America, meet Republican South Dakota Representative Steve Hickey.
Now in his second term in the South Dakota State Legislature representing the 9th District, Hickey was previously a member of the state’s House of Representatives. Hickey also has some very interesting views on mixed martial arts, and a very interesting analogy to express those views.
“Decent and civil societies have to draw the line somewhere … with smoking we draw the line after tobacco and before pot; with ‘adult entertainment’ we draw the line at child porn,” Hickey recently wrote on his blog. “Where do we draw the line with violent entertainment? I suggest we draw the line at cage fighting.”
“MMA Cage Fighting is the child porn of sports.”
With these words Hickey is proposing that South Dakota effectively ban the sport in the state. As an alternative, he cites examples like boxing and football, which contain violent content but are regulated by governing bodies to rein in some of that violence.
Most of Hickey’s argument is standard fare with the conservative censorship crowd. He uses pornography as an analogy with violence, arguing that, like porn, people become desensitized to violence over time. And, of course, MMA is a very public form of violence.
Hickey is largely motivated by Senate Bill 84, which would regulate the sport in the state while simultaneously opening of avenues to bring more cage matches to South Dakota. On this point, Hickey compares the sport to meth labs, rhetorically asking if, because meth is popular, meth labs should be legalized and regulated by the state.
It remains to be seen if Hickey’s 1,600-word opus will have any bearing on the fate of the bill. But one thing’s for sure: The lawmaker just earned himself more attention that he’s ever had before.
Photo via Twitter/@SabiasQueMMA
Photo of the Night
The score wasn’t great on Tuesday in Fort Myers, but the view sure was.
Quote of the Night
“The Big 12 Conference acknowledges that officiating errors were made at the end of regulation during last night’s Kansas at Iowa State men’s basketball game.”
–The Big 12 Conference’s official statement, which really doesn’t do Iowa State any good
Tweet of the Night
Glad to know we weren’t the only one who made a similar assumption.
[tweet https://twitter.com/EricStangel/status/306220815454715905 align=’center’]
Video of the Night
For the record, this 11-year-old was completely fine after this (hilarious, yet slightly profane) fall.
