Quote

I watch fights and I often feel morally compromised by it. I feel like I'm morally culpable for what's occurring because I'm the spectator and ultimately footing the bill for the spectacle.

Jonathan Gottschall

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Jonathan Gottschall
Age: 52
Born: 1972
Born: September 20
Literary Theorist
Washington
Pennsylvania
Feels
Bill
Footing
Like
Ultimately
Compromised
Bills
Occurring
Watches
Spectator
Watch
Spectacle
Fighting
Spectators
Often
Fights
Feel
Morally
Culpable

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My reason for arguing against abolishing these types of sports isn't some kind of lofty, philosophical rationale. It's just that I did it and I liked it. It comes down to a libertarian issue for me. I feel that if I know the risks and I want to take them, I should be allowed to do so.
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I have this little neighbor next door. He comes over and tells me about playing Call of Duty, and he's talking about, 'Aw yeah, I slit this guy in the throat and then I stuck a grenade up this guy's ass.' He's describing it in all this detail, and that makes me uncomfortable. I don't think that's good for him.
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The top fighters spar hard. They're really sparring for two reasons: One is to improve their technique, but the other, which is just as important, is to build endurance, toughness, and courage. They want to practice as realistically as possible so that when they go into a real fight, the transition isn't as jarring.
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If someone breaks into your home when you're there - that is, they don't wait to be sure that the house is empty - it's a bad situation. Honor doesn't come into it at all. Anything you need to do to survive at that point becomes A-OK.
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The brain stays up all night telling stories while we sleep. We just call them dreams.
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Story is where people go to practice the key skills of human social life.
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When you spar in boxing, the only thing that gets hurt is your brain. Everything else feels pretty good.
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A boxing contest is a brain-damage contest. Who can give out more brain damage and who can absorb more of it?
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We are creatures of story, and the process of changing one mind or the whole world must begin with 'Once upon a time.'
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I'm living in the heart of gun culture, but I'm not a gun guy. I didn't grow up with them I was never a hunter my dad was never a hunter.
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Getting punched in the face with a padded glove doesn't really hurt your face. It doesn't hurt your skull. The only thing it hurts is your brain. You can feel the brain injury happening. It's an instant headache.
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We are a species addicted to a stories.
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Part of why I was attracted to the idea of owning a gun was self-defense, and part of it was that I've been fascinated by guns since I was a little kid, and I want to play with them. It seems like a lot of fun.
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We are critical and skeptical. But when we are absorbed in a story, we drop our intellectual guard.
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Human minds yield helplessly to the suction of story. No matter how hard we concentrate, no matter how deep we dig in our heels, we just can't resist the gravity of alternate worlds.
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Don't despair for story's future or turn curmudgeonly over the rise of video games or reality TV. The way we experience story will evolve, but as storytelling animals, we will no more give it up than start walking on all fours.
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People like head trauma. They love knockouts. The crowd is silent, silent, silent... and then a knockout happens, and everyone goes native. There would be far fewer knockouts without the gloves.
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