Poor South Dakota State Legislator Steve Hickey. The Republican doesn’t understand that only liberals get nodding looks of approval when they dis things their friends consider de classe. Things like NASCAR. (Overheard at Liberatti party, “Ashley Judd got rid of that race car driver of hers after he went to (sotto voce) NASCAR! ). Things like HUNTING. (“Bambi killer!” Said while wearing leather Jimmy Choos and a fur collar while eating foie gras canapes).
But now they’ve gone too far. Hickey, hoping to make points in the discussion about what drives kids to violence, has wildly flailed– like a 17 year old trying to find the door knob in the dark after curfew–and has grasped onto the idea that Mixed Martial Arts creates killers. Or worse. Kiddie porn addicts. Says the State Rep:
MMA Cage Fighting is the Child Porn of Sports.
Oh, but he’s not done. As reported here,
Hickey compares the sport to meth labs, rhetorically asking if, because meth is popular, meth labs should be legalized and regulated by the state.
He wants the sport banned in South Dakota.
Most of Hickey’s argument is standard fare with the conservative censorship crowd. [Oh, really?] He uses pornography as an analogy with violence, arguing that, like porn, people become desensitized to violence over time. And, of course, MMA is a very public form of violence.
Having been to an MMA match where I saw Matt “The Law” Lindland defeat his opponent in a Strike Force match and having been to Lindland’s Team Quest MMA gym to see what goes on there (prodded by MMA fan and Blogforce member Rees Lloyd [read his posts here, here, here, here and here]) I’d like to ask this Congressman one question: What the hell are you talking about?
MMA requires sheer strength, skill and stamina. Michelle Obama herself could love this sport. Hickey doesn’t like MMA because it’s fought in a cage and, to his way of thinking, is unregulated and therefore uncivilized. He likes boxing because, uh, apparently there’s no funny business in boxing. I wonder if he’s aware that if you just imagine the boxing ring going up a little taller that it might look like–gasp! an MMA “cage.”
I caught up with Lindland after, it might interest you to know Representative Hickey, he had just come back
from helping in a wounded Veterans program (Rees Lloyd also wrote about this program here). The coach, 2000 Olympic Silver Medalist in Greco Roman Wrestling and former Republican candidate for Oregon State House of Representatives would like you to know,
I obviously disagree– but, this shows why the 10th amendment is so valuable.
I hope Lindland’s right and that Hickey doesn’t take this act on the road to other states.
UFC fighter Chael Sonnen has a distinctly different take on the Congressman. The MMA athlete, small businessman and former award winning Greco Roman wrestler told me,
I’m sure he has no experience in viewing MMA and I hope he hasn’t viewed child porn. Fortunately his States Governor disagreed.
The South Dakota lawmaker is outmatched in this battle. Time for him to tap out.
MMA and fighting is low-brow stuff. It’s really gross. I’ve watched some MMA stuff but it makes me queasy b/c I don’t like blood and broken bones and the like. I heard your interview on KOGO today and the guy’s comparison of MMA to man’s struggle thousands of years ago was ludicrous. We aren’t cavemen any more. If we follow his logic I guess I can grab my wife by her hair and drag her around. The times they are a changin’. And I’m not a high-brow type (I drink beer, I don’t go to operas).
Great, intelligently and wittily written piece, Victoria. Strange that this legislator would attack MMA, and thus athletes like Matt Lindland and Chael Sonnen. MMA has been around for a long time now, including UFC, and Strike Force (now merged into UFC) which have been promoting matches for almost two decades now. Oddly enough, despite attacks on MMA as “too violent,” “blood sport,” and now this fantastical attack by an obviously uniformed legislator, there are no diagnosed or observed “punch drunk” MMA fighters. Further, there have been no reported cases of serious continuing injury, as in boxing, football, or other “contact” sports.
You are right, too, on the great and generally unreported volunteer support to troops and veterans by MMA fighters. Matt Lindland is an example: He spent the weekend of March 22-24, helping vets suffering from post traumatic stress injury at the “Horse Sense & Soldiers” equine therapy therapy workshop put on by the legendary Monty Roberts, the “Horse Whisperer,” through his “Join-Up, International,” in conjunction with Col. Antonio Monaco’s Patriot Outreach project, and the American Legion Dept. of California.
So, thank you for setting the record straight, with great intelligence and wit, about great MMA athletes like Matt Lindland, who are generally making great contributions to America, particular to troops and veterans.