Critical Analysis W/ Professional Wrestling | Notorious Notes – Chapter 32

By
Nick Radford

Despite the absence of actual wrestling shows in the Pacific Northwest, there seems to have been a lot of activity in the wrestling scene lately. People are cutting promos and starting feuds left and right. But a lot of these issues are real emotions. Real hurt. Real pain. I fully intended to write a light-hearted blog about filming promos with my friends last week. But as things started happening on social media, I lost the will to do anything. No blog. No podcast. I didn’t want to interact with the outside world at all. The stress, uncertainty, and pain that I saw in that digital window had me deflated. This is a Critical Analysis W/ Professional Wrestling.

There’s been some progress in the situation, so now the words flow freely. I originally set out to draft a social media post when I started writing this wall of text. But the words kept coming and now I guess we have a blog post. For the sake of those involved, and for my own mental health, I will not be disclosing the individuals involved. Nor the allegations in question. If you know then you know, and I think the message is relevant even if you don’t.

An Open Conversation

The greatest tool we have in our arsenal is an open conversation, even if it’s a hard conversation to have. The implementation of “cancel culture” has been an extremely valuable tool in shifting the power dynamic. Holding those in power accountable for their reprehensible behaviors. But this tool, like all tools, can be weaponized. Since it tends to circumvent the regular due process that is necessary for justice, it is extremely important to consider sources. Just like in court, physical evidence is the most valuable and convincing with first-hand witness/victim testimony coming in second.

Critical Analysis W/ Professional Wrestling

Hearsay evidence is generally not admitted in court, as it is unreliable. Bias is also an extremely important thing to consider. Confirmation bias is one of the most dangerous traps to fall into in today’s Information Age. When you already feel a certain way about a person or group of people, you are more likely to believe any information you are presented with that reinforces those feelings. This is vitally important to keep in mind when evaluating something that doesn’t include physical evidence. And sometimes even when it does. I have my own personal biases that I try to be mindful of and that definitely plays into my take.

Whether the accusation in question is true or not, the damage has been done. I can’t even begin to fathom the hurt, fear, and pain a young black person has experienced in their lifetime, not to mention just this year. To even hear that a peer has used a slur against you must be absolutely traumatizing. As I said, I believe the victim has been told that the accused used an extremely hurtful and harmful word and that’s all they needed to hear to be traumatized. I do not fault the victim for seeking justice in this matter. But the world will likely never know the truth. Unless a legitimate source comes forward to reveal the whole story, but the default should always be to believe the victim and (eventually) leave room for the accused to correct their wrongdoings.

Weighing on My Heart

The thing that weighs heavy on my heart is the true colors of people I considered friends and peers that have been revealed in the past few days. Those that immediately hopped on the bandwagon to service their own agenda. Those that refused to think critically even when presented with likely alternatives. Others brought up people’s personal affairs when they were completely unrelated and irrelevant. Those that weaponized BLM as a means to an end, and those that painted a whole group of good people – myself and some of my closest friends – with the same brush they decided to paint one person with.

Your true feelings and your true faces are now exposed and you will have to live with those consequences. Your words have targeted innocents – including women, children, and the dead – and you as grown adults will have to learn to accept that aspect of yourself. I have been personally hurt by some of the words I have seen. Whether they were intended to include me or not, and even if they were not intended for me, they were intended for people I hold dear and respect. Black Lives Matter is not for me or any other white person to weaponize for their own personal purposes. And while I know wrestlers have the insufferable ability to make everything about them, it needs to remain about protecting black folks. NOT canceling people (or groups of people) that you don’t like.

A Critical Analysis W/ Professional Wrestling Reassess & Readdress

As I said, I am always, and I mean always, willing to reassess and readdress things when presented with new information. I am happy to be proven wrong. It allows me the opportunity to learn and grow as a person. And I would expect the same of the company I keep. So if new information appears, I’ll be right back here writing new words. That said, black lives still matter. There are literally white militias hunting BLM protestors out there. Take care of yourself and take care of one another.

Black Lives Matter!

Wear A Mask!

Links:

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

1 COMMENT

Comments are closed.