Rape...It's No Big Thing

This very attitude is why people don't take RAPE seriously in this country, and the rest of the world for that matter.

Reporter sorry for Vick comment

Pittsburgh reporter said Vick better off raping woman

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A newspaper reporter who said Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick would have been "better off raping a woman" than being charged with dogfighting has apologized and will no longer appear on the local sports panel TV show where he made the remark.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Paul Zeise made the comments Sunday night on the Sports Showdown show on KDKA-TV, a CBS affiliate. He was disagreeing with another panelist who said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell should suspend Vick for the rest of the season because he was indicted on federal dogfighting charges July 17.

"It's really a sad day in this country when somehow ... Michael Vick would have been better off raping a woman if you look at the outcry of what happened," Zeise said. "Had he done that, he probably would have been suspended for four games and he'd be back on the field. But because this has become a political issue, all of a sudden the commissioner has lost his stomach for it."

Zeise apologized Monday.

"I regret the poor choice of analogies I used to characterize a professional athlete's legal situation," Zeise said.

KDKA apologized on its Monday newscasts and said Zeise, one of a group of rotating panelists on the show, will not be invited back.

Zeise's "insensitive and offensive" remarks "do not represent the view of the Post-Gazette," the newspaper said in a statement Monday.

Vick, 27, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and said in a statement that he looks forward to "clearing my good name."

Goodell has already barred Vick from training camp and Vick has lost several endorsement deals over the gruesome allegations.

Excuse me? Poor analogies? The fact that he would even use an analogy to compare rape to what Michael Vick is accused of shows a complete lack of brain to mouth function.

Yes, what Michael Vick is accused of is absolutely HORRIFIC. I can't even comprehend why someone would do what he is accused of doing. But to compare that to the brutal rape of a woman is just completely asinine to say the least. I said brutal because let's face it, RAPE IS BRUTAL.

I will give him one thing though. He is right that Vick would get off with a lighter sentence if he raped a woman instead. However, it is this reporter's very attitude that is what's wrong in this country. Don't think that he's the only one who thinks this way. He's not because if he was, rapists would be either locked up for LIFE or sentenced to DEATH. Since many people don't take rape seriously, the rapist gets off pretty much with a slap on the wrist.

I don't think being removed from the panel is good enough, and an apology certainly isn't good enough!! If I had my way, this reporter would be made to volunteer at a rape crisis center for a period of no less than one year. He would be made to sit there and listen to the horrific, brutal stories of rape victims over and over again. Maybe then he would understand what rape victims go through. Maybe then he wouldn't be so quick to make an analogy involving rape. Maybe then he would think before he opened his mouth!! Maybe, but probably not likely!!