In Response to "The Normalization of Violence in Hockey: What Would Jesus Do?"

I think that you have a very good point when you note that "masculinity" is itself a manufactured quality that is often used as a tactic for profit-making. Keeping sports "masculine" is a perfect, although sinister, example of how an industry defines as necessary a tenuous quality which has connotations of gender inequality, self-harm, and harm to others. It is particularly sad that the idea of masculinity resonates so well with society -- leading to the effects such as you mentioned when you said that males are more prone to injury than females.

In response to your question, I don't think that much of what we talk about when we speak of "violence" in hockey is necessary. As pointed out in the article by Trothen, the term violence may be broadly defined and there may exist neutral, or even good forms of violence. I think that in hockey there is a necessarily violence component stemming from the fast-moving, contact nature of the sport (although, to define contact as a quality of hockey is to beg the question, which surprised me in her article). However, when it comes to hockey fights and making conscious decisions of a violent nature such as to check a player with their head down, I think we may view this behavior as reprehensible and unnecessary. This types of risky behaviors which contribute to the normalization of hockey violence at lower levels are not in the spirit of the game (communitas, the euphoria of teamwork, disciplining oneself), or at least in the game we should be encouraging.

What would Jesus do? Well, having taken notice of Weaver non-violent atonement theory, and recognizing Christ's imperatives towards peace, and Paul's espousal of virtues such as "gentleness", I would say the matter is pretty clear-- he would condemn it. Mindful of the influence we have on other people, Paul said, "Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall (1 Corinthians 8:13)". I think our tolerance of violence in hockey -- especially on the level of coaches at minor league levels -- is wholly inappropriate, and Christian ethicists should hold them accountable.

Original post: http://dgcroatia305.blogspot.com/2012/03/normalization-of-violence-in-hockey.html