Who's Human Now?

The link from the Washington Post website to this article by Sally Jenkins boldly proclaims that the "[a]ctions the NFL quarterback agreed to plead guilty to are crimes against humanity." Well, no, they're not. Look, I actually hate dogs, and even I recognize that Vick's actions were deplorable (and criminal). But crimes against humanity, they're not.

Similarly, Jenkins concludes her article by writing "Commit those crimes against people, and the words we'd use for it are fascism, and genocide." I suppose so, but that's equally true of the chicken fingers I ate for dinner last night (don't comment, vegetarian friends). The position of humans and animals aren't completely transposable--its hyperbole bordering on hysteria the way in which Vick's crime has been magnified into this massive example of all that is evil and wrong in the world. Reading articles like this makes Rick Morrissey and Barry Rozner's call for perspective all the more powerful (via Feministing).

See also, this great comic.