A Note on Role Models

There's a lot of noise on the news right now about Michael Vick and dogfighting, and rightly so. Dogfighting is heinous, and people who can use animals that cruelly need harsh punishment.

But the people who whine about how Vick is supposed to be a role model piss me off.

Vick is a role model, and he's a good one. If the role you need modeled is that of a football quarterback, or that of an athlete, he's far beyond excellent. You couldn't ask for much better.

But if the only role you know Michael Vick in is that of a football player, why would there be an issue with how he acts in other roles? If you want a "whole person" model, you probably need to look somewhere where you know the whole person. If you buttonhole a celebrity who performs one thing admirably as your whole-person model, you're a moron.

And the world needs fewer morons.

Bottom line: Michael Vick is a great role model, but a terrible human being, and, therefore, a terrible choice for a whole-person model.