
I sit around a group of guys at work that review estimates
and asses vehicle damages for a living.
Most come from a background in body shop work. These are very “manly” dudes, very
masculine. They poke fun at me quite
often about my “pretty outfits” and “fancy ties.” They especially love to pick at me about
having a GQ, Esquire, Details, or Complex magazine on my desk for
extracurricular reading. The reason I
draw this stark contrast is to say we have influenced each other by being
around one another for several hours a day.
One guy, although he won’t openly admit it, followed my lead and has
started wearing suits and ties to work.
We now have “suit-offs” anytime our executive leaders are in the
office. Along the same lines, I find
myself involved in conversations I’d typically feel like a displaced foreigner
in. One such conversation is regarding
wrestling. No not collegiate wrestling,
but WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment, formerly WWF, World Wrestling
Federation). Wrestling that boasts such
characters as The Undertaker, The Rock, Shawn Michaels, and Brett Heart (yup,
that’s a blast from the past). I’m
always the guy calling out the fakeness of the “sport” but am met with
passionate arguments that it is real and they are athletes. We always agree to disagree as our definition
of real is quite different. My argument
is that these giant men do not full on hit each other while entertaining and
follow scripts. Their argument is that
even if they don’t they are still hitting each other and it would still hurt,
thus it is real. Our differences aside, this has become one of the typical
Tuesday or Wednesday morning discussions in our office. As a good sport and one who likes to be
educated on anything I have an opinion on, I find myself on Monday evenings, on
commercials switching back and forth between whatever shows I am watching,
generally a basketball game or other sport, and WWE. Since the show is on for something like 3
hours there is always something I am able to catch. Last night before I slipped off to bed, I
decided to catch the last 10 minutes or so of the program as I am sure that’s
when all the good stuff is reserved for.
As I watched I was discouraged and heavy hearted about the message such
a broad-reaching program was sending to a generation of children facing the
issue of bullying.
Apparently Brock Lesnar, most recently known for being a
beast in the UFC, has returned to WWE.
For those who don’t know, Brock started in the WWE, left for the UFC, to
prove his toughness, and most recently returned to the WWE. I’ll go ahead and temper by saying I don’t
know a ton about all this, the story lines, etc. I do know John Cena is a big name because I’ve
heard of him before. Apparently he is
the face of the WWE. Last night I saw
him wearing a “Rise Above Hate,” t-shirt.
I’ve heard of his great humanitarian efforts and have seen his active
hand in commercials for anti-bullying campaigns. Good for him.
If he is the face of the WWE and this program is watched by this
generation facing bullying than I am encouraged by his intolerance for it. Now back to Brock Lesnar. Apparently he wants to be the face of the WWE
and yada yada and on the soap-opera-like drama goes. Not sure of all this, however, I did watch as
the obvious antagonist of this story line behave in a way that actually
encourages bullying rather than discourages it.
Lesnar uses scare tactics to get a man, I’m guessing is his boss, to
agree to a ridiculous list of demands before he would be willing to sign the
contract to fight Cena. Lesnar stands
center stage taunting Cena and calling him scared and little boy. Cena finally shows up to the ring and there
is a huge tense stare down shared between the two. Lesnar continues with is bully-like actions
demanding Cena sign the contract. As
Cena stood there in his Rise Above Hate t-shirt everything in me yearned for
him to refuse to sign the contract.
Lesnar’s power was in his ability to control a fight. That power would have been stripped from him
had Cena just walked away from it, leaving Lesnar standing there, center stage,
with no fight to manipulate. I so wanted
him to Rise Above Hate and not sign the contract and walk away. Much to my disappointment Cena signed and the
bully got his way. I was disgusted as I
turned off the TV. I couldn’t care less
about the WWE or this fight, however, I was quite disappointed by a media outlet
as big as the WWE given the chance to put the bully to shame and not tolerate
it, give it power and fail to show their audience something encouraging. Maybe it was to get people to follow the
story line, but in that moment given the opportunity to send a positive message
the WWE failed and that is discouraging.
I’ve attached a video of what I saw last night if it interests
you. I’ll say it here that I am all for
anti-bullying campaigns and things that encourage or support bullying should be
ashamed. Shame on you WWE.
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