“In a free society, people have the freedom to say inappropriate things.”
UFC champion Connor McGregor and heavyweight boxer Floyd Mayweather have agreed to fight in Las Vegas on August 26. During the publicity tour, the two fighters have met and hurled canned insults at each other to hype the event. But as the tour went on, the rhetoric got more and more heated. McGregor made some racially insensitive comments about black people. The next day, Mayweather responded by calling his opponent a faggot. This rhetoric is very unseemly, but at the end of the day, it’s nothing more than hype for athletes who specialize in pummeling their opponents. But the liberal sports media continues their leftward march to irrelevance by providing hyperventilating commentary about it.
Gay slurs and racial remarks are inappropriate, but people still have the freedom to say those things. The first amendment doesn’t just apply to words and ideas that we like. In fact, it is especially appropriate for ideas and words that we don’t like. If ideas are permitted or forbidden based on popularity, then eventually something that you believe will be out of bounds.
Christian conservatives experience this on a daily basis as liberals try to shut down their condemnation of gay marriage as “hate speech.” Conservative speakers are shouted down at college campuses, and some are even assaulted because their speech is considered so hateful that it becomes violent.
While it may seem like Mayweather and McGregor are uncouth barbarians shouting uneducated and even hateful remarks at each other, it’s very important that their right to say them remains intact.
In fact, arguments can be made that swear words and insults have a useful place in society. Psychological studies have shown that using swear words allows for a relatively harmless release of tension and anger. The British army, for example, allows a great deal of grousing and complaining under a similar theory. Being a soldier is tough, and allowing those soldiers the freedom to unleash an expletive or two during particularly stressful moments is helpful in relieving that stress.
Liberals expect passionate fighters who make a living being scary and beating each other to talk as though they were both sipping tea, debating at the Oxford book club after finishing a micro-aggression seminar. This represents how liberals continue to politicize the sports world. Coaches, players, broadcasters, and analysts continue to use their platforms to make liberal points, from making a statement against Trump to preaching about the Redskins and kneeling during the anthem. This injects their politics into what should be a unifying nonpolitical space.
I’m not endorsing gay slurs and racially insensitive comments, but I recognize they have a place in society. In a free society, people have the freedom to say inappropriate things, and swearing even has some beneficial effects. A couple of fighters during a heated moment should be given the same freedom without the ridiculous nitpicking of the liberal media.
