20/02/2024
Why Do We Love Our Game Pit Bulls? By Tom Garner
Ever wonder why so many of us are drawn to and build our lives around the pit bull? There are a number of reasons why people gravitate to these animals. My list would certainly include; A) an appreciation of their physical/ athletic excellence, B) their unrivaled capacity for unconditional love of humans, and C) the pit bull’s unparalleled gameness, i.e., "the willingness to self-sacrifice in order to achieve an objective." The latter of these, gameness, attracts fans to a degree that far exceeds what we would expect to see from a simple intellectual appreciation of a good principle at work. A good, game dog is revered on a level that can best be called “spiritual”.
Why does gameness hold such a fascination for us humans? The attraction is so powerful and so widespread, it defies logic and sense of proportion to suppose that there is not some powerful, innate, instinctive human-nature mechanism at work here. I think we must look deep within our minds to find the root of our appreciation of this behavior.
Historically, the construct defined by "gameness" has played a huge role in the survival of the human species. Take away our “willingness to self-sacrifice in order to achieve an objective" and mothers would not lose sleep to nurse their babies and fathers would not risk physical injury to defend their families from aggressors. Parents would not rouse themselves from inadequate sleep to go to work in an unpleasant job day after day without a powerful ”feel good if you do, feel bad if you don’t mechanism” in place, directing our behavior. With just a moment's reflection it is easy to see that gameness happens all over, is played out on small and grand scales in our daily lives and gameness is essential to the survival of animal species of all kinds. Even a mouse or a bird will risk life and limb to fend off an attacker that threatens their little ones.
In early man, the basic instinct to protect and care for our children and our mates evolved and expanded as our minds developed the capacity to generalize through conceptualization. We were able to expand our sense of family to include others with whom we shared some significant characteristics. In some capacities, our tribes came to be afforded the same considerations as family, under certain circumstances. There was much tactical advantage to be gained from this tendency; 10 soldiers working collectively, in unison and with as much or more concern for each other as for themselves, could easily defeat 20 men acting as individuals. Thus those of our ancestors who were inclined to self-sacrifice for the objective of promoting the greater good were, ironically, more likely to survive and the genetic basis for their "gameness" instinct was passed along to their offspring. In this manner, the genetic basis for the gameness construct in humans has become stronger and stronger.
Some might ask, given the above view, why so many people in our world just can't relate to the value of gameness. My guess is that while the 10 soldiers from the same tribe prevailed in battle, there were probably one or two who ran and hid when the battle kicked off. As their tribe survived, so too did they. And they reproduced. And their genes are alive today in numbers and they fear those of us who embrace and live the gameness construct.
You know that good feeling you get, that warm and fuzzy feeling in which the hairs on your arms and neck stand up and tears come into your eyes when you see an act of extreme self-sacrifice for a great cause? It could be at a good movie, an mma fight, a soccer game or anywhere heroic self-sacrifice for the greater cause is on display. That feeling is your brain releasing endorphins and other feel-good chemicals in appreciation of the scenario you have witnessed or contemplated. This genetically-based, bio-chemically expressed, overwhelmingly good feeling is at the heart of successful social functioning. Without this genetically encoded response directive and subsequent, biochemical, feel-good reinforcement, good Samaritans wouldn’t pull people out of burning houses, or drowning children out of submersed cars.
This same instinctive connection is why we feel good when we are with our game dogs. We see our game pit bulls as perfect, living and breathing manifestations of our sacred principle. Nowhere in our daily lives do we see such an iconic, pure embodiment of the gameness construct as in our pit bulls. They have this status by definition; the standard for the breed demands gameness and any dog that falls short of the requirement of gameness likewise falls short of the name "pit bull".
To further illustrate the power of the gameness construct within the human mind, consider how this model plays out in religion, particularly Christianity. Jesus Christ sacrificed his life for the objective of giving the possibility of eternal life to humanity. Jesus Christ was dead game. How many millions of people have undergone life-transforming changes after contemplating his willingness to sacrifice himself in order to achieve an objective? Don't underestimate the power of the gameness construct to attract and engage the emotions of good people! Sociopaths? Not so much!
The animal rights extremists and their media pawns have intentionally attempted to bastardize and distort the true meaning of the concept of gameness. They twist the meaning to suggest that it means aggression, or desire to attack. I am embarrassed for them at their ignorance and their unabashed desire to distort the truth. It is ironic that those among our fraternity who have the greatest instinctive appreciation of the "willingness to self-sacrifice in order to achieve an objective" construct would simultaneously be the better members of society and the bigger fans of a game dog. Never-the-less, our detractors would quickly denounce fans of gameness in the pit bull as antisocial and disturbed. A little ignorance goes a long way. A little ignorance coupled with a team of media professionals and a large budget can result in the slaughter of large numbers of the most noble animals to ever inhabit our planet. Ask Floyd Boudreaux and Pat Patrick and Ed Faron.
As fans of the incredible, game pit bull, we must bring to bear the same resolve for them that we expect from them. Like them, the best of us have a script that is indelibly written in the very core of who we are. It is prime and indivisible and immutable. It screams “I WILL NEVER GIVE UP NO MATTER WHAT THE COST”. Get in touch with your core and your script. Know that your love for your game dog comes from a very good place deep inside. Without this place, humanity might well not exist. The next time you are walking your game pit bull and someone asks “What kind of dog is that?” Respond with pride, “That’s a pit bull, the best dog known to man.”
