But go back to your original point, C/L. That people watching events want to see the big hit. I don't watch car racing because the only exciting part are the accidents and I figure that if there is a good one I'll see it on the news. I don't have to essentially watch traffic for 3-4 hours.
Even allowing for the fact that Hollywood overstates the bloodiness of gladiatorial combat ( gladiators were highly trained slaves and therefore too expensive to have half of them killed at every event) and the executions of criminals would get mundane after a while the fact remains that if no one ever got killed the games would not have been so well attended. Chariot racing was an even bigger attraction in Rome than the gladiatorial games - if only because the Circus Maximus held many more fans than the arenas. Accidents were commonplace and casualties were heavy.
So I suspect that the majority of people who enjoy this infliction of pain on others are not psychos but rather simply living vicariously through the experiences of others. They'll watch it but they'd never do it themselves.
Even allowing for the fact that Hollywood overstates the bloodiness of gladiatorial combat ( gladiators were highly trained slaves and therefore too expensive to have half of them killed at every event) and the executions of criminals would get mundane after a while the fact remains that if no one ever got killed the games would not have been so well attended. Chariot racing was an even bigger attraction in Rome than the gladiatorial games - if only because the Circus Maximus held many more fans than the arenas. Accidents were commonplace and casualties were heavy.
So I suspect that the majority of people who enjoy this infliction of pain on others are not psychos but rather simply living vicariously through the experiences of others. They'll watch it but they'd never do it themselves.
