扇耳光比赛在美走红 | 经济学人文化（祝大家除夕快乐）

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2024-02-09 06:02

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Culture | Bad sport

糟糕的运动

英文部分选自经济学人20230203期文化板块

Culture | Bad sport

糟糕的运动

The violence of “Power Slap” is part of its allure

暴力--“力量耳光”的吸引力之源

A fringe combat sport is pushing into the mainstream

一项边缘格斗运动正逐渐成为主流

In January 2023Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial-arts firm, launched a new sporting endeavour: Power Slap, America’s first official slap-fighting league. Slap fighting is simple. Two competitors, usually beefy men, slap each other. Hard. The bout typically ends when only one of them is conscious. As recently as a year ago the sport was obscure, watched largely on social media in eastern Europe. Now slap-fighting franchises are starting to hit the mainstream.

2023年1月，终极格斗锦标赛（UFC）这家综合格斗公司的总裁达纳·怀特（Dana White）发起了一项新的体育运动：力量耳光（Power Slap），这是美国第一个正式的扇耳光比赛联盟。扇耳光比赛规则很简单——两名选手（通常是壮汉）互相扇对方耳光，而且是狠扇。当其中一名参赛者被扇得意识不清时，比赛才结束。一年前这项运动还默默无闻，主要是东欧的观众在社交媒体上观看这些比赛。而如今，扇耳光比赛联盟开始逐步踏入主流。

The league’s first televised slap fight last year between two welterweights, Chris Thomas and Chris Kennedy, gave a sense of what was to come. Mr Thomas’s initial strike was mighty, rippling Mr Kennedy’s face and sending him to the mat, where he started displaying the fencing response. This is when a person’s arms are extended after a blow. It can be a sign of brain injury. Officials rushed to him and explained, when Mr Kennedy came to, that he had just been knocked out. “Knocked out doing what? Was I fighting?” he asked.

去年，在联赛首场电视报道的扇耳光比赛中，克里斯·托马斯（Chris Thomas）和克里斯·肯尼迪（Chris Kennedy）这对次中量级拳手的表现，让人们感受到了这项运动的发展前景。托马斯的第一击势大力沉，肯尼迪脸上的肉被打得像涟漪一般起伏，随后倒在垫子上，出现了击剑反射。一个人在受到重击后会伸起双臂（注：一只手臂弯曲放松，一只手臂伸展，呈击剑动作），这可能是脑损伤的征兆。当肯尼迪醒过来时，官方人员们急忙跑到他身边解释说，他刚刚被击倒了。肯尼迪反问道：“我干什么被击倒了？我刚才在比赛吗？”

Watching people slap each other may sound mindless. And that is exactly what television viewers thought. Mr White first launched his venture as a reality-tvshow, “Power Slap: Road to the Title”, but it failed to catch on and was dropped by TBS, a broadcaster, in March 2023, partly because of low ratings (and partly because of controversy after Mr White was filmed slapping his wife).

看人们在台上互扇耳光，这听起来可能很无脑，其实电视观众也是这样想的。怀特最初的商业探索是制作了真人秀节目《力量耳光：夺冠之路》（“Power Slap: Road to the Title”），但这一节目并未产生多大波澜，一方面由于收视率不高，另一方面由于怀特被拍到扇其妻子耳光后引发了争议，因此2023年3月TBS电视台停播了该节目。

However, television trash can turn into social-media treasure. “Power Slap” garnered a devoted online audience and now claims 4.2m followers on TikTok, with some videos achieving more than 1m views. The hype on social media spurred Mr White to double down with a second season, this time broadcast on Rumble, a video-sharing platform. The season finale will air on February 9th.

然而，垃圾电视节目搬到社交媒体上可能就变成了珍宝。《力量耳光》在网上吸引了一大批忠实观众，其TikTok官方账号的粉丝量达420万，一些视频的观看次数甚至超过100万次。社交媒体上的热潮激发了怀特的热情，让他加倍投入推出第二季，在视频分享平台Rumble上播出。第二季最后一场将于2月9日播出。

The growing popularity of “Power Slap” is a slap in the face for those who worry about brain injury in combat sport. Contests involve unrestrained attacks with no defence: contestants are not allowed to duck, dodge or wince when hit. Most bouts conclude with a knockout (involving a fighter being unable to get up) or a technical knockout (with a referee deeming the fighter unfit to continue). In 26 of the 55 league matches to date a competitor was rendered unconscious.

《力量耳光》的热度不断升高，这无疑是“打脸”那些担心格斗运动会造成脑损伤的人。比赛对攻击无限制，但参赛者被击中时不能有任何防御：不能躲闪、躲避。大多数比赛以击倒（一名选手无法站起来）或技术击倒（裁判判定一名选手无法继续比赛）结束。迄今为止举行的55场比赛中，有26场比赛宣布其中一名选手失去意识。

Critics worry about brain damage and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease that occurs after repeated head trauma, often resulting in speech impediments and dementia. In recent years the reputations of American football, mixed martial arts (MMA) and rugby have been bruised because of the risks posed to athletes’ neurological health, including more documented cases of CTE. (Health concerns, however, have not stopped fans from watching matches.)

这项运动的批评者担心选手出现脑损伤和慢性创伤性脑病（CTE），后者是头部在遭受反复创伤后出现的神经退行性疾病，往往会导致言语障碍和痴呆。近年来，美式足球、综合格斗（MMA）和橄榄球的声誉大不如前，这是因为这些项目的运动员面临着神经系统受伤的风险，加上不断有确诊记录的CTE病例出现。（然而，健康方面的担忧并未阻止粉丝观看比赛。）

Some critics are going so far as to try to ban children from contact sport. A committee of the California legislature recently passed a bill to make it illegal for those under the age of 12 to play tackle football. (Gavin Newsom, the governor, vetoed it, knowing political opponents would tackle him for regulatory overreach.) But even more than American football, slap fighting raises ethical questions about watching a sport that Dr Bennet Omalu, an expert on CTE, has called “inconsistent with the intelligence of humans”.

一些批评者甚至试图禁止儿童参与身体接触式运动。最近，加利福尼亚州立法委员会通过了一项法案，规定12岁以下儿童不得参与装备橄榄球运动（注：穿戴护具的橄榄球运动）。（加文·纽森州长知道政敌将攻击他过度监管，便否决了这条法案。）但是，扇耳光大赛较之美式橄榄球，还涉及到道德问题，CTE专家奥玛鲁·班奈特医生称此类比赛“与人类智慧相悖”。

TheUFC experienced similar scrutiny in the 1990s. John McCain, a senator who later ran for president, branded MMA “human cockfighting” and attempted to ban it. The league introduced safety regulations, with the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts markedly increasing safety for athletes and opening the sport to larger venues that previously refused to host MMA fighting.

UFC在上世纪90年代也经历过相似的审查。约翰·麦凯恩议员在参选总统之前，称综合格斗是“真人版斗鸡”，曾试图禁止这项运动。联盟引入了安全规则，如《综合格斗统一规则》，这显著提升了运动员的安全，也因此得以将比赛引入此前拒绝举办MMA比赛的大型场馆。

What regulations to promote safety in slap fighting might look like is not entirely clear: the lack of protective kit and rules helps explain the sport’s appeal for viewers. Most power-slappers are unbothered by complaints that their “sport” shows how desensitised viewers have become to violence. They just want a moment of social-media fame, brains be damned.

究竟什么样的规则才能提升扇耳光大赛的安全程度，目前似乎还不清楚：保护装备和规则的缺失恰恰是吸引这么多观众的一个原因。有人抱怨这项“运动”让观众对暴力变得麻木不仁，但多数选手对此并不理会。哪怕脑子坏了，他们也要追求社交媒体上的高光时刻。

翻译组：

Alex，不务正业的理工男

Leon，驻外民工，经济学人读者
Trista，女，虽然我是无业游民，但是我并没有骄傲

校对组：

Xiao，富春江小翻译
Colin，男，崇拜科比的一枚小翻译

Mosy，绘本、演讲、戏剧英文教育践行者

观点|评论|思考

本周感想

Cassie，ECNU口译小菜鸡，体制内摸爬滚打教书匠

掌掴格斗作为一种独特的竞技形式正逐渐崭露头角，吸引了大量观众的目光。这种新颖的比赛方式与传统拳击或综合格斗相比，具有其独特的魅力和吸引力，为人们带来了全新的观赏体验。掌掴格斗的比赛场景往往设置在一个简约而充满张力的舞台上，选手们身着简洁的装备，面对面站立，准备展开一场激烈的较量。他们仅使用手掌作为攻击工具，通过快速的掌掴动作来互相攻击和防御。这种直接而原始的比赛方式，让人们看到了搏击的本质和选手们的真实实力。

然而，尽管掌掴格斗比赛充满了刺激和激情，但我们也不能忽视其中存在的风险和挑战。由于比赛的激烈和直接性，选手们很容易在比赛中受伤。一些报道指出，掌掴格斗比赛中确实存在受伤的风险，甚至有时会发生严重的身体损伤。因此，在推广和发展掌掴格斗比赛的过程中，我们必须高度重视选手的安全和健康，加强比赛规则的制定和监管措施，确保比赛的公平性和安全性。

从客观的角度来看，掌掴格斗比赛的兴起反映了人们对于真实和原始体验的追求，但我们也应该意识到，在追求刺激和娱乐的同时不能忽视选手的安全和健康。只有在确保选手安全的前提下，掌掴格斗比赛才能持续发展，并赢得更多人的认可和支持。总之，这种新兴的竞技形式，既给人们带来了全新的观赏体验，也在敦促着人们不断追寻竞技体育衡量与评价的标准。随着这项运动的不断发展和完善，相信掌掴格斗将在体育界崭露头角，为我们带来更多的激情与感动。

愿景