Comment: Michael Vick vs. Martha Stewart?

Blogger-pal Oswegan has left the following comment on the post below (Nov. 27): It's an interesting case. Sometimes it seems as though they are using him as an example similar to what they did to Martha Stewart.

Interesting comparison between Mike Vick and Martha Stewart. My sister has also mentioned this to me.

I believe Martha Stewart's jailing - not conviction - truly was used as an example by Big Business (not the government or the public). With Vick, I believe his arrest and resulting charges were happenstance, but justly deserved. I do hope he pays dearly for his actions; in my mind, they are more severe than Martha's. Martha's crime was about money; Vick's crime was about life.

That said, I would agree that members of "the public" - specifically animal rights groups, etc. - are holding Vick up as an example. He set himself up as a perfect target, a perfect example: he is a known face, a liked and familiar person, someone "like us" and probably better - certainly more successful. If it were the guy down the street, no one outside of his neighbors and the local SPCA would care to raise a stink. Unfortunately for Vick, and fortunately for the rest of us, the timing in this country is such that animal cruelty can now be addressed on a national scale, and the opportunity to use a nationally recognized persona as an example is not to be missed. Vick is the perfect example of the guy you would least expect and representative of how even beautiful people can do the ugliest of things. He was the best of us, and we let ourselves down. I am not at all sorry for him.

Will Vick's arrest, conviction, and jailing stop others? On a grand scale, I doubt it. But if it stops people from believing they can get away with heinous crimes simply because they have money, success, or connections - and it stops one of them or gives them pause to reconsider their actions - then I'm all for it. And if it educates the public to further put an end to this ugliness, then I'm all for that, too. At least it's a first step in the right direction.