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Quote of the Year – Minneapolis Star Tribune

By Zach Arnold | December 17, 2007

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The Minneapolis Star-Tribune is no stranger when it comes to trying to psycho-analyze why people like MMA. Today, a columnist in the newspaper tries to make a corollation between angry racism & anti-social behavior with the entertainment and lifestyle choices Americans make.

Granted, CNN et al will use any excuse to turn a tragedy into a documentary, complete with logo and dramatic music. But that doesn’t mean we should ignore antisocial behavior. That would send the message that no one is paying attention anymore, and it would encourage the vermin to think that they can get away with anything. That the tide has turned. And that along with the yahoo culture heralded by NASCAR, the WWF and Ultimate Fighting, the South and its hateful double — the nativist North — has risen again.

It only takes a small percentage of Americans to make this country unlivable for many others. Judging by the incredible vitriol — not to mention the appalling spelling — on the Internet and elsewhere, aimed primarily at people of color and immigrants, we are fast becoming a nation of semiliterate haters.

Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

15 Responses to “Quote of the Year – Minneapolis Star Tribune”

  1. mjc_123 says:

    Now that really is something.
    The U.S looks like such as bizarre place to people from the outside looking in at times. I mean what the hell is that all about!

  2. ukiro says:

    Actually, as a Swede, I don’t find this overly bizarre. I know most (or hopefully all) readers of this site take objection to these statements, but are we representative of the MMA fanbase as a whole? I think not, and if the UFC are taking fans from WWF, you all know that it will include “vermin”, to borrow a word from the quote. MMA is undeniably brutal and will speak to the primal instinct of a lot of people, many of whom will never learn to see the nuances and technical aspects of the sport. Such mindsets thrive on the fuel called hatred, so to that extent I can see where the author is coming from.

    To draw a connection to literacy is a little trickier, but anyone who’s read a comment thread on Youtube will agree that there’s room for improvement, to say the least. And isn’t it reasonable to think that people who trawl the net for short, exciting, ADD-compatible video clips like to watch people get knocked out or bloodied up?

    All that said, I regard MMA as a sport and I think in time more and more people will do so. But MMA is now reaching the mainstream before my/our perception of the sport does, which means that for some time, there is sort of a statistical connection between illiterate, hate-driven idiots and the popularity of fight clips (sanctioned MMA or street fights). BUT – this does not in any way prove that MMA is what drives people towards some sort of Idiocracy-esque future or that such a future is coming at all.

    Also, don’t forget that 12 years ago the internet was mainly available to people of higher education/income, and what we’re seeing now is essentially a more accurate view of what kind of people our societies are made of. That type of transparency is new to mankind – all but a few people have been living in social bubbles, where one rarely, if ever, is subjected to thoughts, ideas and acts of people outside ones family, neighbourhood or workplace.

    This became way too long and serious, I’ll go get a coffee now.

  3. Dave says:

    What I find funny is that this is the bitching about spelling and that the writer is so worked up that some of these sentences aren’t even making sense.

    I love self-righteousness.

  4. dustin says:

    “That the tide has turned.” good thing he/she twigs on spelling and not grammar. not only is part of that line often used in wrasslin, it doesnt make much sense by itself.

  5. Amy Robinson says:

    thats some of the funniest stuff I’ve read in a long time.

  6. ditch says:

    Ah, “WWF”. Always a good way to tell that a columnist is on top of things.

  7. Zurich says:

    You know, in LSAT prep classes they give you poorly written newspaper columns like that to analyze flaws in arguments…

  8. Grape Knee High says:

    Yeah, that writer is a bit worked up and is making tenuous connections and conclusions, but…anyone who is blind to the fact that most UFC fans are, in fact, anti-social illiterate morons hasn’t been to Sherdog in a while.

    Unfortunately, MMA is a culturally low-brow sport in the United States right now. It IS part of the “yahoo culture”.

  9. cyphron says:

    The writer’s assumptions:

    #1: The Internet consists of only US citizens.

    #2: The Internet forum chatters represent the US population as a whole.

    #3: People on the Internet would say things that they would normally say in person.

    And this guy is a communication consultant! This is a classic case of creating a hypothesis and then looking for data to back it up.

    He needs to get off the Sherdog forum and go elsewhere for his research.

  10. IceMuncher says:

    Thank God we have the internet. We keep trolls and rascists in a dark room with a keyboard all day, instead of roaming around outside and bothering people there.

  11. That’s funny.

    I regard UFC as a kind of international / liberal north/west phenomenon, particularly compared with WWE (which ironically is headquartered in CT, and has a few outspoken liberal wrestlers, but is predominantly more on Zach’s side of the fence).

    I have a tendency to root for guys who train in my region, but the vast majority of them who have had success are Brazilian or Canadian…

  12. spacedog says:

    I love the fact that he uses the term “haters”. OP mos def be hatin.

  13. Zack says:

    ULTIMATE FIGHTING IS SO F’N XXXTREME!!!

  14. Chuck says:

    Well, some more “human cockfighting” bullshit from an anti-MMA person. HOW NSURPRISING! MMA will always be bashed, no matter how popular it gets. It will get bashed by those who say it’s a barbaric sport to the death, and the other side (usually people in the boxing business, and this is a more competent opinion to have) is that it is too “boring” and not enough action. Jesus tap-dancing Christ, which one is it?!

  15. Paul Horton says:

    Wow.

    This guy is some kind of fucking racist.

    We are doomed…

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