The Chris Moeller Archives

Forgiving Michael Vick

The sports blog Deadspin has an interesting take on Michael Vick's return to the NFL.

(Vick's NFL confessors) have built very lucrative careers for themselves in a sport that dispatches humans onto a field to maul each other and that differs from dogfighting largely as a matter of taxonomy... No one with a stake in such a sadistic and dehumanizing endeavor-- not (NFL commissioner Roger) Goodell, not (Eagles owner Jeffrey) Lurie, not (CBS's James) Brown-- has any authority to plumb the depth's of another human being's morality.

Of course, the three said individuals are all preparing to profit substantially from Vick's return to professional football. It's the hypocrisy I could do without. Spare us the moralizing, and just 'fess up that this is about winning games and/or making money. That honesty would have my respect.

I don't know if Michael Vick is truly repentent for his crimes, and I don't really care. The NFL has already welcomed back wife- and girlfriend-beaters and drunk driving manslaughterers, and we no longer bat an eye when these cases repeat themselves. Vick's crime may or may not be on par with the others, but from a P-R standpoint, the man's biggest offense was being charged with a crime that no other high-profile athlete had ever been connected to before. That makes him the trial case and the poster boy for all animal abusers to come. Prepping his return is not about the rehabiliation of the man, it's about the rehabilitation of the image.

Being a convicted felon shouldn't mean there are no second chances in life, a fact that I hope the braintrust at PETA comes to recognize as they seem more intent these days in attacking Vick than in working with him for the promotion of their cause. Is it any wonder our culture is capable of such cruelty to animals when we're already so relentlessly cruel towards humans in reinforcing our racist, sexist, and consumeristic notions? Castigating and humiliating our human offenders for their crimes won't do any more to help protect the animal kingdom.

Vick's supporters and defenders are both correct in recognizing that the way the quarterback is received back in the NFL will say a lot about our culture. It's important therefore that in a horrendously violent country like ours-- one that leads the world in public executions-- forgiveness must rule the day.

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The third season premiere of "Mad Men" was devilishly good Sunday night. Take the "Which 'Mad Men' character are you?" quiz on amctv.com. Turns out I'm a "Jane Siegel," but I don't think "Freddie Rumsen" was one of the options, and of course, we all wish we were a "Joan."

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This would normally be the time of year (mid-summer) when I present the Chris Moeller Film Awards for the previous year, but this annual tradition, which predates the blog by seven years, is being discontinued. The necessary lag time required to view most of the movies under consideration, when you don't have the online cache to have the studios send you the tapes, made finishing this exercise each year more about establishing its future historical value than anything else. (More than a year after its release, does anyone really give a damn what I thought about "Tropic Thunder?")

Also, I'm discontinuing this feature because most movies stink. It's tiresome to sit through so many (44 that were released in 2008 alone) just because my conscience requires that I be as complete as possible in my evaluations. Nine out of every 10 studio movies make my eyes bleed, and nearly all of the talented directors, and especially writers, are now working in television anyway. ("Mad Men" even has honest-to-god female writers.) TV had "The Sopranos," the movies had "Analyze This." TV has "Mad Men," movies had "Revolutionary Road." TV has Tina Fey and Larry David, films have Judd Apatow and Adam Sandler. There's really no comparison. Movies can't match the emotional depth of a solid, long-running serial television program.

Just to complete the exercise, though, the best 5 movies of 2008 were "Slumdog Millionaire," the documentary "Man on Wire," "The Wrestler," "Rachel Getting Married," and the tops of them all, "Happy-Go-Lucky." Now get out of the dark room, and get some fresh air. It's summer.

posted by CM @ 3:00 PM