Sport and dominance

The cult of dominance

Musings
Sonia Kelly

It’s sometimes interesting to define words beyond the actual dictionary interpretation. For ages I was bothered by the word ‘forgive’, until I figured out that it did not mean absolving the perpetrator from guilt, but switching off one’s own thoughts from contemplation of the crime.
‘Sport’ is another word that makes the dictionary meaning of a game providing pleasure and competition questionable. On examination, it seems much more like a term that describes the predatory instinct of man.
Hunting and fishing are sporting activities in which people derive great pleasure from killing other living things. The destruction that they carry out goes far beyond the necessity of obtaining food. This is demonstrated by the way that fishing for pleasure consists of catching as many fish as possible, regardless of whether anyone actually has any use for them or not. Hunting is the same. It’s apparently enjoyable to kill all manner of wild animals, simply for the joy of being able to get the better of them, to foster a sense of dominance.
Animals generally play a large part in what humans regard as sport, and it invariably involves cruelty. Watching an animal being goaded to death, such as happens in bull fighting, gives pleasure to millions. While the primary aim of horse-racing is not to spill blood, it is doubtful if horses would choose to risk life and limb in the contests of the race course.
Not only do humans pit themselves against animals in the name of sport, it amuses and pleases them to pit animals against each other. Instances of dog fighting have recently been reported in the media. Who would have thought that people, apparently civilised members of our society, would be nurturing a blood lust that revels in making domesticated animals tear each others’ throats out? It’s a frightening discovery, although I suppose only the naïve are surprised.
Cock-fighting is an established form of entertainment, after all, as is hunting with dogs. Who, until recently, batted an eyelid at fox-hunting – England’s national sport? Transformed into a pageant, with bright clothes, horn blowing and frisky hounds, this spectacle of a small animal being pursued by a pack and eventually torn asunder is portrayed on Christmas cards as evidently embodying Christian practices. Of course, the Spaniards also display their beliefs in Christian ethics by embracing bull-fighting, as do we in Ireland by condoning coursing.
If you can’t be dominant yourself, then the kick comes in observing it at second hand. Perhaps it was the Romans who established blood-letting orgies as a form of entertainment. Does the Colosseum not bear witness to the role played by those gory sports in the affairs of the empire, when the rulers themselves could live or die according to the quality of the shows they put on – shows that not only pitted man against beast, but also man against man. Oh, the thrill of watching gladiators fight to the finish and to even be a part of it when the spectators could turn their thumbs down in the death signal!
So what was new when it came to Abu Ghraib and the world looking on at images of U.S. soldiers torturing their Iraqi prisoners? Not much has changed either when modern-day gladiators get into the ring and box each other bloody to the roars of the crowd.
Team games, too, which frequently end in blows, can be included in the litany of examples that all demonstrate the theme of dominance and the ecstasy of experiencing it – actually or vicariously, experienced subliminally or expressed vocally by the cry of ‘tally ho!’ whenever the victim looms in sight.