Wife Tries To Abort And Poison Husband's Lovechild
Man Injured By Tree Limb Files Suit Against City
Charles Barron Will Run For Council Speaker
Alleged Tiger Mistress Is Unrecognizable To Dead Fiancee's Dad
New Jersey State Senate To Vote On Gay Marriage
Graphic from NYPost.com
A video showing Mets star pitcher Pedro Martinez at a cockfight in the Dominican Republican briefly surfaced online, outraging some people. Cockfighting is a popular - and legal - sport in the Dominican Republic, but it's illegal in almost all of the United States.
The Post explained that Martinez and Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal were "honorary 'soltadores' - the word used to describe the person who throws the animal into the ring...The bird released by Martinez appears to be killed on the video." Marichal, who does raise fighting roosters, has spoken about his father's passion for cockfighting and saying, "I think that's why I've got that in my blood."
The Mets haven't commented on the video, but PETA says that Martinez is setting a "terrible example" for fans. PETA even invites him to attend its Developing Empathy for Animals seminar that Michael Vick has participated in!
Do you think it's wrong for Martinez to be involved in cockfighting? Or is this being overblown because it's legal in the D.R.?
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
I think it's probably better not to develop an empathy for something you might end up having on your dinner table.
I say, let him do whatever's within his legal means for whatever part of the world he's in.
Bird fighting is a business!
Bird fighters in the U.S. and Dominican Republic (and other countries) are in business together.
They breed, sell, buy and ship birds to each other. And they attend each other's fights.
So what has Pedro been up to in the U.S.? And has he paid taxes on his gambling income?
Like smoking hash in Amsterdam, or bull fighting in Spain.
Maybe he should come out and say after the fight the bird was plucked, cleaned and deep fried. recycling is very hot.
brawling with zim, a midget, cockfighting... shine on you crazy diamond! see you at shea!
It's legal in the Dominican Republic, leave him alone.
that's one strapping young cock he's pounding with his fist.
I see the Met fans have checked in.
Amazing the relative morality of fans (and in the interest of full disclosure, I include myself in that, too, since I'll make excuses for any Yankee not named Roger Clemens).
Having said that, this is bad. It's not Michael Vick bad, but it's not good. If he was smoking hash in Amsterdam, he'd be suspended. If they'd have been dogs instead of birds, he'd be suspended as well.
Not sure what should be done, but I think this is being taken way too lightly.
It's not like he's frying cats and boiling dogs. Though, I wouldn't have a problem with that either. Tender puppy meat! Ummm.
The Mets needs all the Santaria help possible.
Cruel is cruel, no matter what country you're in. It's up to the Mets to strongly condemn this.
And just because humans eat foul doesn't make it any more right to take pleasure in animal cruelty for sport.
Martinez - and anyone who gets their kicks from animal cruelty - needs psychological help.
Yeah, some people may find it offensive, but it happens to be LEGAL, so they can shut the f*ck up. Its no different than smoking weed in Amsterdam, visiting a whorehouse in Nevada, or drinking at age 18 in Mexico. If people think this is cruel, maybe they should visit a slaughterhouse and see how all of their food is really treated. At least in this case the chicken has some influence on whether it lives or dies!
I believe the article said it's illegal in ALMOST all states. So, how can we blast him for doing something legal not only in the Dominican Republic, but also "here" (Louisiana?)?
you guys kidding??
you would honestly put smoking weed on par with cockfighting? you're saying that abusing animals for sport and gambling is morally no worse to you than having a joint?
animal cruelty is for morons, legal or not...
Heck you women can be arrested for showing their hair in some countries, so it makes it right, right?
He did not commit a crime. And I agree, if I had the great misfortune of being a chicken I'd rather go out with my boots on than on a conveyor belt with five thousand other chickens. (And somehow, I don't see chickens as animals. They're more like insects. I don't even like to eat them.)
In any case, what you call animal cruelty here, they call a sport in the DR. Are you going to go around calling people who don't agree with you morons? Is that civilized? Are you an advocate or a henchman? You sound like a henchman, or like the kind of person who'd run around a village with a torch trying to rabble-rouse. Be civilized, if you object to something. Don't think you can conk someone over the head with your beliefs.
Alot of people raise , fight , and eat their chickens among other things. Its just part of the culture.
Alot of people raise , fight , and eat their chickens among other things. Its just part of the culture.
I am morally outraged that the rest of the world doesn't get morally outraged by things Americans get morally outraged over.
It's another country. Animals don't have rights.
And there's parts of THIS country where it's still legal, I believe.
Can we impose our cultural norms on other countries? We have to lead by example if we want to improve the world. Lets start by banning toxic chemicals in sleepware and steroids in our food supply, not telling poor countries how to treat their animals.
How is it not the same thing as what Vick did?
If you don't hold the two equivalent, you're a fucking hypocrite. Its putting two animals in a ring to tear each other apart whether you're talking about a dog or a fucking chicken.
My college econ teacher put it perfectly (in an offtopic conversation about conservation). He called it the 'charismatic super-vertebrate' syndrome..where people will oooh and aaah about animals that look 'presentable and personable' and give little care to animals that may be MORE critical to the ecology because of the 'ick' factor. People don't bat an eye when scientists talk about critical species loss with stuff like insects, but show them a picture of a seal getting beaten over the head with a wooden bat and they have a fucking rage induced seizure.
Jeez.
How is it not the same thing as what Vick did?
If you don't hold the two equivalent, you're a fucking hypocrite. Its putting two animals in a ring to tear each other apart whether you're talking about a dog or a fucking chicken.
My college econ teacher put it perfectly (in an offtopic conversation about conservation). He called it the 'charismatic super-vertebrate' syndrome..where people will oooh and aaah about animals that look 'presentable and personable' and give little care to animals that may be MORE critical to the ecology because of the 'ick' factor. People don't bat an eye when scientists talk about critical species loss with stuff like insects, but show them a picture of a seal getting beaten over the head with a wooden bat and they have a fucking rage induced seizure.
Jeez.
I have to say that it speaks more about DR as a country (and a heritage) than just about Pedro himself.
If it's not bad enough that many DR immigrants spit all over the ground, throw trash wherever they feel like it, and have no pride in their community (this coming from someone in a mixed neighborhood), they also enjoy sports where something needs to die.
Awesome.
Illegal or not, if you're a celebrity and potentially a role model to millions, you need to avoid anything controversial.
Bland, maybe, but safe.
How is it not the same thing as what Vick did? If you don't hold the two equivalent, you're a fucking hypocrite. Its putting two animals in a ring to tear each other apart whether you're talking about a dog or a fucking chicken.
Wow, I must've completely missed the part where authorities raided Pedro's house in the US and found 66 chickens, a cock-fighting pit, bloodstained carpets, and equipment commonly associated with cockfights. I thought the Post said he was an "honorary soltadores", which made me think this was a one time thing, but that can't be true, because you said it's the same!
Damn you, Jen Chung! Damn you, Rupert Murdoch!
How is it not the same thing as what Vick did? If you don't hold the two equivalent, you're a fucking hypocrite. Its putting two animals in a ring to tear each other apart whether you're talking about a dog or a fucking chicken.
Wow, I must've completely missed the part where authorities raided Pedro's house in the US and found 66 chickens, a cock-fighting pit, bloodstained carpets, and equipment commonly associated with cockfights. I thought the Post said he was an "honorary soltadores", which made me think this was a one time thing, but that can't be true, because you said it's the same!
Damn you, Jen Chung! Damn you, Rupert Murdoch!
And what if he were Spanish and went to a bullfighting match? The bull is always killed and then butchered for meat. Not only is it legal in the DR but it's a cultural aspect of their society. Who are we to judge that?
"The Post explained that Martinez and future Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal..."
FYI, I think you meant to say that Pedro Martinez is the future Hall of Famer, not Juan Marichal. Marichal was elected to the hall in 1983.
Legal or not, IMO, it's wrong.
So is bull fighting.
Cultural aspect or not, I personally don't get the entertainment from watching an animal be mutilated and/or die.
Presumably all the outraged people here are vegans, right?
India had a long cultural tradition of exploiting bears as "dancing bears" as part of Qalandar culture, but the government outlawed it in 1972. Just because animal abuse is part of someone's culture doesn't mean it is excusable.
No question Phineas Gage. Anyone who isn't at least a vegetarian commits an act a million times more cruel when they cook dinner every night. Factory farming is thousands of times more brutal than a cockfight. The 2 minutes in the cock fighting ring are much more freedom than that Perdue sitting on dinner plate have ever had.
It's definitely not a good thing for Pedro Martinez.
However, it's not the same thing as Michael Vick as Pedro did not commit a crime. And there is a difference in the way American society values dogs and chickens.
And it's not the same thing as Roger Clemens because it doesn't involve the sport.
The type of domestic fowl used in cockfighting isn't the type that is used for food. It is a different breed, bred specifically for the sport.
Overblown. I don't give a crap.
Overblown. I don't give a crap.
I insist, any kind of animal cruelty is for morons, be it Dominican, black, white, yellow , poor, rich or whatever. It's backward, as is a lot of stuff all over the world, even in NY.
And yes, I eat chicken ...
Cry, cry, cry, boo hoo hoo, a person from his native country does something legal in said country, cry, cry, cry, boo hoo hoo. Hey you gonna eat that drumstick?
Cry, cry, cry, boo hoo hoo, a person from his native country does something legal in said country, cry, cry, cry, boo hoo hoo. Hey you gonna eat that drumstick?
Also it is not only legal but ingrained in their culture and has been fo a long, long time. To the people who claim this is on par with Vick you are the morons. What Vick did was illegal in THIS country not to mention gross....lets get real we are talking about chickens which I am positive were probably eaten shortly after death and even more positive that Vick didnt prepare the dogs to eat that they killed.
Also it is not only legal but ingrained in their culture and has been fo a long, long time. To the people who claim this is on par with Vick you are the morons. What Vick did was illegal in THIS country not to mention gross....lets get real we are talking about chickens which I am positive were probably eaten shortly after death and even more positive that Vick didnt prepare the dogs to eat that they killed.
Also it is not only legal but ingrained in their culture and has been fo a long, long time. To the people who claim this is on par with Vick you are the morons. What Vick did was illegal in THIS country not to mention gross....lets get real we are talking about chickens which I am positive were probably eaten shortly after death and even more positive that Vick didnt prepare the dogs to eat that they killed.
Double posts suck
For starters, I love all animals and think this is cruel. Pedro definitely exercised bad judgment and should have stayed away especially after the Vick episode. However, to say this is the same as what Vick did is overstating things a bit. This is a one-time incident that happened in another country where cockfighting is legal. Move on!
Who gives a shit? Especially when in this country we eat animals raised on massive farms where they are abused in ways far worse than this.
If this is the same as Vick's, then people should be outrage next time the Post catches Derek Jeter or David Wright riding in a hansome carriage with his arm candy of the month. All sport celebrities should stop doing anything involving any form of animal cruelty!
PETA is also probably the worst thing that can happen to animals in the past 30 years.
"How is it not the same thing as what Vick did?"
It is the same thing that Vick did. The Dominican Republic has no laws concerning cockfighting so Pedro is in no legal danger. People are still free to boycott Mets games, protest Pedro's appearances, write angry internet comments, etc. I'm just happy that this wasn't a white, Russian hockey player participating in a cockfight back home because then this would balloon into a race issue instead of one that centers on common sense distinctions between international animal welfare laws.
Wow, Pedro martinez being a douche. Go figure.
Watch the video. Kinda shoots the hell out of Pedro's "I was a spectator, not a prticipant" excuse, doesn't it?
Who cares if it's legal in the DR? It's cruel, scummy and very Pedro. But, he's a Met, so I guess it's just part of his culture.
Pedro Martinez. Scumbag in LA, scumbag in Montreal, scumbag in boston, scumbag in New York, scumbag in the Dominican.
It may be part of the D.R. culture but think about it from an economic view as well. The wealth is so unevenly distributed in that country, unemployment is up, the GDP is predicted to fall in 2008...I'm sure that this is just another way for people of the lower classes to make a living there.
Source: CIA Factbook, more info here.
I believe this is the best current info, but someone please correct me if I am wrong.
I would of course prefer that animals were not abused for sport (and yes, I am a carnivore), but the D.R. does not have the same level of employment equality as we do. As a matter of fact, according to the factbook, we are their chief source of export income. And we are heading into an economic slowdown!
If the sport were declared illegal, I'm sure there would still be an underground sector, probably bribing policemen. And possibly more crime as well.
I agree that he didn't do anything wrong, but that since he is a public figure, he should have exercised some caution in attending an event of this type.
Just my $0.02
Let's look at this for what it really is. It's a chance for Yankees fans to calls Mets players a bunch of losers and scumballs, when we all know that every player on the Yankees is the scummiest scum on the planet. The only difference is that Yankees players are forced to alter their facade to APPEAR to be upstanding citizens because we all know long hair=evil.
"But, he's a Met, so I guess it's just part of his culture."
When is a baseball team a culture? Isn't A-Rod a Dominican? What if it was him in the stand? You're an idiot and makes no sense.
Anyway, I still don't think this is the same as Vick's case, who actually arranged, financed and participate in dog fights that are illegal in GA. Not that I favor having cockfighting, bullfighting or any activities that would involve the hurting and killing of animals for our entertainment, but that's within their borders and the Dominicans have to deal with it themselves. If any baseball player is caught watching a bullfight in Mexico would we be as outraged?? Americans have a history of imposing their beliefs and values in other cultures just because they are the most powerful nation in the world. This is a borderline case here. Ask any Dominican in DR if they have problem with cockfighting and I bet that more than 90% have no problem with it. Who are we to judge? No wonder people in other nations just can't stand Americans and our holier than thou attitudes.
Again PETA is the WORST thing to happen to animal rights in the last 30 years, I write this while I am enjoying a juicy burger!
Sorry to correct you Dude69, but the Vick fiasco happened in Virginia. Just because he plays in Georgia doesn't mean he stays, or puts down dogs, there.