For Those Who Like To Watch

In the clearing stands a boxer

And a fighter by his trade

And he carries the reminders

Of every glove that laid him down

And cut him till he cried out

In his anger and his shame

“I am leaving, I am leaving”

But the fighter still remains    Simon & Garfunkel

It is a Friday night. It could be any Friday night in almost any city in most parts of the world. Locals have assembled in a bar to have fun and socialize with each other. Tonight there is a little more entertainment out behind the bar. Two young men are fighting each other and this fight is very competitive. Both combatants are tough kids and both of them are giving and receiving a bad beating. The fight only lasts for a couple of minutes for the interested crowd but for the two young men it seems like an eternity. Finally, after lots of cheering from the onlookers but without a single person intervening, the fight ends. Both fighters exhausted, battered and bleeding just let go of each other and walk away. The rage and adrenaline that once fueled the confrontation now gives way to fatigue and pain. Each will go home to assess the damage and care for their wounds. The patrons of the bar now return to their stools for another drink or six and the two warriors are soon forgotten. Not only have I been an observer of these little two man wars but more often than not I was one of the two left bleeding. I am not recounting this story and its details to somehow glamorize fighting but only to give credibility to my following opinion.

Violence is so engrained in society that it has not only become acceptable to promote its use but it has become a consumer product. In sports, entertainment and international relations violence and the use of physical force is a major motivator of interest and consumption. Fans, consumers, and world leaders seem to have an insatiable desire to watch, sanction and threaten violence. They will never actually fight or feel pain but they are fascinated with the spectacle of violence and they love to watch.

MMA (Mixed Marshal Arts) and boxing are two combat sports that pit two fighters against each other in a cage or ring to hurt each other. The hope is that the participants will be evenly matched so that they will beat on each other for an extended period of time for the enjoyment of the paying customers. In football serious injuries are not a possibility but a certainty in every game. There are elements of the game that have been scientifically proven to cause serious health problems and in many cases permanent brain damage for some of those who participate. Hockey, with the fervent support of its fan base, is a sport that condones players fighting during the game to settle disputes. There are those who watch auto racing simply to get a view of the horrible crashes and pile up of cars. Sports are a multi-billion dollar industry that has recognized the desire of people to watch violence. The bottom line is that in sports violence sells.

In movies and on television, viewers demand that the scenes of violence look real and excessively vicious. Characters will kick, punch and bludgeon each other until one, usually the star of the film or show, prevails over the other. Two minutes later, the star will be kissing a pretty girl and there will not be a single mark on his face. In reality if the star had taken the beating depicted in story he would be in the hospital and might never look the same again. It is a prime example of how people want to enjoy violence but do not want to be confronted with its real consequences.

The producers of video games try to produce life-like characters that can kill and destroy people and things in visual detail that is alarmingly close to reality. People who play these games become addicted to the violence that they can reek on fictitious enemies. Without any connection to reality the players kill and get killed for hours and days while sitting in their bedrooms all across the world. They become desensitized to the permanent devastation of violence.

Internationally, world leaders threaten each other and the countries they represent with war and destruction. They flex their military might and use hostile threats against one another knowing that they will never personally have to fight and die. These leaders will not engage in the actual carnage of war and neither will their loved ones. They will make speeches, give orders and push buttons while hidden in a secure bunker as other people suffer and die.

It is not my view that all sports should be banned because injury is possible. I understand and accept that there are going to be injuries in physical contests. I believe that bullies and those that threaten physical harm to others in many cases must be quickly physically confronted. Sometimes the only solution to the threats and actions of foreign enemies is the use of military force. The world is complicated and violence is always going to be part of life but it should not be something we want to watch or enjoy. The patrons of violent combat sports would not find them entertaining if they had to get in the cage or ring and feel the pain of being punched or kicked. The fans of sports like football and hockey might think differently if they had to endure the physical trauma that is caused my the action they so desperately crave. I wonder if those who enjoy watching the violence and mayhem portrayed in video games and movies would continue to play and view them if they got actual blood on their hands. Maybe if world leaders who champion the use of violence and force would choose other options for conflict resolution if they had to send their own children to fight and die.

Years ago, while playing soccer a situation developed where a player on the other team was threatening a younger player on my team. I was watching from a distance but was not worried about it. Trash talking and intimidation are common in sports and I had been dealing with it for many years. The young man on my team who was being threatened was obviously afraid of the threats and it was adversely affecting his performance. At halftime I took him aside and attempted to placate his fears by telling him that if anything occurred he would only get hit once and I would be there to defend him. I thought he knew, as I did, that getting hit in the face, while painful was survivable and he would be safe because I would make sure that the fight would end quickly. He looked at me with the fear in his eyes and explained to me that he had never been hit in the face before. He was appropriately afraid of fighting and because it was he who was going to feel the pain he did not want it to happen. For him violence was now personal and scary. For those who enjoy watching and cheering violence and mayhem from the comfort of their couch I would simply say this…I have been the combatant many times in my life, bruised and bloodied and I can tell you from experience, it is neither entertaining nor exciting to be the one in the fight. Perhaps those who enjoy watching violence or encouraging others to fight should get in the ring or cage, put on a helmet, go out behind the bar or join the military and see how it feels to be the one in the game, the one in the battle, the one risking it all.