I'm surprised at this sudden desire to boycott Nike over Michael Vicks. I haven't purchased a Nike product since the early 90's when their unscrupulous production methods were exposed. They outsource to factories outside the US to side-step issues like paying minimum wage, limiting work hours, not employing children, etc. They appear to be a bunch of greedy bastards, and nearly as I can tell they have been for a long damn time. They did revise their policies in the last decade to make it appear as though they learned their lesson, however organizations like Educating for Justice that check up on them still find that though they have improved in some factories, they're still using sweatshop labor tactics in others. Nike has made the news numerous times over their mistreatment of workers, producing their products as cheaply as possible, and overpricing them horrendously so they can pay celebrities to endorse them. But only now are people concerned, because of Michael Vick's conviction for abusing animals... Nike has been abusing humans for decades, many of them children... some folks need to adjust their priorities.
I also agree with Jordan, some people simply aren't raised well, they truly don't understand what's right and wrong as those concepts tend to be defined during childhood by your familial influences. I wouldn't think that would need to be explained, as rather clearly an awful lot of people are raised to become racists by ignorant people, and that's what they become because that's all they know. Again obviously some of them learn how wrong that is once they are older and can think, question, and reason for themselves. I can understand that if Vicks was raised with no regard for animals, that he wouldn't see anything wrong with that. I can also believe that he could learn from his mistake and change. I don't believe anyone should be made to pay for a mistake for the rest of their life if they truly did not know what they were doing was wrong, and they admit that it was, and they feel remorse.
As for the concept that everyone convicted should suffer in unspeakable ways forever, I sure cannot get behind that and frankly that assertion makes me ill. We have laws that protect against cruel and unusual punishment for a reason, because no matter what a person has done, they're still a human being. There are also plenty of wrongly convicted people, just check out Project Innocence as Andrae mentioned. In fact the number of people who were railroaded into a conviction because they were illiterate, mentally challenged, or from a variety of 'disadvantaged' groups, is enough to make you realize justice is seriously flawed for far too many. William Blackstone stated 'better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer'. While guilty people going free is not a comforting thought, the thought of someone spending life in prison or receiving the death penalty for something they did not do is more chilling.
Regardless of what someone has done, if they serve their time and are released then they get to move on and people need to leave them be. That's how our society works, and you cannot embrace the parts that you like and toss out the parts you don't, it simply wouldn't remain a cohesive legal system if you did. Rehabilitation is a successful concept for many, and the only statistical evidence I have seen where rehabilitation fails the majority of the time is for pedophiles and rapists. So to punish someone forever for something they did, served their time for, and now regret and in some cases are trying to contribute to raising awareness on, is IMO simply inappropriate. I say good for Vicks for coming out and not letting the past hold him back, and I am an animal lover who finds what he did despicable, just not unforgivable.
