Human Nature

As human beings we're expected to behave by a certain code of conduct. Unfortunately, one of the downsides of trusting people to treat each other well is that they generally don't. Nowhere is this more readily apparent than in the ultra-succesful Internet release of a video entitled "Bumfights".

Zachary Bubeck, Daniel J. Tanner, and Michael J. Slyman decided it would be a good idea to pay homeless people to beat the crap out of themselves and each other, and to videotape the results.

So far, 300,000 people have paid to watch the results.

As a matter of fact, I spent a long time considering whether I should even write this article, because it acts as even more publicity for these people, and I honestly hate the thought of being responsible for more copies of this thing being sold.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm all for freedom of expression, and honestly, I found Jackass: The Movie to be one of the funniest (and most disgusting) things I've seen at a movie theater in a long time. The difference here is that the Jackass producers torture themselves. The Bumfights guys torture other, innocent, people.

As of September 26th the producers have been charged with criminal offences, and if you've seen the video, you'll know why.

A recently posted message on their website says it all:
"As you probably heard, the producers of Bumfights, AKA the Bumfight Krew, were recently arrested on numerous felony charges for the making of Bumfights Volume 1: Cause for Concern. And yes, it's true, they are also being sued. Despite all this nonsense, we at Bumfights would like you to know that the video is still for sale, and as long as there is a 1st Ammendment in this country it's gonna take a helluva lot more than that to shut us down. The BFK would like to thank all of their loyal fans for your support and are currently hard at work on the sequel. "

Now, I'm really torn here, because these people are using freedom of speech and freedom of expression as a way to justify some absolutely abhorrent behaviour. They've taken people who are either mentally unstable, or in a chemically altered state (or both!) and taken advantage of them.

I completely understand that a part of freedom of speech is taking the bad along with the good, that just because you don't agree with what someone is saying, that doesn't mean they don't have the right to say it.

Still, I'm also a firm believer that "anything goes" as long as everyone involved is a consenting adult, in possession of a sound mind.

But how can you use freedom of speech to justify abusing people?

How is this any different than taking advantage of children or animals?

These people are obviously in no condition to consent to the way they're being used, and thus this video fits into the same category as child pornography. It's sickening, disgusting, and unfortunately, filled with images I will never be able to get out of my head.

Two of the homeless people in the video, Donald Brennan (who suffered a "Bumfight" tattoo on his forehead among other degradations) and Rufus Hannah have also filed civil suits against the producers, both having suffered extreme humiliation and physical injuries as a result of the actions they were enticed to perform in the video.

Interestingly, there was a video produced by the Vancouver police force which has aired a number of times on television here about the dangers of drug abuse and the lives of homeless people.

Part of it followed one man who was hopelessly addicted to Heroin, and who seemed to be riding a one way train to a morgue fridge.

It was a tragic story, and the Vancouver PD made the video to try and scare kids away from drug abuse.

This man's brother saw the show on television, tracked down his homeless brother and helped him to make an astonishing recovery.

He's now clean and sober, and working a good job. If you saw the "before and after" video, you'd have a hard time believing you were looking at the same person.

The people being used in Bumfights are not "bums", "homeless" or "the dregs of society". These are real human beings, brothers, sons and fathers. People that someone, somewhere cares about.

If you're considering purchasing Bumfights out of curiousity, don't. If you absolutely must see it, whether it be because of curiousity, a need to feel like a part of the elite, or even if it's because you just love seeing people hurt themsevles, steal it.

Download it off the Internet, pirate it from a friend. Do whatever you can to avoid paying for this atrocity.

Don't send any more money to these undeserving producers who did nothing more than destroy whatever ounce of dignity the people in this video had left.