Has Michael Vick redeemed himself?

He is still working on it, but I believe he truly is sorry for what he did, and now sees the error of his ways.

@YARNLADY I am giving him a similar benefit of the doubt. I believe in redemption.

He is still a loser in my book. Anyone who has to be told not to fight dogs has some element of brokenness in my opinion—I am not sure you can ever make up for failing to learn compassion.

Hard to know. People that rich have publicists, handlers, etc. telling them exactly what to do and say. I doubt were seeing the 100% “real” Michael Vick.

He’s sorry all right. He’s sorry that he got caught and had to go to jail. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he did it anyway. The worst part about what he did wasn’t the selfishness or the illegality, it was the cruelty. He will never be redeemed in my book, no matter what he says. Talk is cheap, it gets you back into the limelight.

In my eyes? Never.
It takes a special kind of sickness to do what he did, in my opinion.

Remember, Michael Vick has PR people that advises him what to say and do to fix the error of his ways in the public eye. So, we don’t really know if he has redeemed himself.

Who gives a fuck?

He is very good at what he does for a living. Why should that have such a direct bearing on any personal, uh, shortcomings he may have?

The only way Vick can redeem himself is by working for the rest of his life for the benefit of animals. And maybe not even then.

I won’t make up my mind until I see how he holds up against the Monsters of the Midway tomorrow!! I expect he will be wearing quite a few deep bruises by tomorrow night!!

No. And he never will.

His dogs, however, have been redeemed a hundred times over.

If there were a Hell, Vick would be rotting in it.

@crisw

“If there were a Hell, Vick would be rotting in it.”

And Linda Blair would be delighted to reprise her role, so that she could be his personal demon. ;-)

He’s paid a huge price, two years of his life, probably close to $100 million dollars in lost contracts and endorsements, and suddenly being infamous to so many people.

He’s speaking out against his actions, has apologized anytime he’s been asked, and is willingly being used as a cautionary tale for the entire country. I don’t get the feeling that his handlers are the only force behind the change. I honestly think he just didn’t feel dogfighting was all that bad and obviously has become very familiar with the downsides. Because he’s so high profile and because of where he’s from and how much he lost, he’s probably done more to combat the perception that dog fighting is a victimless crime than anyone.

If you believe in people paying their dues or rehabilitation at all, he’s done all the right things since some truly horrible actions. “Redeemed” to me would imply he’s somehow more now than he was before, so I don’t think it fits entirely for my perception.

I do think he’s paid his dues and deserves a second chance just like anyone else. I’m glad he’s doing well and hope he continues to use his situation as an opportunity to educate others.

Cruelty is in the eyes of the beholder. Like dog fighting, bullfighting is seen as a sport in many countries, and the participants are not considered animal abusers by sports enthusiasts.

Most vegetarians believe meat eaters are cruel to animals as well.

Great points @YARNLADY. Bravely said against the politically correct.

who am i to judge

what he did was horrible. That said he paid for it. Lost all his money and spent time in prison. Everybody has a chance of redemption no matter what he/she did. What happened happened and nothing will change that. What’s done is done. He lost his job with the Falcons and almost lost his career in the NFL. Lots of teams didn’t want to sign him. He lost all of his endorsements. Eagles picked him up as a third down QB. The reason he is starting again is because he is a good QB and nothing else. People don’t care as long as they can win games with him. It’s in the past and since he was punished for it I see the case as being closed and over with. I am not a fan of Vick or the Eagles. People forget that almost anyone can be redeemed. He killed dogs and had held dogfighting matches and I don’t see him as fully redeemed yet. They only thing he has done is play football and to me for him to achieve redemption he needs to do good things off the field like help underpriviledged kids and do other things that will help society. Only Vick knows if he is truly sorry or not. Anyone who assumes that he is sorry or not is being very arrongant and judgemental. He paid for his crime and shouldn’t be punished anymore.

@YARNLADY

“Like dog fighting, bullfighting is seen as a sport in many countries, and the participants are not considered animal abusers by sports enthusiasts.”

That doesn’t make it right, and as we mature, bullfighting has been banned in more and more places- even in parts of Spain.

Whether or not the practice is “considered animal abuse by sports enthusiasts” doesn’t determine whether or not something is moral.

Vick’s dogs have gone on to actually help humanity- serving as everything from therapy dogs to beloved pets, If they had not been rescued, perhaps they too would have been electrocuted with car batteries, choked, shot or drowned in a swimming pool like Vick’s other victims.

It isn’t just the fighting that is cruel, it’s the way the animals are treat prior to the fights, and afterward. Animals are starved, beaten, kicked, burned, shot, etc. I’m not sure a person needs to learn that treating any living creature that way is cruel.