Is it morally questionable to watch football games?
This was the question AcademicDave twittered today. He linked me to this article by Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point, Outliers) in the New Yorker. In it Gladwell compares football to dogfighting. I always enjoy his perspective. Check out the following article --
Football, dog fighting, and brain damage: newyorker.com
What do you think?
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8 years ago
I read this article over the weekend, very interesting...makes you wonder how football, boxing and other full contact sports will be played/viewed in the future. Recently there have been several new football rules that penalize head-to-head contact, diving at the quarterback's knees, etc, that try to reduce injuries...how far will it go?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Wes in the fact that the NFL is continuing the effort to protect the players as much as possible. It is a full-contact sport, and each player has the right to say yes or no when it comes to playing. Same with boxing, the UFC, and other contact sports. Dogfighting is different: the dogs don't have a choice and they fight to the death. In my opinion, that is the difference between the two and why I don't think watching football, or any other contact sport, is morally questionable.
ReplyDeleteI think dogfighting is wrong because the dogs do not have a choice like Josh said. Dogs will try and do what they are trained to do by their owners.
ReplyDeleteFootball is full contact and if you play, there are risk. There are high risk in lots of jobs like military service and high rise steelworkers. I do not see watching football as being morally questionable.