December 30, 2008
Writing Department
Celebrity Crime Roundup: Whoopi on Vick, Craig
As the end of the year approaches, I've been cleaning up my backlog of unpublished posts. I often start to write about something and then discover that I have nowhere to go with it. I've deleted most of those posts as there's no way to salvage them.
Sometimes, however, I just have trouble finding enough time to write, and the story behind the post goes stale before I get anything out on the blog. I delete some of those, but some of them I save for later if I think I'll be able to use them in response to another story. (E.g. my speculative post about gay evolution.)
Then there's stuff like this. I started to write this post in September 2007 and the story went stale. I like it as far as it goes, but I have no idea what to do with it. Here it is, exactly as I found it:
I'm with Whoopi, at least as she's quoted here.
"He's from the South, from the Deep South ... This is part of his cultural upbringing," Goldberg said of the Atlanta Falcons quarterback, whose recent fall from grace has been one of the most stunning in the history of U.S. sports.
"For a lot of people, dogs are sport," Goldberg said on the show. "Instead of just saying (Vick) is a beast and he's a monster, this is a kid who comes from a culture where this is not questioned."
I'm not in favor of dog fights, but it's silly to pretend that this is some bizarre flaw in Vick's character. Dogfights are held all over the world and have been for a long time--long enough that many current dog breeds appear to be the result of breeding for better fighting.
Goldberg's comments were denounced by Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, who disputed that dogfighting was a cultural fixture of the South or any other region.
"To suggest that there is some ethnic group or racial group or regional group that finds this acceptable is just not accurate," he told Reuters, adding that public opinion polls show opposition to dogfighting "is a universal value in America."
Obviously not. Otherwise we wouldn't be uncovering interstate dogfighting conspiracies.
Lots of illegal things are also cultural fixtures: Prostitution, back-room card games, smoking pot, under-age drinking, sports betting, 4th of July fireworks, off-the-books household employees, speeding, cash purchases at flea markets, buying out of state to avoid sales taxes...stop me when I get to something you do.
Also, gay sex, at least if you try to do it in a public restroom. Which brings me to
That's as far as I got. Obviously, I had something to say about the Craig business, but what? What connection did I see between illegal dog fights and gay sex in public bathrooms?
.
Leave a comment