Guess I should start with full disclosure here. I am not now nor have I ever been a dog person. I don't hate canines; I just don't care to have them around me. Ever. I like dogs even less in Hong Kong, a frighteningly dense place that hardly has enough room for all the people living here, let alone the pets they want to walk on our overcrowded sidewalks. Hong Kong dog people are not normal pooch owners anyway because most have their domestic helpers walk the dog and clean up after they dump on our roads and sidewalks.
If you want to call yourself a bona fide dog person then you have to personally stick your nose in their mess at some point because, apparently, dogs are not stupid and will know who is around to take care of them when things get dirty. At least this is the theory often put forward to me by dog-loving friends who go on ad nauseam about all the human qualities like loyalty and servitude that a good dog embodies.
Yes, that's right sports fans: because the long-awaited NFL play-offs are now upon us, all the talk today is about dogs and very little of it pertains to underdogs. Michael Vick is an ex-con who did time for running a dog-fighting ring and systematically executing some of the underperforming pooches.
He was cruel, inhumane and downright sadistic. He spent 21 months in prison and 3 1/2 years on parole upon his release. Perhaps the most prominent dog abuser in the annals of US history and a man Sports Illustrated recently called the most polarising figure in America, he is the quarterback who will lead the Philadelphia Eagles into the NFL's post-season party this weekend. And some media types are not happy about that.
What really annoys them is Vick may well be the most valuable player in the NFL this year and sports pundits from coast to coast are hailing his achievements. Fans in Philadelphia are thrilling to his exploits and lavishing love upon his disgraced soul. It almost seems like his past transgressions have been ignored and forgotten, blurred by his athletic mastery.
But Tucker Carlson, for one, is making sure no one forgets Vicks' heinous misdeeds. Carlson is a vapid demagogue in the golden age of American demagoguery. In layman's terms, he is a professional idiot. He spews his views on Fox News, America's most popular cable news network. Last week when it was revealed that US President Barack Obama called Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie to thank him for giving Vick a second chance, Carlson was enraged. 'Now, I am a Christian and I believe fervently in second chances,' he began in an on-air panel discussion. 'But Michael Vick killed dogs and he did it in a heartless and cruel way and I think personally he should have been executed for it.'
Wow, maybe a touch over the top. Not surprisingly, Carlson and his comments were all over media outlets within minutes, which was no doubt his original intent. Carlson was quickly and roundly condemned, but for a moment at least MVP candidate Vick was once again replaced by dog-killer Vick in the public consciousness.