Mailbag Monday!
Mailbag Monday!
Hey everyone, recently yours truly (The Bro) got his first piece of mail asking a serious question that I think many people (mostly women) wonder about. You know, part of why I started this website was to be a beacon of hope to these troubled people with troubled questions. To provide answers and guidance in their storm of confusion. To help men and women relate in a sense of common unity. To… well you get the point.
Why do mailbags on Monday? Because it’s alliterative! Why else? Here’s the question:
Dear The Bro, Why do guys like violence so much (a la Mixed Martial Arts, Ultimate Fighting Championship) — what’s the draw in seeing someone get their head bashed in?
-Jersey Girl
First of all, I really hope that you’re actually writing from Jersey, and that you’re not a Kevin Smith fan. Then again how could you be? No true fan would ever put those two words together on purpose ever again. Just like they all avoid any word starting with the letters G-I-G… He didn’t even have anything to do with that film and still somehow it tainted him.
But I digress. To get back to your question, I think you misinterpret what it is guys like so much about MMA, UFC, and all the like. It has nothing to do with guys wanting to see someone get their head bashed in. That would mean we as a gender enjoy senseless violence. Of course we do not. (I don’t care how many 5 year old boys you see stomping on bugs or lighting ants on fire with a magnifying glass. That’s not senseless violence, that’s science! Discovery!)
The reason why guys like MMA and UFC so much is because as a race, fighting is the purest form of debate we have. That’s right! It’s not about the fighting, it’s about debate! Guys love debate! The art of forming an opinion or hypothesis and then arguing for or against it. That is what guys love. That’s why we hold historical figures like Socrates and Plato in such high regard. It’s why we hold debates before every Presidential election. It’s why we ask questions like “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” It’s not because we actually care which came first, we just enjoy fighting debating about it.
Now where does the violence come in? It’s really very simple. Many times when debating, we come to what is usually termed “a stalemate” between both sides. It is in these rare instances when the oral form of debate will do no more good, that the physical form of debate must take over. Yes we love Socrates for his ability to wordsmith his way to victory in the great debates and philosophical discussions of his time. But what many do not know is that when he found himself up against a formidable opponent, he would often slam a stone tablet over his head, rendering his adversary unconcious and claiming victory for himself.
Imagine if you will, two cavemen of the past face each other with a true question of the ages: Is it “gunga ooga gunga”? Or is it “ooga gunga ooga”? The debate lasts many hours, each voicing his concerns for why it should be the way he thinks. Each of them gesture, hoot, and holler to try and sway the other to their way of thinking…
The final decision? It was “gunga ooga gunga”. Why? Because the first caveman clubbed the second one over the head. Stalemate (and noggin) broken. And thus debate was born.
So the next time your guy wants to watch UFC or MMA or any other form of what you consider “senseless violence”, just remember he isn’t watching fighting or boxing or wrestling. He’s watching debate. Debate in it’s purest form. You should smile knowing that in doing so, he is celebrating some of the greatest thinkers of our or any generation.
You should also get him a beer from the fridge.
Is there something you want The Bro to discuss? Email him here!
