Frenger wrote:I want to hate this idea so much! I have been thinking for the last two days as to why it is the worst idea in the world but so far have come up fairly empty.

Inducing thought is one of the points of posts such as this.
I suppose my beef with this is I can't see any entertainment value in death, violence, blood sport, whatever you want to call it. I don't know why the loss of a human life should enjoyed by viewers and the killer rewarded, we're better than that aren't we?
Bloodsport is the 'dictionary' term for violent sport, including gladiatorial fighting, animal fighting, etc. It's also a KMFDMvsSKOLD song.
Most mainstream entertainment today involves violence. The more violent and deadly an incident, the more media interest. There's plenty of violence and death enjoyed by people today, the only difference from this being that it is fictional and romanticized. Look at the last Grand Theft Auto, SAW film, or installment of Call of Duty. Animal fighting is popular in many areas of the United States and world in general. General war, violence, genocide, lynching and etc are still common in the world depending on the location, albeit at lesser scales compared to the last century. I'd say there'd be a definite market of some kind.
But then if people want to kill each other for the entertainment of many who are we to stand in their way? Murderers do that anyway with or without our eyes on them.
Yes, dozens of fights, assaults and murders occur within the U.S. prison system yearly. The efforts to prevent this costs plenty of money and risks harm to correctional staff(guards).
I suppose this for me is a philosophical cul-de-sac, if I follow my road of hating the idea I come against a brick wall where I can't find any particular reason other than "nope, not for me thanks".
I think a better way to put your point is that it's quite likely that the vast majority of people share your subjective aversion to this idea, which is a valid point.
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Your Funny Uncle wrote:If you wanted to reduce the tax burden of the prison system in the US you could try stopping sending ridiculously huge amounts of people to jail compared to every other developed nation...
Presuming the anti-drug-crime policies of the U.S. Justice System were done away with the overcrowding problems could very well be solved.
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Duvelthehobbit666 wrote:I like to think that we as a species have moved beyond the idea that watching people kill each other for real is entertainment. If it is fake violence in the form of video games, movies, reenactment, and LARP, (or non-lethal violence such as certain sports) I have no issues. However, putting prisoners against each other for profit seems too extreme.
This is not what I said, my idea was allowing prisoners to participate if they choose to. Most did not get to where they are now by being hesitant to shed another human being's blood. Of course this brings the issue of eliminating coercion.
Also this comes down to a difference in our perspectives, as I'm a cynic who would expect such a thing as modern bloodsport to be nothing less than a hit with most humans and see little fundamental change in our savage, vain species between now and the time of the Roman Empire.
I prefer this idea. Give the prisoners a job. Put a factory on prison grounds, and let the prisoners work. That way the prison can get money (some of which will go to the prisoners as pay) and no one needs to die. The money the prisoners get can be used to buy perks, cigarettes, better food, tv in cell, and profits can be used to maintain the prison. Why not have that instead?
This is already implemented. Gang violence, assaults, murder, overcrowding and so on persist. Bloodsport would provide an outlet for conflicts and warm(cold) bodies.
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The entertainment aspect of this idea is rather superfluous so I amend my idea to simply allowing prisoners to fight under controlled conditions as an alternative to their usual methods. Whether this is public spectacle or behind government-funded closed-doors is less important to my point as it is now.