Summary Of Disposable Heroes By David Weisman

Both David Weisman, who is a neurologist in Pennsylvania, and Lane Wallace, who is an adventure writer and pilot, discusses whether or not sports helmets should be used in sports and if it helps efficiently in the essays “Disposable Heroes” and “Do Sports Helmets Help or Hurt”. They have different views on the subject and what should be done to protect the athletes. Weisman argues that safety equipment’s such as helmets in football should be used to protect the athletes’ heads from injuries. Wallace on the other hand, believes that safety equipment’s should not be a part of sports because then people have a tendency to take bigger risks when they believe the safety equipment’s protects them. Wallace believes that to protect athletes, the culture

Weisman talks about the fact that it is accepted to risk someone’s health in sports, but if it had been medicine-related one would think about the risks twice (Weisman, par. 17). Weisman talks about the fact that it is morally okay to look the other way if the society gets entertained by sports, but old rituals or dogfights are not accepted (Weisman, par. 20). Weisman believes that sports helmets should be better to protect athletes’ brains, especially in football where there are examples of athletes who got brain injuries from the sport (Weisman, par.

Weisman tries to explain how important safety equipment’s are to athletes so they will not get injured, but in respond he find that people believe that “Better helmets are a laughable solution” (Weisman, par. 14). People tend to look the other way instead of facing the fact that football and other contact sports are dangerous for the athletes when they are not protected. On the other hand, Wallace argues that as soon as sports gets more safety equipment’s, such as better sports helmets, the athletes tend to play harder and take more risks because they feel safer behind the helmets. As Wallace says: “The first is a phenomenon called “risk compensation,” in which humans respond to additional safety equipment by taking greater risks than they did when they felt less protected.” (Wallace, par. 5). A change in behavior and culture would lead to more safety than any safety equipment would because in that case, the society would not risk as much as they would with the safety equipment in