John Katopodis: CAGE FIGHTING IS NOT A SPORT AND MUST BE BANNED

So well said and spot on! Again and again and again, we must expose the many faces of violence and stand as firmly and consistently as we can in peace, integrity, truth, justice, and an ongoing commitment to alleviating the suffering and harm in our world and not enabling, justifying, or adding to it. ― Molly

I have girded myself to take the punches that will likely come, but this must be said in the loudest, clearest words possible. CAGE FIGHTING IS NOT A SPORT AND MUST BE BANNED.

It is a disgusting and vile display of brutal cruelty that has no place in a civilized society. And the fact that the president of the United States is giving it his imprimatur and trying to make it more acceptable as part of his self-aggrandizing celebration of his birthday will never make this form of human cock fighting anything more than an example of how low we can become when motivated by greed and the most base of human instincts.

My position on this is not new. In the same way as I tried to stop the diving donkey act on the public owned Alabama State Fair grounds in the 1980's where docile, dumb animals were forced by electric cattle prods to jump into a pool of water from an elevated platform, I also tried to stop the use of Boutwell Auditorium as a modern colosseum where men would intentionally brutalize and bloody each other in inescapable confined spaces while a screaming crowd similar to those who watched the murder of gladiators and Christians as entertainment satisfied a sick lust for extreme violence.

In a time where unbridled violence is an everyday occurrence in public places like schools, shopping centers, and even churches, our focus must be on making all forms of violence and attacks on human dignity and decency unacceptable, not celebrated with the demeaning of the People' s House and most recognized symbol in the world of the greatest democracy on earth. Not a dime of public money should be spent to subsidize yet another vulgar and demeaning of our cultural decline which we are witnessing each.

― John Katopodis