I feel like I’m a pretty laid back person.  I let a lot of things slide.  I’ve often said I’m easy to date.  Maybe too easy.  You wanna hang out all night partying with 25 year olds?  Fine.  Just don’t wake me when you get home.  My friends come in all shape, colors and moral codes and yet I feel like there are a few truths we can all live by.

• Sleeping with, torturing, marring, etc anyone underage is bad.
• Killing, maiming, torturing other humans is a no-no.
• Adultery is a cry for help.  Stop whoring around and hurting your family you selfish prick.
• Killing, hurting, torturing, etc an animal makes you an asshat (I suppose unless it is to feed you and/or your people … whoever they may be and even then torturing is off the table).

If we can all, at least on some level, agree that these things make you less than a saint why do we allow people to do them.  Specifically why do we allow people we consider “heroes,” “legends,” or “leaders” do it?  Bill Clinton gets a pass for dragging his family through a very public scandal because he was the leader of the free world and “man that must be stressful.”  Tiger Woods is given a pass and even kept on as an endorser for major brands because “his personal life has nothing to do with how well he plays golf.”  We give Woody Allen a Lifetime Achievement award at the Golden Globes even though 90% of humanity would consider his personal life gross and repulsive he sure made a lot of movies that made someone somewhere a lot of cash.  Don’t even get me started on Michael Vick … oh no … I said his name …. let the rant begin.

I truly don’t understand how anyone can give Michael Vick a pass.  I’ve talked to people, even people I call my friends, who do and I consider their arguments for the man mind numbing.  If you have been hiding under a rock for years let me bring you up to speed.  Michael Vick plays football.  He also bankrolled a vicious dog fighting ring which he reluctantly admitted too and spent time in jail for.  You can read a great blow-by-blow account of the “dog fighting” timeline here.  It is much more factual based than anything my hate filled fingers could type.  There is no need for me to rehash the horrific acts he did and knew about.  If you want to ignore that his actions were illegal be my guest, but you can’t for a second tell me they were in any way moral or right.

I’m told by Vickians (the label I give those that forgive and forget his crimes) that he didn’t know any better.  That I’m too sheltered and don’t understand that dog fighting is a way of life for some people.  He was never taught it was wrong.  My response?  Tough shit.  It may be a way of life but he knew it was wrong.  He started his dog killing business (see I told you my fingers were hate filled) when he was an adult who, by all accounts, had been to more cities in the US than most men his age.  You are telling me he never figured out torturing and killing animals for pleasure and money was wrong?  If you believe that then obviously Vick needs to get himself into an assisted living home STAT because his mental status is that of a 3-year-old and he has much bigger issues to deal with.

The NY Times recently published an article by Juliet Macursuggesting any team that wants to sign Vick should be made aware of his past crimes.  I think that is a great idea unfortunately I don’t think it would matter one bit.  As Diddy sang, “It’s All About the Benjamins.”  Head honchos don’t give a flying rats ass as long as it brings in the cash.  It’s up to us, the normal humans of this precious race, to let them know it isn’t okay by not giving them the green when they make such ridiculous decisions.  (Macur actually does give Vick’s side some ink near the end of the article.  My favorite is when the reader is informed Vick supports a bill to make it illegal to take a child to a dog fight.  Ummmm … isn’t it already illegal since dog fights aren’t allowed?  Do we need to add bills that state the obvious like, “don’t murder your baby’s mama in front of him.”  I also read somewhere that Vick admitted to all the bad things he did with his “business” but that he never made money betting on the dogs or a percentage of the purse.  If that is true he isn’t just a horrible person he is a moron too.  Idiot.)

Vickians tell me I’m being too harsh that he served his time in jail and has earned a second chance.  My response?  F*** off.  He can have a second chance.  He should get his resume together and start applying for jobs where he has to check the “was convicted of a crime” box.  I’d be okay with that.  Sadly that is not what happened.  Just 7 days after his ankle monitor was taken off he was signed to a professional NFL team making 1.6 million dollars.  That number jumped to 5.25 million the next season.

Vickians will tell me he is good at his job … playing football so why shouldn’t he be allowed to do that.  My response?  Because I expect more from my heroes and my society.  Just because you are good at something I don’t believe you should get a pass for not just breaking the law but glorifying brutal and deadly hate acts.  The job of football player, president, politician, actor, singer, director, golf champion, and paid brand advocate includes having your personal life be part of your public persona.  If you don’t like that fact then get another job.  You get fame, glory, money and ego boosting in your position.  For all of that I expect you not to be an immoral asshat.  I feel like that is fair.

“But judgemental Wendy no one is perfect.”  True dat.  Although I would NEVER think it was okay to grab a dog with a friends help, and whip him up and down against the pavement until he no longer breathed.  Call me crazy.