What's wrong with professional dog fighting?

With all the news this week about Michael Vick and dog fighting and the blood sport of it (and also cock fighting as well) - it's gotten me thinking about the philosophy of it as it relates to our society and what we're willing to put up with.

Me - I have this belief that all life is special and equal - except for house flies (for some reason I just haven't been able to get over killing house flies) - I can't stand to kill anything. If there's a bug in the house I've got a special jar that I'll catch the bug in and take it outdoors and let it go.

There was a letter to the Editor written down in the States posted to a Yahoo group that I belong to and it basically said - Michael Vick shouldn't be charged with anything because dogs have no rights, they are just property and aren't equal to humans, and to give them any legal rights degrades the worth of humans.

I have the opinion that giving dogs rights doesn't "degrade" the worth of humans - all animals - humans included - are exactly THE SAME - no one is better or worse than the other - we are all exactly the same - we are all SENTIENT BEINGS - we all are alive, we all feel, we all live, we die, we give birth, we have sex, we feel better after we've had a good crap, we feel loneliness, we are all the same.

So we are not degrading HUMANS by giving ANIMALS rights.

We are not DEGRADING Michael Vick by prosecuting him for torturing animals. We are standing up for a species that is exactly the same as us and deserves the same protection that we give ourselves.

So that is that part.

On to dog fighting as it relates to violence and how much we're willing to take.

Me - what I like to watch on television are funny cartoons, funny television shows, and some news. I like things like the "Trailer Park Boys, the "Rick Mercer Show", "Little People, Big World", "The Daily Show", "The Office" - shows like that. I don't like to watch shows that have violence because that's not any part of my life. But it seems like there is some segment of society that has violence as an everyday normal part of their life. It's the segment of society that can accept a drive by shooting that kills a child in Toronto Canada as a life occurence and move on from that.

They see that and then become a little numb. And then they see somebody getting beaten up on a corner, and then they hear people hollering at each other as if they're about to kill each other 2 apartments down from where they live. Violence is a normal part of their life. It's endemic. Several people they've known as they've gone through elementary school and highschool have died violently. It's normal. And the dogs that are around them everyday aren't very dog friendly anyway. Their owners like it when they growl and act tough.

Life is full of non-compassion. I don't know what the answer is. I don't know how to show people who've seen nothing but pain, violence and anger that all life deserves to have a chance - especially when they've never been given a chance. I've always said that answers come when you look deep into your dogs eyes.

Maybe these people need to look into the eyes of the dogs' that they're fighting - see that there is life in there. See that there is a living, thinking being that deserves more than being hung or electrocuted when they've lost the fight - or lived their entire life in a cage.

Dog fighting isn't just an American problem - it's a world wide problem. As long as there's evil people out there - there'll be abuse - so unfortunately it's a thing that's not going to go away anytime soon. Give your own dogs a good long hug.