I have had a miniature argument with Mike L about the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). I say it is senseless violence and it only serves purposes of evil. Mike says it is good and seems to argue from the position of he is supposed to protect his family. I really don’t understand his position, so I would really need to let him explain it better.
However, I can sum up in a nutshell why it is bad-bad-bad. Other than all the other reasons, last night I had ESPN on waiting for a Purdue basketball game to start. There was one of those general sports shows that had a blurb about the UFC. They showed a scene of horrid violence of a man sitting on another man just laying into his face fist over fist. My son Ian happened to see that. What did he do? He walked up to his brother and started to do the exact same thing. Fortunately he was barely hitting him. I have never seen Ian mimic anything off of TV before. So, why this? Wow, to us non-fighting type people it seems to unbelievably obvious why this stuff is so bad. It wasn’t so bad when it was a pay-per-view, or a video rental. That way it wasn’t being put on a TV station where it should not be; i.e. somewhere that my son can’t see it. This is the primary reason I don’t like it is because of the influence on my kids even when I am told I can keep it away from them. The only way to do that is never watch TV, which maybe one day we will do.
The other main reason is the promotion of wanton violence on TV. If you want to learn to fight, by all means, go for it, just keep it off TV please. You see all the time now about kids doing this sort of stuff. Beating each other senseless, sometimes even causing death. There are dozens of posts a day on youtube about this. Kids don’t know any better. They don’t have the built in capacity to know what is right and wrong without being taught, so when they see that sort of thing, they mimic it and think it is ok.
I don’t see any point in it. What is the point of the UFC? It is very much the same as the porn industry. Except instead of peddling flesh, they are selling a product that is appealing to a males instinctive and primitive lust for blood. Much the same as males get such a rush out of hunting, or a sort of instinctual excitement over things like fire, accidents, police chases, etc. You can go on all day about protecting your family, and there is nothing wrong with that. But how does watching two grown men try and kill each other protect your family? I would wager that the violence it promotes in our society actually puts your family in more danger. The risk of your kids getting beat up is much greater. The risks of your kids getting into fights themselves are much higher.
Lastly I have seen it even argued that it is ok Biblically. So, fine, fighting is ok biblically. So is sex, but do you want sex on TV for our kids to see?
I am not a fighter. I have absolutely no interest in fighting. Frankly it sickens me, literally. I literally would get sick if ever force into a confrontation. Does that concern me? It used to. In high school, the whole concept of “I can beat you up” was actually important in the whole “cool” thing. However now that I am out of high-school, I see it more as just a chest beating exercise. Something for men to feel more macho than another. I don’t need to feel macho and never did. I think that really it is a fundamental difference between geeks and jocks. Geeks don’t have the athletic prowess to beat anyone up, and jocks are too dumb to rely on their brains to get them out of a situation. Sorry, that is a broad two ended generalization, and I know Mike L is a smart guy and actually probably some of both. But if I know I can outthink you, that gives me way more satisfaction and definitely is a MUCH larger benefit in this world. If you beat me up, you go to jail. If you out think me, you just end up having a better life in many ways. My way of feeling macho was to try and be smarter. Much the same way that people don’t like the guy that always runs around flexing his muscles, people don’t like the guy running around flexing his brain. I suppose in an apples to oranges comparison, it is fruit.
To end this, I simply do not see how fighting can ever be appealing to anyone in any way. If really thought I had to protect my family from harm, I would buy a gun. But you know what? I can’t be with them 24 hours a day. Also, whooping some butt doesn’t help any if somebody else has a gun. In the adult world, there aren’t people lurking around the corner ready to fight you like there was in high school. You really have to go looking hard for a fight. I used to watch my friend Chris who after a couple beers would both become extra friendly, but also a bit more easily offended to the point of offering a fight to just about anyone that came within 10 feet hinting at anything other than just being a nice person, sort of in the superman type roll, so it was always leaning towards fighting evil and protecting the innocent. In nature I don’t think it was the beer talking, but more the beer bringing out the superhero in him. I think he would side with Mike 100% on this, but maybe they are of the same personality type. Not sure why I am so against it. Maybe that is my personality type. Maybe it simply boils down to the fact that it makes them feel safer to simply have the knowledge that they can protect their family. Maybe that is a fundamental fear that they face? If there was some reason like that, I think it would be a much more understandable thing for me.
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3 comments:
Eric,
I honestly appreciate the way you cover topics. You seem to toss them around, both expressing them and simultaneously mulling them over further as you type.
I also appreciate your compliment and willingness to try and understand why I (and others) would support these events.
To that end, I have two web pages dedicated to why I think watching MMA is acceptable, but I have been pondering it over still since then and will have to make a blog about it. I think I may be able to explain things, from my perspective anyway that will make absolute sense to you. At least I hope so.
The web pages are here (part 1), and here (part 2) . I am still working on a part 3.
Ok, one more comment - I believe the reason that Ian picked up on what he saw so quickly is because for most boys, being aggressive (wanting to fight, shoot guns, compete, etc.) is completely natural. It's the way God made us, the way He "wired" us.
Maybe you could argue that it's actually sin, and I could agree that if it's not guided, controlled, or explained to a child sufficiently (if you just let them take out their anger this way and beat each other up) that it certainly could become sinful. But I don't think these things in and of themselves are bad or evil. And I think there are a sufficient number of Biblical examples to help make my point.
Have you ever read "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge? If not, then please do. He does a much better job at explaining this line of reasoning than I do. It's an easy read and a unique and enlightening perspective on this topic.
I still need to post a blog though further explaining my personal reasons for watching, and not just why I think it's acceptable for a Christian. While I already explained the self-defense concept on my web page, I think there are other issues in my heart and spirit that would help you (and anyone else) understand where I'm coming from.
Oh, and your title seems to indicate that the blog is about the University of Central Florida.
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