A reputational black eye
You knew that inevitably, somebody was going to come to Michael Vick's defense:
Back in college (the first time) I was in a fraternity, only it wasn't the normal type of social frat. Sure, our parties consisted of plenty of booze - and interestingly, a keg of Mt. Dew - but there were no community/school pranks. Usually the parties would end up with brothers discussing politics, classes, and forcing pledges to do the dirty work of cleaning. In other words, we dodged the stereotype of a fraternity. All of us except for Shmo.
Shmo liked to show up late to meetings, show up to big events tipsy, denigrate pledges and brothers, and pretty much doing what he pleased, fraternity name (and reputation) be damned. Until one day when a woman cried rape.
The first meeting I ever had as a brother (as well as the rest of my pledge class), a vote was called for to consider his expulsion, and eventually to actually expell him. During discussion, there was much consternation about the fact that he hadn't been found guilty of anything. What our president (and my big brother through the pledging process) said next has stuck with me through the years - and I think it applies to this situation with Michael Vick:
About 200 people braved rain and thunderclaps outside the Georgia Dome on Sunday to condemn the country, the media, Nike and, most of all, the Atlanta Falcons for treating Michael Vick like a dog.They just don't get it.
"We Support Vick a Human Being Over Dogs," was the message of one placard to honking passing cars on Northside Drive. Other supporters said they believed Vick should be given the benefit of the doubt until his day in court.
Back in college (the first time) I was in a fraternity, only it wasn't the normal type of social frat. Sure, our parties consisted of plenty of booze - and interestingly, a keg of Mt. Dew - but there were no community/school pranks. Usually the parties would end up with brothers discussing politics, classes, and forcing pledges to do the dirty work of cleaning. In other words, we dodged the stereotype of a fraternity. All of us except for Shmo.
Shmo liked to show up late to meetings, show up to big events tipsy, denigrate pledges and brothers, and pretty much doing what he pleased, fraternity name (and reputation) be damned. Until one day when a woman cried rape.
The first meeting I ever had as a brother (as well as the rest of my pledge class), a vote was called for to consider his expulsion, and eventually to actually expell him. During discussion, there was much consternation about the fact that he hadn't been found guilty of anything. What our president (and my big brother through the pledging process) said next has stuck with me through the years - and I think it applies to this situation with Michael Vick:
"It has less to do with whether he's guilty or not; it has everything to do with how you reacted when you first heard the news. And when I first heard about it, and heard that he was implicated, my first thought was, 'Huh... that figures.' Had it been anybody else in this room, I would have immediately thought and said, 'No way!'"That's really what this boils down to for me. When reports of this started to surface, my first thought wasn't total shock and denial - but acceptance.
posted by misawa at 12:14 PM
3 Comments:
As you know, I teach our boys the value of character. An upstanding, valuable character keeps you strong against the world's foul wind.
That brings up a good point - where has Vick's family been in all of this, especially his father? I don't know much about his family life, but given his pattern of behavior, I wonder if Vick is suffering from the real ADD - Absent Dad Disease.
I think you have made an interesting point here. Vick has frequently acted the part of a thug, (not to mention, his brother is even worse) so it is not surprising that these allegations came out. I sincerely hope he is innocent, but will be pleasantly surprised if he is.
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