Lost Sowell: Michael Vick
By Lee Culpepper (12/16/07)
Who could have predicted how far Michael Vick would rise and fall in his life before his twenty-eighth birthday?
At one time Vick seemed to offer hope to all of us as a squeaky-clean kid with unrivaled athletic ability. He appeared to have naturally eluded the perils of growing up in the projects in the same dazzling manner that he made fleet defenders look clumsy on the field. He looked as if he might set the example for children who really needed him to be what everyone wanted Vick to be – a positive role model.
Instead, Vick became a convicted felon.
Monday at the sentencing for Vick’s federal dogfighting conviction, U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson rebuked Vick, telling him that he should "be apologizing to the millions of kids who idolize you." Hudson nailed what is arguably the most damaging consequence of Vick’s fall – Vick’s fumbling the opportunity to offer hope and an example to children growing up in depressing situations like Vick’s.
When allegations against Vick first surfaced, his supporters quickly suggested Vick was the victim of racism. Not surprisingly, the disciples of tolerance and multiculturalism did not even blink when Whoopi Goldberg correctly explained on national television that Vick’s criminal behavior was “part of his cultural upbringing.” Goldberg wasn’t alone, as some NFL players and sports analysts also made the same multicultural defense.
Although the cultural explanation is valid, Vick’s supporters and multicultural-thumping imbeciles will likely find the cultural roots that led to Vick’s fall hard to swallow.
Dog-versus-dog fighting first evolved among the lowlifes of Great Britain in the 1800s. In short, civilized men never considered dogfighting a worthy sport. Engaging dogs against wild game or livestock, however, did pass as suitable and working uses for dogs. Nevertheless, when the brutal sport of bull baiting was banished, only those considered the degenerates of England’s society fought dogs against dogs. The repugnant practice was then excreted from the bowels of the United Kingdom to America. While it legally existed in America for a short period during the 1800s, dogfighting has traditionally survived among a Southern sub-culture of criminal rednecks or crackers.
Today, however, organized dogfights also thrive in ghettos of nearly every major city across America, but the people fighting the dogs don’t look like stereotypical rednecks; they look like black rap stars. Furthermore, many major cities have passed ordinances against owning the pit-bull breed in an effort to stop a crime traditionally linked to lawbreaking, white rednecks.
In his eye-opening book Black Rednecks and White Liberals, author and scholar Thomas Sowell analyzes the dark irony behind the culture to which Whoopi Goldberg and others unwittingly referred. While the multicultural agenda pushes inner-city-black culture as the authentic culture for black Americans, Sowell uncovers the truth about today’s glamorized ghetto culture. He explains that it comes nowhere close to accurately representing the values of most black Americans today or in history. Sowell shares his extensive research concerning cultures and the accurate history of black Americans. In doing so, Sowell annihilates the tainted and agenda-driven history that infects our schools, media, and ignoramuses.
As with Vick’s criminal behavior, the romanticized inner-city-thug culture has nothing to do with African culture. Sowell traces the inner-city culture that many blacks and Vick are mired in to a counterproductive, white redneck culture that goes all the way back to Europe when there were no black people there.
Today, Vick serves as the quintessential example of just how destructive the worst qualities of the redneck culture can be -- as the culture is one that has historically undervalued education while fostering violence, arrogance, promiscuity, and more.
It is important to note that Sowell is not criticizing the entire South or its values. He is not criticizing all inner-city blacks either. Whether one likes it or not, Sowell exposes many myths about the culture some people refer to as African American, as he documents its roots to a white, European culture.
Sowell explains that most people (whites and blacks) have recognized the detrimental characteristics of the redneck culture. Consequently, they have assimilated into mainstream American culture. However, multiculturalism encourages everyone to mindlessly embrace the culture in which they were born, alleging that all cultures are equal -- with the exception being mainstream American culture.
In 1598, even William Shakespeare referred to the uncivilized nature of crackers in “The Life and Death of King John.” During the play, the bastard son Phillip calls the Duke of Austria an ass to which the Duke replies, “What cracker is this same that deafs our ears with this abundance of superfluous breath?” The implied meaning of cracker in this sentence would mean an uncouth and obnoxious individual.
Blacks who do not defend or fit the inner-city-ghetto mold are labeled dishonorable sellouts or unauthentic blacks. In fact, that Bill Clinton receives more credit for being “black” than Barak Hussein Obama should clarify this argument -- Clinton was born a poor, white redneck. (Since multicultural zealots do not tolerate white rednecks, we might more easily understand why the man Ann Coulter calls “the horny hick” at least has an education.)
Unique personal talents and million dollar paychecks may allow a minuscule number of rednecks to flaunt their brand of the culture in the public’s face. But for average Americans, embracing the culture holds them back.
Nevertheless, some black celebrities shamelessly and ignorantly advocate this destructive culture to poor black children while multicultural zealots threaten to ruin anyone with the guts to criticize it.
For Vick, the detrimental forces of the redneck culture have scarred his life forever. The irony of the situation isn’t funny. In Vick’s efforts to epitomize what is for some the glamour of “black culture,” he has in fact epitomized an often-ridiculed white culture. Lampooning the softer side of redneck culture has made comedian Jeff Foxworthy a rich man. Living the degenerate side of redneck culture has cost Michael Vick millions of dollars and his freedom.
I wonder what Vick would say to diversity activists if he were to accept the truth about his own demise. He is not a victim of racism. Michael Vick is the example of the authentic consequences of multiculturalism.
(Note to readers: This article is a revision of my previous article Michael Vick and Southern Hicks. I tried to address the primary concerns that my mom and others had regarding my portrayal of the South. As the son of two Georgia crackers, I feel more than qualified to write this article. For any questions concerning my Southern heritage, visit Culpepper Connections: http://gen.culpepper.com/ )
Lee Culpepper
http://leeculpepper.com/
(Printer friendly version) Email: Lee Culpepper
