The Power of Adjectives

When an article about MMA begins with the line, "The sport described by critics as 'human cockfighting' is coming to a stadium near you, despite warnings that US-style cage fighting will fuel more violence on the city's streets" you know your in store for some ignorance.

That's the lead for the Sydney Morning Herald, an Australian paper, discussing the upcoming UFC event.

Instead of ripping this apart FJM style let's examine the power of adjectives and how it changes the story.

Here is a sentence describing the sport of mixed martial arts.

UFC fighters use a brutal combination of martial arts, boxing, kick boxing and wrestling inside a cage called the octagon.

Now let's remove the bolded adjective and see what the sentence looks like.

UFC fighters use a combination of martial arts, boxing, kick boxing and wrestling inside a cage called the octagon.

Which sentence appears more impartial?

This is a great example of how the media's descriptions can help create popular perceptions.

Now let's talk about ignorance.

The article tries to describe UFC rules and basically falls down the stairs in their attempt,

UFC rules explicitly ban fighters avoiding contact, faking injury or throwing in the towel, while the absence of a blood rule often leaves the octagon looking more like an abattoir.

For those that don't know what abattoir means, it is a French word that means slaughterhouse.

To recap what story the article is trying to tell their readers: MMA equals human cockfighting, the cage equals a slaughterhouse and you aren't allowed to quit.

Wait a second, I think I've seen this story before...

Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome Battle 

Let's wrap this up the same way our dear friends at the Morning Herald did, with some quotes from some so called experts with zero evidence to back up their claims,

Health experts have condemned UFC plans to introduce the contentious sport into Australia. "It's madness. If this was the animal world, the RSPCA would come down on you like a ton of bricks," said leading neurologist Professor Mark Cook of St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne.

"As in boxing, the nature of sport means that brain injury is inevitable and this cage fighting may be worse, with people allowed to hit somebody while on the ground."

Clearly someone hasn't read Malcolm Gladwell yet.

A prominent criminologist questioned whether UFC should be staged in Australia .

"This is the last thing we need to be importing," said Professor Rob White from the University of Tasmania. "UFC may have an even bigger impact than other forms of violence because it is a blood sport where we make heroes out of people who bash each other."

Sounds like Rush Limbaugh describing a NFL football game as a battle between "Bloods and Crips."

Man I really want to go Australia in February because it sounds like it is going to be a blast.