In modern society, sport is extremely popular among people of all age categories. To be more precise, martial arts have also gained extreme popularity nowadays. One could easily witness many fights while watching TV or international sports competitions. It appears to be a rather controversial question whether or not such violent types of sport should be shown to a wide audience.
To begin with, one can contend that martial arts are first of all considered to be sports, akin to many other activities; hence there should not be any discrimination in terms of competitions or TV broadcasts. To illustrate, boxing, for instance, is not only about punching and beating other people to death. In actual fact, said boxers train for years to master their skills and acquire movement perfection. It is also reasonable to highlight that sportsmen, particularly professional sportsmen, train both their body and mind; therefore, they are much more stable and less aggressive, serving as great role models to children and adolescents. Contrary to some critical statements above, martial arts may very well teach individuals how to control powerful emotions, namely anger and fear. Ultimately, martial artists tend to comprehend their strength and the potential consequences of what they do, and thus most of them are certainly willing to exercise their power only while at ringside.
Despite all the persuasive arguments stated above, one should still mention the fact that there might be listed some problematic outcomes of showing such types of sports on TV so massively. To cut a long story short, it is believed by many that spectating violence for too long may provoke someone to attempt to commit actions of illegal or violent nature, in the extreme. What is more, in theory, watching such sports, which are brutal and cruel at times, may be especially pernicious for susceptible adults with unstable nervous systems, not to mention children and teenagers. According to scientific research, young people are especially liable to want to imitate some elements of such sports at home after having watched them on TV. If they are unprepared, which, more often than not, is the case, they may injure themselves and others.
Summing up, I must admit that the discussed matter appears to be quite ambiguous. By and large, it seems to be a choice of every person whether they would like to witness such types of sports or not. When all is said and done, martial arts are certified sports and they deserve equals rights and respect; one should think twice before even considering banning them from television or international tournaments.