Horse Racing, Dog Racing, Cock Fighting, and Rugby
In a masterful display of horrifying foreshadowing Tolstoy writes of a horse race in which one of the main characters, Vronsky, pushes so hard to win the race by a long distance that he causes his horse to fall and break her back. In addition to Vronsky’s horse, more than half of the men racing fell and were injured.
Everyone loudly expressed his disapproval, everyone repeated the phrase someone had uttered: ‘We only lack circuses with lions,’ and horror was felt by all.
And yet there is absolutely no hint of a question of whether such races should or would occur in the future. The crowd watching recognizes that there is something barbaric about unnecessarily risking injury and death of both horses and men for sport, but no one thinks to actually stop it.
It seems insane. Insanely like the way things still are. I like the idea of sports like football, but can’t help feeling like something is a bit wrong when watching some games. How much of it is good clean fun, and how much of it is morbid fascination with completely unnecessary risk of injury?
I know very little of horse racing, but reading stories such as the one in Anna Karenina makes me think that it is not such a good idea. Is it really ethical to push animals so hard for the pleasure of those watching? What about the risk to the jockey?
And then there is dog racing. It has only been two years since Massachusetts outlawed dog racing, and I don’t know about its status in other states.
At the time it was argued that the fact that the dogs were “caged inhumanely and raced to injury” mattered less than the jobs of 1,000 workers employed by the racetracks. I believe that it is quite possible to create new jobs without harming animals, but the jobs argument still made me think. At what point do we make humans suffer at all in order to avoid mistreating animals?
And if horse and dog racing seem problematic, what about cock fighting? Animal injury and death are not incidental to cock fights, they are necessary.
But while cock fighting goes against cultural norms in the United States, it provides much-needed joy in less privileged places. And while cock fighting is grotesque and violent, is it really any worse than the factory that raises and slaughters the chicken which most Americans eat without thinking?
And then there are the sports that do not involve animals. What of the significant rates of injury in sports such as rugby? Can it really be justified?
Is it a responsible use of our bodies to deliberately take significant risk of injury for the sake of a game? Is it right to provide incentive for others to play through injury for money?
How do you determine what is acceptable ethically when enjoying sports? Do you have a solid line for what you will tolerate in terms of animal cruelty? How about a reasonable level of risk for the human participants? Do you think that Western Culture today is really any better than that of our Roman predecessors with their games?
I’ve never really thought about ethics in relation to sports, although I don’t really count things with animals as “sports.” I did play rugby in college and loved it, though! I don’t know much about Roman games, but as long as ours aren’t purposely ending in death, I think they are probably an improvement.
Good point! As an athletic trainer, I have asked myself some of these questions, especially related to football. I love football, and love to work the games, but I also hate it, and question a game that requires an ambulance standby at the ready.
I have also never really thought about ethics in sports. I personally choose not to watch sports or “sports” that involve a lot of violence – boxing, UFC, martial arts, etc. (Not that I watch a lot of sports anyways.) I used to do karate in grade school until I decided that I hating sparring, so I stopped. I don’t take any enjoyment out of anyone or anything being hurt, beaten up, or being subject to violence. I guess one could argue that in most sports today, there are measures being taken to prevent injury and that the purpose of most sports is not to hurt anyone unlike in Roman times where most sports were done ruthlessly and with the intention of someone getting hurt or killed.
I adopted a “retired” racing Greyhound. The hell that my buddy Marley went through I can’t imagine.
Good question, though I don’t have a real answer.
What about other sorts of pursuits, like climbing Mt. Everest or trying to sail around the world? On the one hand, I think that everyone should be cautious and avoid unnecessary risks. But on the other hand, I think that there is something to be said for spirit of adventure and competitiveness that such pursuits exemplify. And it wouldn’t be much of an adventure if there was no risk, would it?
My only firm conclusion at the moment is that any sport which directly aims to cause serious injury to a human being is immoral. Beyond that, I am open to being persuaded one way or another.
I guess in regards the question of the acceptability of harming animals to provide people with jobs, I would apply the principle of double effect. One criteria for something to be ethical is that the act itself must be good or neutral. In this case, I would say that mistreating animals is bad. So therefore it fails right away. Even if good consequences come from it, the ends don’t justify the means.
On a side note, I wasn’t aware that greyhounds were mistreated! I’ve thought about sports and the dignity of the human person too. I used to love UFC and boxing, but I just can’t watch it anymore. It disturbs me.
I guess it really depends on your perspective. What’s worse, going mtb-ing and possibly hurting yourself because you fall or picking a job that requires you to drive through high accident rate areas? Or forcing people to work long hours to “get the product out the door at all costs” which has been proven to be bad for your health in the long run? Plus where do you set the bar in each sport? Sprint triathlons are ok while Ironmans are too much? Running a marathon is ok but Ultra people are wrong? NFL and WC rugby ok while Aussie Rules football is not?
For me I choose to do what I feel is ok for me, my family, friends, etc. When I ride mtb I do so in a cross country style. But I know guys with families and they think nothing of going downhill. Each to their own as long as I’m not forced into anything I wouldn’t normally do.