Make no mistake about it: I am from the sticks. I grew up in a mostly rural, very poor county of Georgia. We all got free lunches at my school. My hometown had -- and still has -- just one traffic light. I am a Southern boy, and I'll always be a Southern boy. And in my 37 years, all of which I've lived in Georgia (Oglethorpe, Valdosta, Americus and Columbus), I've never known a single person involved in dogfighting. I've never heard of anyone even seeing a dogfight, unless it was the dogs' idea.So I'm getting a little sick of ESPN Radio's Colin Cowherd and others insinuating or outright stating that dogfighting is a "Southern thing." I don't buy that. It's a sick thing. It's an idiot thing. And, allegedly, it's a Michael Vick thing.
It reminds me of the pre-Columbine days when every time there was a shooting at a school or business Down South, people on TV and radio were decrying "the Southern gun culture." Why didn't we hear the term "Northern gun culture" with all the shootings in Colorado, Washington, Pennsylvania, etc.?
I've met some pretty bad dudes here in the South. I've met some violent dudes, folks who wanted to beat up others for recreation. I've met folks who love to shoot guns and blow holes in animals, just for the sake of killing, not for sport. But even the baddest of the bad Southern dudes I've known loved their dogs ... sometimes more than the rest of their family. I've known people who've taken out paid obituaries in the newspaper for their dogs. And that's back home, where we don't think dogs belong in the house or should wear clothes ... and where, coincidentally I'm sure, the dogs act normal.
If anything, the real "Southern thing" may be the way folks Down South love their dogs.
I was a pretty big Mike Vick fan for his first few years in Atlanta and had high hopes for him. But after seeing his actions, his decision making and listening to him speak in interviews, I've got to conclude he's just stupid. And as comedian Ron White points out, "You can't fix stupid." You can't fix it Down South or Up North.
4 comments:
I moved from South Florida to Southern Georgia about 2 years ago. While I see more pit bulls than I have ever seen in my life I have never seen nor heard any evidence of dog fighting being particularly prevalent in the South. Good post. Thanks.
Although, I must say admit that if I ever felt the need to get in some sadistic dogfighting action, I'm taking my co-worker Sandra Okamoto's Chihuahua, the misnamed "Chipper." That seven-pound dog would terrify Cujo ... when Cujo's in a worse-than-normal mood.
Around my area some of the deer hunters take better care of their dogs than their kids. I know guys that have roomy pens with air conditioned containers for their dogs and feed them the most expensive nutritionally balanced food. Comparing it to the twenty year-old trailer the hunter's family lives in that they got second hand from some repo office is quite the contrast.
Yes! Yes!! Bring those to justice who, in Shakespeare's words, Let slip the dogs of war.
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