Ballet of Violence

jnadiger:

balletofviolence:

jnadiger:

I agree with everything you’ve said here.

Just to be clear, I didn’t post this to be funny, which isn’t always clear because there’s not a lot of context on my Tumblr, it’s very stream of thought.

I spend a lot of my time defending myself for being a fan of MMA. Shit like this really doesn’t help my case, but I think it’s still worth seeing, and I think it’s still a big part of what fascinates about the sport and the intense people who do it.

It’s… and I’m having a hard time being articulate because it’s late and I’m tired, but I think it’s hard to call MMA simply a sport. I think you really see the truth about who people are when they get in that cage, and sometimes that truth is very ugly and very hard to look at.

I’m a fan of the sport because it’s dynamic and exciting and the purest form of competition that I’ve ever seen. It’s an extreme way of life that attracts extreme personalities, and I am fascinated by the fighters and I respect them for their skills and their sacrifice but I don’t admire a lot of them, if that makes sense. I like a good fight, but I’m not always a fan of the fighters.

I live in Vancouver, which is a pretty liberal city, when all is said and done, and sometimes I take it for granted and don’t think about shit like this.

I’m sorry if I upset anyone with this. I’m going to leave it up, but only so we can talk it out if someone really feels the need.

You don’t offend me.  The content of the image does.  I suspected that you didn’t post this to make light of the situation, I just felt the need to add context because a thing like this requires context.  I think it is dangerous to leave it out because 3/4s of the time I see this in a message board, it’s in a thread that goes “LULZ, look at this guy knock out this fag!”  I think it’s important to make it as unambiguously explicit as possible that this sort of thing is disgusting.

I agree with you that combative sports speak to the fundamental human desire for conflict, something that composes a huge part of our nature as social creatures.  I find this aspect beautiful and necessary as well (hence the names of both my tumblelogs).  It creates a space where people can act on dark and violent urges in a space of CONSENT, which makes it explicitly not violent.  It makes for an interesting dichotomy.  I love hitting people in the face, but I hate hurting people.  So when do I get to act on my desire to punch another human in the face?

When they LOVE it!  When they’ve agreed to it.  When they consent to it.

I believe there is a framework outside of sport where conflict is acceptable as well, but what sport creates is an unambiguous reference point for determining the consent and minimizing the risk of all involved.  Much like the safe words and gestures of BDSM.  And as in BDSM, we have to recognize the gravity, darkness, and the potential for real suffering, violence, and death that result from our behavior.  We honor this gravity by following the rules and severely punishing those who show a blatant disregard for the consent and well-being of its participants.  If you don’t follow the rules, you don’t get to play.  If we don’t call out the bullshit it becomes indistinguishable from the good stuff.  Then nobody gets to play.

Heath Herring hasn’t seen HALF the career damage that Antonio Margarito has for his actions.  Plenty of people still love this guy.