Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler"

[Hyfi]

So how is this different from a gladiatorial spectacle?

It's not. Neither is Boxing, Martial Arts, Football......

Bottom line....some people just like pain. Tattoos, Body Piercing, people who get into hanging themselves on hooks.

Even worse, people enjoy watching. We can't get enough. Look at every bloody shoot em up games that 95% of parents let their kids play. Look at all the violent TV shows both parents and kids watch. How many people can get killed or blown up in 24 (hours)? How many times in a half hour news program will they show the same casing and blood stain on the ground?

The razor blade to the forehead is probably the oldest blood letting trick and there from the early wrestlers. Look at any old timers forehead.

All I can say is at least these nuts are doing what they enjoy and getting paid something. You don't have to do these types of matches unless you want to.

[nightflier]

It's not. Neither is Boxing, Martial Arts, Football...... Even worse, people enjoy watching. We can't get enough. Look at every bloody shoot em up games that 95% of parents let their kids play. Look at all the violent TV shows both parents and kids watch. How many people can get killed or blown up in 24 (hours)? How many times in a half hour news program will they show the same casing and blood stain on the ground?

It seems to me that the real question is whether this is a good thing. Perhaps many of the problems we have today as a society are the result of our violent outlets. Somehow this comes back to bite us in the rear: soldiers who think they can interrogate prisoners like Jack Bauer, teenagers who think they can DDT their best friend in the back yard, little children who think that shooting their sister with Dad's handgun is not fatal, pimps beating young girls into prostitution, motorcycle riders thinking they are invincible, and thugs thinking they can rob the corner AM-PM at gunpoint and not get caught. After all, they were able to do this on San Andreas, right? Ultimately this is the price we pay for condoning this violence on the screen. That a few of us are destitute or disillusioned enough to partake is one thing, but that so many of us enjoy it is a matter of a whole different proportion. In the end it makes a mockery of civilization and debases who we are as human beings.

Worf, the resume always wins out. If Charles Manson were to suddenly be born again and preach love and forgiveness, would anyone really forget the resume?