I heard a mention of #ConorMcGregor, so I went to read a bit about him, and watched a few minutes of a couple #UFC fights — including that knockout 13 seconds into the match.
Change my mind: if you enjoy watching #MMA, there's something wrong with you.
It is brutal. Am I too sensitive?
@tripu I would not say too sensitive, but not precise enough.
"something wrong with you" is a pretty broad term. I find it problematic to value brutal fights, even if they are fought by rules. But the way you say it, i could agree or disagree depending on the interpretation.
I think paying or encouraging someone to do things that cause severe injury should be a crime. This shit and boxing and American football should not exist.
I am very, very reluctanct to ban anything like that, my default being to err on the side of freedom for consenting adults to do whatever they please.
I'm just surprised that so many people seem to like MMA so much.
(I know it's not the same, I know there are a few important differences, but) it feels to me like bullfighting: I can't understand how someone could enjoy watching _that_.
I quite enjoy some of them, when the skills and stakes are high. I can appreciate the abilities of some fighters, the willpower and determination. It's interesting to see different (and very, very difficult) techniques that do not rely at all on bigger muscles or bodies. I wouldn't follow it regularly but when there's a good fight (and there are very good ones) it's fascinating.
I admit I'm probably more sensitive than most to the suffering of others, specifically to graphical depictions.
eg, I simply can't watch [PETA](https://www.peta.org/) videos or films like [Dominion](https://www.dominionmovement.com/).
I think I could watch an MMA fight, but I doubt I would enjoy it — rather the opposite.
Those are very different - I also can't watch videos of "innocent" animals being tortured unnecessarily; on the other hand, an adult human consciously engaging in an activity they thoroughly enjoy, even if they feel pain at some points, can be even inspiring. In that sense an MMA fighter getting KO'd is no different than a marathon runner collapsing. They might not even call that "suffering", so your "sensitivity" would be misguided.
Yes, a fight between two consenting humans is different from a bull killed in the bullring or a goat being thrown from the top of the church bell tower. I acknowledged that difference.
What they have in common though is _a focus on, and a celebration of, violence and pain_. That's what I can't stand (and what I suspect is ethically dubious, at best).
@tripu @ImperfectIdea @Pat
Hmm, i see the point, but all examples i can come up with fall under "bread and circuses" as a distraction technique. I would thus see it as a secondary problem, not a root cause.
Sure, it is unpleasant that it is possible to distract people with that. But what i would want to see most is a change in the original stirring of those primal instincts, instead of shaming those that fall prey to it.
