The Michael Vick in All of Us

I guess there's word this afternoon that Michael Vick is taking a plea. Can't say I'm shocked. If he wants to salvage his career, would suggest quickly joining PETA board and doing commercials for them. Total contrition and a few Larry King appearances might actually turn this around. It's a forgiving country except for people who hurt kids and animals.

Anyway, I do think there's an element of hypocrisy in all of the attacks on Vick. Of course, dog mauling and all that goes with it is sick and rightfully condemned. And of course he's sick for engaging in it. And it's good we have laws on the book against it. My beef is that if you look at factory farming in this country it's hard not to think of it as something pretty close to torture. The way chickens and pigs and cattle are crammed through processing plants, fed diets designed to enhance their bulk, etc. It's not torture per se and it's certainly not for sport. But it's hard not to see it as cruelty nonetheless and so I think it's hard to think of Michael Vick as evil while downing a fastfood hamburger that's the product of a relentless system of animal processing. I don't think it's immoral to eat animals or fish. I do think the current system of factory farming, famously outlined in Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser or The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan feels like animal cruelty, to me anyway.