, all life is a priority in this world not just humans.
September 14th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
all i have to say is that picture of the baby girl and the dog thats my daughter and our families dog and she loves him so much and he would never ever hurt her and when people say some dumb crap on tv they only prove their ignorance. she has shown us a new side of her and i will never forget that…there is no justification for animal cruelty and anyone that thinks there is well lets just say they are the type of people we dont need in this world…disgusting truly disgusting!
September 18th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Davy, sorry it took me so long to respond. I’ve kind of been AWOL a bit since I was in the process of moving. Anyway, now that I have the time I think I owe you a response. Believe me when I say that this is in no way meant to offend you or your beliefs.
However, I think that what you said is the perfect example of everything that is wrong in this country. You are right that we do have a lot of bigger problems on our hands. However, that should never equate to a Get Out Of Jail Free card for “lesser” criminals. Animal cruelty may not rank as highly as crimes against humanity in the eyes of the public, but that does not make it any less evil or worthy of punishment.
In fact, I would argue that it’s the exact opposite. You have to solve the small problems that we face before we can tackle the larger ones. It is our response to “lesser” crimes which helps to shape our reaction to and and choice of punishment of “greater” ones. If we let these small ones slide then we cannot in good concsience say that the larger ones should be punished either. After all, a crime is a crime regardless of what act is being committed. In order for society to function properly, all crime–regardless of the degree of severity–must be punished. To ignore any criminal action is to pave the way for anarchy.
This phenomenon can be explained with the Theory of Rising Expectations. The Theory essentially states that if you give a society an inch they will then ask for a mile. Someone at some point has to say no in order for it to stop. Crime works the same way. To allow Michael Vick (or any other “petty” crimminal for that matter) to get away with what he has done is paving the road for other criminals to also expect lesser sentences. It is this leniency which has caused our criminal justice system to evolve into one which caters to the accused and not to the victim. We let murderers and rapists out early on parole for “good behavior.” This makes absolutley no sense since it certainly wasn’t “good behavior” that got them into prison in the first place!
Furthermore, people KNOW that they can get away with things much more easily these days than they could in years past. Take OJ Simpson as another example. He was just arrested for armed robbery. Frankly, we can’t say that we didn’t see that one coming now can we? On top of his arrest, he made the comment that he didn’t think his fame made him above the law. Of course he didn’t THINK that, he KNEW that because it was already proven to him when he was acquitted for the brutal murder of Nicole Brown Simspon and Ronald Goldman in 1995!!
In this country, celebrity has become equated with omnipotence and it has to stop. We cannot allow them to keep getting away with things if we ever want to get crime under control. It send the wrong message out to everyone–including other would-be criminals. Frankly, I don’t care if the case is OJ butchering his ex-wife or Vick butchering those dogs. The fact of the matter is that both men committed crimes and both deserve to be punished for those crimes. The bottom line is that severity of the crime does not denote whether ot not to punish the criminal. Severity instead dictates ONLY the severity of the punishment….
…That’s just my two-cents on the matter anyway…
September 18th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Steve, tahnk you for your support. I completely agree with the sentiment as well. Celebrity almost grants a godlike omnipotence to people these days and it MUST be stopped!
September 18th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Vicki…hope you don’t mind that I put that on here. I thought the contrast was astonishing though.
September 18th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
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November 6th, 2007 at 11:53 am
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November 25th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
[...] Check out Jennifer Springer’s blog on the Whoopi episode!!! I’m glad that people like Je… Did You Enjoy this Post? Subscribe to My Friendly Pets. It’s Free! « Back Home Posted in In The News, General on November 25th, 2007 Link to this Entry Email This Entry [...]