Is American Football Ethical? No. A sport that is fundamentally based on physical
and neural injury is not something that should be practiced, promoted, or
allowed in a nation such as America. The
goal of any law abiding commonwealth is the overall common good of its citizens,
and it is manifestly unfair for the good of some (or many) to come from the
suffering of a few (or one).
To
think more about what it means for the state to exist for the common good of
its citizens, we should ask the philosophical question, if we could make most
people happy by having one person suffer constantly, would that be ethically
right, i.e. morally just? This question
is framed in the mindset of human action and affairs, and not in any kind of
divine framework. Can we ask such of a
person? And what if the person
volunteers, out of a genuine desire to help people and make their lives better?
Again,
the answer is no. As a nation state, we
must insure the most common good possible for each individual person. That includes not allowing a person to legally
injure themselves, for any reason, unless it be in the case of an emergency,
when no forethought is allowed, as in the case of a fire, or a drowning person.
So,
what does that mean for the game of Football, its players, and fans? Sadly, it means the end of an era for deliberately
violent sports. (This includes any and
all contact sports including hockey, boxing, wrestling, etc.) Competition, which is a natural state for
mankind, including the ‘civilized’ members of American society, must begin to
take a more intellectual form, with less risk for physical injury, over the
complete course of a person’s athletic career, including training, diet, etc. So, for example, Track and Field, which poses
much less of a risk of severe head injury, should still be a sport where
athletes are not encouraged to push themselves to their physical limit and
beyond, posing the risk of possible injury.
However, looking at the wider view of sports in general, it seems that
there exists no athletic activity that does not involve some risk of bodily
harm over the course of a career.
The
honor and glory of playing organized sports, and the joy that comes from viewing
and following such athletics, is a part of the human psyche, as expressed through
competition. This harkens back to the
gladiator days of Rome and beyond – humans have always competed in games for
the honor of victory (even at risk of certain death), and this natural desire
will not disappear any time soon. What
we have to do, as intellectually evolving humans, is figure out a way to
channel that aggression and desire for victory away from violent games and war
to a more civilized and intellectual way of competing.
In
the end, we are going to have to phase out the most dangerous and violent
sports from our arenas and schools, and shift towards a more intellectual field
of play. How, is a question I am in no
position to answer. But encouraging
children to play Football, when they have no capability to understand the long
term risks involved in it, is, and should be, a crime. Children cannot make that decision, and
therefore should not be allowed to play.
Older players have the choice of risking serious and traumatic permanent
brain injury, but we as a society should not allow that possibility to be
chosen. It is our responsibly as a
republic, based on liberty, to ensure that each citizen is free from the bonds
of needing to achieve success through pain, injury, and suffering, athletically or otherwise.
