Former Presidential Nominee Bob Barr Slams "Cage-Fighting"
by Anthony Pace on Jun 6, 2010 4:26 PM EDT
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The former U.S. Representative from Georgia wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
In the 1985 movie "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome," Mel Gibson as the film’s hero is forced to participate in a bloody, to-the-death fight in a large cage from which he is not allowed to exit. The bloody fighting was performed for the blood lust of the applauding audience. This theatrical fight seems now, 25 years later, to have been a precursor to what has become a multi-million dollar entertainment industry known as "cage fighting."
Cage fighting is also referred to as "mixed martial arts" fighting and "ultimate fighting." While the organized aspect of the "sport" does not include among its attractions fights to the death, it clearly panders to the extreme violence craved by its large and growing audience in the U.S. and other countries (its modern rendition appears to have originated in Brazil). Single matches staged in large metropolitan areas like Los Angeles can net tens of millions of dollars for promoters and participants.
A recent episode in which an off-duty cage fighter murdered his training partner by cutting out his still-beating heart, has drawn attention to the violent and violence-engendering nature of cage fighting. The alleged murderer, Jarrod Wyatt, apparently had ingested hallucinogenic mushroom tea before the grisly murder of his training partner in Klamath, California.
Barr demonstrates an unapologetic lack of knowledge on the sport that he criticizes, but it's nothing new from him. It's just further evidence that we must continue to educate the general public on the sport, show them stories like Lyle Beerbohm's and introduce them to articulate athletes like Shane Carwin. There will always be the ignorant like Barr, but we must prevent the rest from getting caught in the echo chamber.
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“We hold that all individuals have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal right of others to live in whatever manner they choose.”
This is the Libertarian Party’s main platform, seems Bob Barr forgot that.
I hope this statement doesn't recieve much media attention.
This is the kind of statement that could set MMA back a few years. Barr isn’t Obama, but, he does carry some influence. I think Barr would be better served focusing his criticism towards drug control. But, who am I? I think had Wyatt not ingested Mushrooms, and not been tripping his balls off, he would never have murdered anyone. This is a classic example of a politician pandering to an audience. I think there are more important things to worry about. No matter what laws are passed, there will always be a fringe of society that is gonna break the law. Bob Barr, wake up, this is a waste of your time. Anyone with half a brain(present company included) can see right through you.
If Russia attacked Turkey from the rear, Do you think Greece would help?
The Wyatt incident happened locally,less than an hour from my home.I actually drove through Klamath the day the murder happened.Klamath is a small fishing village and is essentially a wide place in the road-if you blink,you’ll miss it.
The cause of the murder had nothing to do with MMA,and everything to do with Wyatt being a drugged out wack job.The fact that he trained a little and watched the UFC on Spike had zero influence on what happened.The fact that he was a nutjob who was high on mushrooms and thought the world was coming to an end was the cause for the murder.
But Bob Barr isn’t going to focus on that,because drugs are an old subject that have been beat to death.Nobody wants to hear about how drugs are bad,because they’ve heard that garbage their whole damn lives.But if you throw out that “cage fighting” is erroding the moral sensibilities of America’s young people,well that’s something that most folks haven’t heard yet,and you might catch their attention.Doesn’t matter to old Bob that it’s 110% false.It’s a good narrative,and it’ll get him some attention.Bob’s a politican,and like every good politican,creating a narrative out of an absolute bull shit position is quite natural.If you can spin it the right way,it works a lot of times,because people who aren’t famiar enough with the subject at hand will buy what you’re selling.People who don’t know anything about cage fighting will go,“Well,it sounds like ole Bob knows a lot about this cage fighting,so we’ll trust him.”When in fact,ole Bob don’t know jack diddle about cage fighting.He was among the politicans back in the day who thought Paul Heyman’s Extreme Championship Wrestling was really MMA,because it shared similiar initials to an MMA promotion.They tried to ban Heyman,telling him he was really MMA with just predetermined outcomes.When Heyman gave them the script of a program the night before it aired,and everything went exactly as the script said,the politicans response was,“Well,we bet on football all the time,and sometimes the games turn out just like we predict!”
These are the kind of great minds that want to poo-poo MMA.
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I’m not really sure what the point of Barr’s column is. Is he highlighting this incident so that the proper action can be taken to outlaw this barbaric spectacle? Doesn’t sound much like a Libertarian solution to me (not that he was ever anything more than a fair weather Libertarian). The articles seems to be more like an old dude complaining about “these damn kids” and waving his finger of morality at society’s downward spiral.
If Barr was relevant
then I MIGHT give a crap about his ignorant opinions on MMA.
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I don’t care who it is…when they talk nonsense….they gets no love from me…and I ain’t talking Rich Clementi.
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Barr pulls a lot of weight in the libertarian/Tea Party circles.Fortantly,most of those folks are reasoned enough to realize that Wyatt’s actions were more influenced by his drug use rather than his limited MMA background.
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I’m not positive but I think you just described the libertarian/Tea Party crowd as “reasoned”. If that’s the case, you may be the first person to ever describe them that way.
by Lucas2 on Jun 6, 2010 11:44 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Just because you or I may disagree with them about certain things,doesn’t make them unreasonable.I consider Neil Boortz a fairly reasonable person,and he’s one of the leading thinkers in the libertarian movement.Do I agree with the man?No,I actually disagree with him quite a bit.But that doesn’t mean he’s not a reasonable man and capable of rational thought.
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So he doesn't like violence
That’s cool. But last I checked, there were more murders and other illegal activities with boxing.. so why doesn’t he go cry about that, and then come back to MMA after he successfully abolishes boxing. I mean hey, I’m not dumb, people CAN be hurt pretty bad being involved in MMA, but meanwhile there are a lot worse things going on TODAY in football and boxing.
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I think Barr’s point was that MMA was breaking down the moral fiber of the nations young people.Which is a very bizarre stance for a libertarian to take,since most libertarians are of the “let folks do what they want and be responsible for themselves” mindset.Barr sounds more like a typical mid-90’s Republican,which is exactly what he is.
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