What causes such violence toward innocent?

Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2007 | 10 p.m.

Dan Thomasson's recent column and several others about cruelty to dogs published these past two weeks is a thought-provoking occasion to inquire as to why humans debase themselves in their cruelty and brutality toward animals.

Is human cruelty to dogs (and children) the result of a “missing gene” that wires humans to be empathic toward vulnerable creatures, such as children and animals? Are psychopathic torture and cruelty to dogs, cats and children the result of “poor childhood” factors in which the individual has not learned the difference between civilized and uncivilized, moral and immoral conduct?

Another question: Why do some individuals come to the defense of the victimizer -- as in the case of Michael Vick -- and trivialize his crime? Are they also subhuman in their endorsement of the victimizer, as in “Birds of a feather flock together”?

Can money (such as Vick's NFL contract of $130 million) transcend and overcome earlier-learned psychopathic behavior? It hasn't in Vick's case. Apparently you can take the guy out of the criminal subculture, but you can't take the criminality out of the guy. In my opinion, Vick's sterling athletic ability on the field cannot even begin to make up for his savage subhumanity.

Paula Stone, Henderson