Whoopsi!

I've never had much appreciation for Whoopi Goldberg. I think that's mostly tied to her having been with Ted Danson, who I've also long despised. Now I have a reason to loathe Goldberg independent of her Cheersful frolics.

On The View Whoopi attempted to defend Michael Vick by pointing out that dog fighting is fairly common in the South. As Whoopi should know, the South is a pretty backwards place. Throughout the early part of the twentieth century, lynchings were also commonplace in the South and are likely more commonplace there now than in other parts of the country. This does not in any way make lynchings excusable. Whoopi's argument seems to be that Vick was simply ignorant that dog-fighting was an issue. Ignorance is one thing, but common morality is another.

Whoopi also compared dog-fighting in the South to cock-fighting in Puerto Rico, which is another nightmare in semantics. My problem with this doesn't stem from seeing dogs as more personable and therefore more valuable, making cock-fighting an unfair comparison; animal cruelty is animal cruelty any way you break it down. (I'm by no means a vegetarian, but animal deaths should not come about by needless torture, and their deaths should serve as utilitarian a process as possible, not simply food.) My problem with Whoopi comparing dog-fighting to cock-fighting is that in doing so she is essentializing the Puerto Rican people and perpetuating stereotypes. I would suppose that in the South a very small number of people are actively involved in the dog-fighting circuit. Some people in the South are likely also involved in cock-fighting circuits. In Puerto Rico, I doubt that a large percentage of people are involved in cock-fighting rings, but from Whoopi's quote it seems that a large number of Puerto Ricans support cock fighting. Perpetuating negative stereotypes about one group of people in order to make the sins of another group look normal in comparison isn't going to help any one out; those with sense still know that Vick is wrong, but those easily persuaded by sound bites might view Puerto Ricans in a dimmer light from now on.