(The Twitter avatar of a rational man capable of leading the nation, obviously. Props to Fightlinker for the find.)
Background: Like many of you, I was very upset when Ben Goldstein published a post about South Dakota State Representative Steve Hickey’s ridiculous tirade against MMA, but probably not for the same reasons that you may have been. As a Christian, I found it odd that a pastor would not only write things about death that I felt contradicted the messages contained in the Bible, but also cite Forrest Gump while doing so. It’s bad enough for a pastor to write that he can’t muster up sympathy for a person who has died because said person was just asking for it through his hobbies – I cringe picturing Hickey’s stance on rape if it’s anything like his stance on death – but to essentially say that a dim-witted, fictional Hollywood character has more wisdom than the person who your entire religion is built around is just completely unacceptable.
And that’s when I made the mistake of emailing Hickey, telling him that while I couldn’t care less what his opinion on MMA is, his stance on death is disgusting to me. For whatever reason, I was expecting a completely rational response. Instead, Hickey published an “Open Letter to Christian MMA fans” that I can’t help but feel is sort-of directed at me, where he accuses me of writing the piece that I not only told him was written by Ben Goldstein, but also was signed with Ben’s initials. Today I’m here to respond to that open letter. If this isn’t of any interest to you, move along, there’s nothing to see here.
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Dear Representative Steve Hickey,
It came as a big surprise to me this morning when I woke up to read on other MMA news sites that you have apparently published part of an email I had sent you. I don’t regret anything I’ve written, but I did find it odd that you took my email as a defense of MMA. As I wrote in the email, not only couldn’t I care less about how you feel about the sport, but also, I didn’t even write the article that you have attributed to me. I also found it pretty odd that you didn’t chose to publish that part, but I digress.
I’m not here to point out the factual inaccuracies in your posts about MMA. I’m not here to debate you. I’m also not here to encourage you to watch a sport you have no interest in. I’ve already seen dozens of people try to do all three of those things on the comments sections of your website, only to watch you essentially claim that knowing absolutely nothing about the sport helps you see it for what it really is (?). I may be a lowly writer for CagePotato, but even I have better things to do with my time than argue with a guy who genuinely seems to believe that his ignorance towards a topic makes him the only trustworthy source of information on it.
Rather, I am here to tell you that if you are serious about getting MMA banned, you may want to consider stepping down from your unofficial position as the anti-MMA community’s mouthpiece.
Up until now, the only reason that anyone has paid attention to your rant has been your comparison of the sport to child pornography. In your mind, you didn’t receive the reaction you wanted because other people were too shocked to focus on the point you were making. In reality, other people dismissed the comparison because, believe it or not, they can tell that you didn’t even have a point when you made it. You’ve flip-flopped on what the comparison is supposed to mean – a telling sign in itself that you made it without any real point in mind – going from ”MMA is the worst sport in terms of injuries and violence” (which it clearly is not, as anyone who knows who Lawrence Taylor and Joe Theismann are would know) to “Anyone who understands addiction knows that it starts off with MMA then progresses to murder!” (Because obviously, porn addiction starts with innocent stuff like child porn then works its way to buying a Girls Gone Wild DVD, right?).
Making such an over-the-top comparison does nothing but turn away people who may otherwise agree with you, and serves no purpose other than turning your own argument into a gigantic self-parody. Perhaps if you are serious about getting MMA banned, you should allow more rational people to lead the argument. Who knows, maybe a businessman who has actually researched whether or not MMA legalization affects the economy or a doctor who has researched the long term negative health effects of being an MMA fighter may be taken much more seriously than a pastor who tries to use scare tactics and shock value to make his case.
Sincerely Yours,
Seth Falvo
P.S. If you really want answers to the questions you have posed at Christian MMA fans and fighters, Fightlinker has already published a rebuttal, and I personally think it’s fantastic.
P.P.S. While I appreciate your offer of a free book, if you did as much research while writing it as you did while being South Dakota’s unofficial voice of the anti-MMA community, I must decline your offer. I have no use for a doorstop, paperweight, or firewood, and frankly, I bought more toilet paper today at Sam’s Club than I’ll ever go through.