FIGHTING - TIME FOR IT TO END

I noticed several articles related to the supposed sport of cage fighting in a recent USA Today. For the record I do not consider cage fighting a sport, but just a form of violence masked in the name of sport.

The debate on the efficacy of boxing and other physically violent fight events has been an ongoing question, and it has been a subject of discussion for far too long. In my opinion any form of brutal fighting should be banned once and for all time. The purpose of this type of fighting is to knock the opponent unconscious, and it is proven to cause death and/or long lasting physical damage to the participants.

While some will argue that fighting is a legitimate form of competitive sport, that it has permitted poor individuals to exit poverty, and it is a form of exercise, I consider those arguments to be bogus. Those points hold little or no rational excuse for the continued violence and potentially tragic consequences.

Violence breeds growing forms of violence within the communities where it is permitted. Boxing has a long established relationship with crime, gambling and other illegal activity. The British Medical Association, which has campaigned since 1982 for officials to call an end to amateur and professional boxing, argues that mixed martial arts events such as ultimate and cage fighting frequently result in traumatic brain injury, joint injuries, and fractures. Dr. Vivienne Nathanson who is the head of ethics and science for the BMA has drawn a comparison of these activities to cockfighting.

These forms of “sport” have made vast sums of money for promoters and draws crowds of individuals who thirst for the sight of blood and the devastation of the opponents. Our elected officials should ban these forms of savage violence. I predict that action will be taken when some poor sap dies violently before a vast pay-for-view audience that feeds the greed of unconscionable promoters.

Has our society eroded to the conditions that afflicted Rome in the days of the gladiators? Tragically we are getting close, because the next step is fighting to the death, and I suspect a big audience exists who would pay to see that happen. Violence begets violence. Sad, but true.

COMMANDER GRANGER