Hey,
WigerToods2010:
What's the point?
Two grown adults punching each other in the ring?
Anyone find pleasure in watching the above?
Discuss.
I don't like it.
My perspective on the article is that I personally believe there can be a
lot of mental skillfulness and athletic displays by the many boxers,
professional or otherwise.
Depending on the viewer, boxing can be seen as a violent, barbaric sport or a beautiful and artistic display of athleticism.
Nevertheless, I do not believe any organized activity should be extolled simply because someone combines "technical, adroit strategies" with "beautiful and artistic display of athleticism," etc.
Many spectators are unable to see past boxing’s physical and aggressive
nature, and they close their eyes to the boxers’ incredible abilities.
(bold mine)
I wouldn't ignore the violent, brutal nature and consequences of a
thief because he skillfully organizes "adroit strategies" to execute
numerous armed robberies and escapes with an "artistic display of athleticism" even if some call such activity a "sport" with
similar forethought to that of chess—focus should be on what the skills are being used for.
The author states that the "sport" is violent but then seems to try to gain approval by highlighting a similarity in boxing with a less violent activity such as chess:
Indeed, boxing is violent, but it’s also a skillful craft that involves strategy and forethought – much like a chess match.
To me, it seems the author is trying to cause reader's to ignore the brutal nature of the "sport" (or at least not focus on it) and its consequences and shift attention onto what some spectators would not usually be grieved about (i.e., "a skillful craft that involves strategy and forethought").
Even though I, like others, am able to "see past boxing's" brutal nature, I choose not to ignore the consequences of that brutal nature. Although I understand many sports activities can have health benefits but also potentially cause severe damage to the participants (esp. when participants have intent to harm, in whatever sport/game), intent to brutally render someone else unconscious for amusement ("OOOOHS!" and "AAAHHS!"), whether it is within an officially organized "sport" or not, displeases me.
From my understanding, the "knockout game" has what I think is a similarly repugnant impetus, that is, brutality against people "for the fun of it." More Info: [ABC News] [Associated Press]
Other "sports" like men's MMA can be a lot more gruesome than organized boxing while I think containing similar amounts of forethought and displays of athletic abilities—still no pleasure for me. I see news about even female MMA and just the thought of two women viciously fighting and one intentionally dislocating another's elbow to "win" a fight for entertainment value of the viewers (for the fun of it, artistic or not) is grieving to me.
Many spectators are unable to see past boxing’s physical and aggressive nature, and they close their eyes to the boxers’ incredible abilities.
(bold mine)
Whether or not boxing, or especially MMA, is similar to chess or if one may call it scientifically sweet, I unashamedly close my eyes to such sheer displays of adroit savageries.
JMan