Knife fighting and nationalism

Escrima is the most violent form of martial art still practiced to date, and the Philippines, where it is the national sport, has significantly less violent crime than in the U.S. National sports are widely believed to reflect the views and characteristics of their country, then it is peculiar that a country with a national sport that involves trying to stab and bludgeon one another has less actual stabbings than one where in the sport if one player manages to hit the other, he is punished. There is something unique about violent sports that, rather than inspiring violence in a nation, inspires solidarity.

Nationalism has always been tied to sports, going back to the Olympic game rivalries between city states. Bloggers and pundits alike draw connections between county’s sports and the nation itself. Letting a group of perhaps a dozen people represent millions may seem illogical, but there are clear reasons and justifications that it works. The most important reason is that it is a national sport because a majority of the nation feels connected to the game and the players. People may use the way a team performs as an allegory for the countries woes, boons, weaknesses, and strength. Countries themselves may project a lot of themselves on their teams. It is less often that people look to the sport as an actual catalyst. The effect a win or loss may have could be vast, from helping to end apartheid in a Morgan Freeman film to helping the Americans win the cold war with mustaches that help swimmers go faster. While war is not a game, a nation may take the loss of one with as much grief as the other.

Escrima is dangerous, violent, and scary, yet the people who learn, teach, practice, and watch are most definitely not. Escrima teaches people concepts to kill with just about anything that can be picked up, and the people of the Philippines have been historically a bunch of farmers who would settle their disputes with machetes and daggers they would carry. For having so many trained killers, it seems like there would be murders, stabbings, and manslaughter left and right. Out of fifty highest crime rates by country, the Philippines ranked number forty seven, number one being the U.S. Violence is seen through a different lens. Not through the Fox news “something dangerous could happen to you” perspective, but from one of resistance to outside powers, and that men and women should be taught to protect themselves. This sport is to the country what lax gun laws are to Texas. When everyone is capable of hurting each other, they trespass against one another much less frequently.

Looking at other sports where there is no actual threat, and an athlete makes several million dollars no matter how they play, it is no wonder that people take them less seriously. If an athlete goes out and provides alcohol to a minor in a Pittsburg bar, he sits out a few games, his team does fine, and there is no weight or meaning. Beating someone at golf and beating someone in a fighting ring both yield significantly different feelings, but after match, a golfer is more likely to go get plastered, like John Daily or the New York Jets, compared to an athlete that not only puts his reputation, but his limbs on the line, and leaves happy to be in one piece. It could be said that this difference in attitudes is the difference between the United States and the Philippines. Violence in a fighting culture is like a police officer’s weapon. It is used with discipline. Fighters understand how to hurt people and what happens when someone is hurt, and that lethal force should only be used as a last resort.