Germany bans minors from UFC 99
You could say that Germany has de-nien-ed the UFC! HA, i made a pun with German, since Nien means no in German and denied… eh, if I have to explain it, it’s just not funny.
Anyway, this all started in a German newspaper called “The Blid” (WTF M8), where a journalist wrote a nihilistic piece about MMA, which has some very backwards view about the sport. Let us take a look at some quotes:
“Anything goes in the UFC, which has similar rules to the brawling in hit film ‘Fight Club’ – stamping, punching, choking and throwing are allowed, only biting and eye-gouging is forbidden.”
Boxing expert Werner Schneyder said to FAS: “We must ban this insanity. People could die. Brutality is depicted as something impressive.”
The fight takes place in an octagonal ring made of wire, where punches to the head and stomach are allowed. The fighters wear no protective clothing. Even if one of the contestants is lying on the ground, blows to the head are still permitted until the referee breaks it up.
So as usual, some one has no idea about how the sport works yet is paid money to write an article with no fact-checking and then somehow has the ability to change the publics outlook on the sport? And I get paid how much to do this site?
Gaby Münchhalffen, a lawyer for the Lanxess Arena, put forward the idea to ban minors from going to the event, and the venue has agreed. To quote from Dave Meltzer’s article on Yahoo! Sports:
The story noted that in March, Cologne’s city council tried to ban the event, claiming it was too violent. Cologne mayor Manfred Wolf said there was no law in place that would allow them to ban the show. Several citizens started a petition to try and ban the event, claiming that by virtue of it being held in a major arena, that would give the message that MMA is socially acceptable.
“We have to ban this insanity,” said Werner Schneyder,” a well-known German boxing announcer. “We have to accept crippled fighters and deaths. They are trying to sell brutality as something impressive.”
So the UFC will still go on in their venue on June 13, but minus the younglings. It should be noted that Germany has a habit of banning things for no good reason. Recently, there was a school shooting in Winnenden, and this has led to talks of banning paintball. Video games are constantly in trouble there, with Gears of War 2 being outright banned as well as linked to school shootings and violence. Here is an article about one such linkage.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0312/p25s06-woeu.html
Germany has a relatively low crime rate to begin with, and many laws and censorship already effecting the youth in this European nation. Do they really think that banning youth from seeing the UFC or playing video games will deter them from seeking out new things to do to waste time? Speaking from experience, no. The young male mind thinks of sex or violence every 30 seconds on average and if their is no outlet for these thoughts, you are creating a nation of brainwashed powderkegs ready to explode.
Or perhaps that is their plan all along?
To read the full article from The Bild, head to the link below:
http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/world-news/2009/05/18/ultimate-fighting-championship/calls-to-ban-insanity-of-brutal-ufc-cage-fighting-in-germany.html
