Write a multi-paragraph response (in essay format: introduction, body, conclusion) to the article below.

Your response should accurately summarize the author’s main argument AND critically respond to it.

You may choose to agree with the author’s argument, to disagree with it, or to partially agree/disagree with it.

Your essay should also consider at least one objection a reader might have to your argument. You may respond to this objection in different ways. For example, you may argue against the objection, or you may acknowledge that the objection is a good point and incorporate it.

The following article, “Violence as Entertainment,” is by Maddison Strong and was posted on the weblog Canada Follows in July 2019.

It almost goes without saying: hockey is Canada’s national pastime. From coast to coast, the game unites Canadians unlike any other activity. Hockey is a fabulous game; it is fast-paced, exciting, and the players display remarkable skill and finesse. Observers, however, identify what they consider to be a major flaw with the game: violence. Indeed, North American sports, in general, are violent and include fighting, body-checking, tackling, submitting, and foul-mouthed vulgarity. In fact, a recent National Post article argues that professional sports should not allow violence of any sort. According to the journalist, violence is harmful because it sets a bad example for kids and makes the games worse: this article is wrong on both counts. Violence increases entertainment value regardless of whether that violence comes in sports or in other areas, like video games, movies, or television shows. Taking violence away from us as consumers would threaten the popularity of these entertainments and leave us bored and craving new outlets for violence. In fact, one might argue that—at every age—we need sports, video games, television and films to be violent because they are safe outlets for us to explore our violent tendencies. This exploration prevents us from becoming violent ourselves in our actual day-to-day lives.

            Violence in sports is but one of many forms of violence that kids are exposed to on a daily basis. Check out the wrong hashtag and you will see scenes of war, armed robbery, murder, and any other imaginable act of violence. And what do kids do for fun? They play violent video games and engage in imaginative warfare. Violence in sports and in the movies is harmless in comparison. Indeed, the fact that children are exposed to violence at such a young age means that they can process their aggressive feelings more readily and engage in less violence when they grow up.

            Also, the claim that violence only weakens sports specifically is false. Anyone who has ever attended a hockey game at any level, professional or junior, can sense the excitement whenever a player is crunched into the boards or whenever two enforcers drop their gloves. As former NHL center Bill Clement observes, “far more people come to games to see the fights than stay away in order not to see them. One aspect of the human make-up seldom changes – our sense of morbid curiosity: fighting sells.” Statistics show that many sports fans attend games because they like to watch the violence. Nice plays are fine, but nothing gets the adrenaline pumping like a good, old-fashioned brawl. Baseball is boring… until the benches clear.

Hockey is by no means the only aggressive sport either. Do we hear critics whining about eliminating violence in football, rugby, or MMA? Violence is integral to those sports – just as it is to hockey. Get rid of violence and say goodbye to many of our most beloved entertainments.