Sports is to war as pornography is to sex. We get to exercise some ancient, ancient drives.

Haidt’s analogy treats modern spectator sports as a socially acceptable simulation of intergroup conflict. Just as pornography can be seen as a mediated, consequence-free proxy for sex, sports can function as a ritualized, rule-bound proxy for war: it activates tribal loyalties, status competition, aggression, and coalition psychology without (usually) the lethal costs of real combat. The line underscores a core theme in Haidt’s work on moral psychology and groupishness: humans carry “ancient drives” shaped by evolutionary pressures, and contemporary institutions often channel those drives into safer, symbolic forms. The comparison is intentionally provocative to highlight both the allure and the distortions of such substitutes.