In an article for the Huffington Post, Alec Baldwin discusses his passion for animal rights and how forgiving Michael Vick would be a step in the right direction.
Here are some HIGHlights:
On rehabilitation:
What Vick did is, obviously, senseless and reprehensible. But I believe Vick, as a wealthy and talented athletic superstar who performs his job out in the open before crowds of amped-up and highly opinionated fans, suffers an unfair disadvantage as compared to, say, the heads of a meatpacking plant or the directors of a medical research lab where animals are suffering the cruelest imaginable abuses behind walls and doors that remove them from our sight and, therefore, judgments. Vick did horrific things and he deserved to be punished. He served his time and now I wonder what good does it do to exile him in shame and not let him show his example of how one can be rehabilitated after that kind of behavior. If Vick returns to his true form as an NFL pro, that platform can mean real progress for the animal rights movement. Or do some people really not want to open that conversation? Vick is one man who, along with his friends, brutally tortured and killed many innocent dogs and called it a sport. Each day in this country, millions upon millions of animals are suffering lives of daily abuse in factory farming, but we turn away because that animal, unlike Vick’s dogs, ends up on a grill and then on our plates. Animals that are not raised as pets suffer in ways that you and I don’t really want to know.
On the real problem:
Vick is easy to target as a villain. But the man who should have been setting an example for his young fans about how to comport oneself off the field can still do so. Donating a healthy figure from his enormous salary to any mixture of animal rights groups seems like a good start to me. I have a list for Vick when he is ready. But to ban Vick, to cast him aside and simply hate him, knowing that someone in his position stands potentially ready (and I do stress potentially) to effectively serve the interests of the very groups and individuals that he most offended, would be a mistake. Especially when there are enterprises operating in this country who will torture and kill more animals than a thousand Michael Vicks ever could, but you can not buy a ticket to watch them perform their job on a Sunday afternoon.
On forgiveness:
Vick deserves another chance. One chance. Just like all of us who eat meat, drink milk, attend rodeos, circuses, zoos and horse races and yet find it easier to hand Vick the bill for all of the other, more systemic abuses in our society may find ourselves needing another chance one day. Just like Michael Vick.
Damn, Baldwin is a talker!
We agree with some of what he said though. But we want assurances that Vick’s remorse and follow up actions are genuine.
Only time will tell!
[Image via AP Images.]