A Brief Defense of Michael Vick

I was watching ESPN the other day at lunch and an analyst tried to make the argument that we should be a bit more sympathetic towards Vick because he was getting a harsher punishment because he was black. While I don't think that's the case, there is something to be said about this. I originally wrote a much longer version of this, but it stalled out with all the work I've had, so here's the argument in brief.

We must first acknowledge some "facts":

1. That professional athletes of any stripe, though particularly in contact sports like football, hockey, boxing, etc. are to a certain degree raised to be fierce and competitive. I speculate (fairly, I think) that no linebacker likes to think of the moral implications of clothes-lining a running back or taking someone out at the knees. This much is stripped out of them in the early years of their training.
2. That professional athletes are, in some degree, perceived by spectators as sub-human, a perception that filters down to the athletes themselves. This might be linked to the "fierce" "competitiveness" that is instilled in them, as these seem to be, in our "highly refined and cultured" society to represent our "base" instincts. Much like gladiatorial competition, we thrive off seeing others being beat to their core, simultaneously humanizing them in their mortality, but dehumanizing them in that we don't so much care for their well-being because they are somehow "less" than us.
3. This leads us to the final point: That such a training must invariably affect their conception of themselves, others, and the world around them. If they are trained not only to devalue human life but their own lives as well, is it not understandable that they would devalue all life? And can the blame rest solely on them?

For every child that worships an athlete, there is an adult who devalues them, or values them for purely selfish reasons (their success equals YOUR success). This argument, of course, neglects the racial politics involved in such a reading as well. It is not uncommon for these associations to be made in particular with black athletes because of the history of degredation and dehumanization.

Anyway, I'm not trying to say what he did was right, but we need to be a little self-reflective ourselves. Perhaps the fault lies not in the football stars, but in ourselves.