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Its good to have a hurt conscience for people who are incredibly reckless with their bodies. We see it every day. This morning I passed a streets worker who was sawing a hole into a street with a carbon-disc saw and spewing clouds of powdered concrete into his face without a respirator. Will that dude live to see seventy? I don't think so. Did I stop to say anything, such as "get a mask, you're killing yourself". Nah. I just walked by. He probably already knows that breathing rocks is bad for him. Next time maybe. . .
People are also killing themselves with sugar, processed foods, partially hydrogenated soybean oil and the like. If you think diabetes is no big deal, wait until the doc saws off one of your legs (a medical doctor, not the proprietor of this site who wrote a dissertation on pitching wind ups).
We see this kind of stuff every day. Ghost is right. Football players are ruining their brains for a few years of fame and fortune. My favorite example of a celebrity who sacrificed his brain for fame and fortune is Mohammed Ali. His great scheme was to allow George "I can kill a normal man with either hand" Foreman to beat him to death until Foreman got tired and passed out from moving his tremendous arms. It worked great. Nowadays, Ali can barely talk, while Foreman is still in good health and still selling his grills. Was it worth it? Ali has his pride intact. He gets to call himself "the greatest" and doesn't seem to mind the terrible price he paid. Both Ali and Foreman seem to be happy.
There are even more dangerous entertainments than football. Car racing comes to mind as the most deadly sport. Also, David Blaine, the illusionist has come close to killing himself several times. I hope he doesn't wind up like Houdini, but isn't that why people pay to watch him?
Now as far as the audience: Are NASCAR fans aiders and abetters to murder? Sure. The elements fit. It is known as reckless indifference murder, depraved heart murder, or murder in the second degree in most places. You commit it by doing something that creates a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death, not caring, and then killing someone. Nick Adenhart's killer was convicted of this. He knew drunk driving was bad because he might kill someone, it was his second offense, and he did it anyway. An aider and abetter is someone who encourages or facilitates an offense. When you look at racing, a fan knows that a certain percentage of race car drivers are going to die from horrific car wrecks, and he doesn't care, and he pays to promote the sport. In fact, most race fans like a little bit of violence. Last I heard, Daytona, and Talladega, the two fastest and most dangerous tracks in the U.S. are the most popular.
Fight fans (I've been guilty of this) are the worst. When Brock Lesnar throws someone down and starts smashing their head, everyone cheers.
Are these things right?
The flip argument is that death bothers us, but everyone dies. Is it really a tragedy when someone accomplishes something great and heroic, finishes their work, and then dies at a young age? People are inspired by greatness. It distracts them from the pain and tragedy of life, which for many people is short, futile, disappointing and obscure. The human turnover is 100 percent per century and people are measured by how they lived, not how they died.