Decades ago, when an internet connection meant the screech of an overstrained modem, my friends and I would waste our hours writing out imaginary wrestling promos. Why, you ask. Well, at the time (since the online experience was in its infancy), we would send these emanations to a central source, which in turn would churn out fantasy wrestling matches. As you could probably guess, the weekly winners were often those who submitted the most entertaining diatribes.
How eerie it is to witness the recent speeches issued by world leaders at the United Nations with all of that online history in hand. Just like in professional wrestling, we now care little for substance when fireworks of vocabulary zero in on one’s chosen villain. Though the idiocracy of the entire spectacle may be some cause for concern, partisanship guarantees that at least somebody will “get what they deserve.”
“Oh, man, did you hear what Trump said?” Ah, it’s like being in 1999 all over again. However, instead of Stone Cold Steve Austin opening up a can of you-know-what, we get Benjamin Netanyahu calling dissenters “moral cowards.” Politics (maybe I’m just now waking up to this) seems at present more targeted at drunken fanatics than civilly minded people who, pitifully, may just want to live in a world with some degree of stability. Though, as I asked my grandfather 30 years ago, “Is this actually real?”
With updated dictionaries, so too go certain words out the lexiconal window. Was “looksmaxxing” added because we no longer look up the word “authenticity?” Recently, in a speech at Salem State University, former President Barack Obama gave us all one of the best examples of a “cheap pop” in modern history. Those who believe him to be genuine in this statement about women in leadership (and not just looking for guaranteed applause) are as much to blame as I was when Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson would come to my hometown and say into the microphone, “Finally … the Rock … has come back … to Atlanta!” Even now the memory brings a tingle to my spine, but that may be the case for every other wrestling fan on the scheduled tour that year. Did I scream and applaud? Of course I did. Was Obama certain he would get a positive reaction from a certain slice of the political landscape? You tell me.
As we’ve polarized, we have forgotten the importance of rules. When the designated “babyface” (i.e., good guy) picks up a weapon and uses it to win their match, does the crowd not cheer them on? Switch this behavior over to the “heel” (i.e., bad guy), and the boos may register a volume even higher. In games where winning is everything, cheating is rebranded into terms like “effective strategy” and “maneuvering,” and unfortunately it’s the people who pay the price.
Given that President Donald Trump showcased (and some may say perfected) his current persona in a professional wrestling landscape years ago, should we be surprised when his speeches lean more toward the spectacle than materiality? Uncommon it is not to hear people on our streets speak critically of our chief executive, though not in words dissimilar from my childhood self saying that Ric Flair shouldn’t be world champion. The people still tune in, and maybe it’s so they can have something external to place their criticism. If our leader was benevolent, would the people click the headlines as often as they do now?
There’s knowing the game, and then there’s playing the game. Contemporary politics, it would seem, is only a slightly manicured version of two half-dressed individuals pummeling one another for the amusement of those who paid their entry fee. However, is backstage the same as what people see on the screen?
One of the more enlightening moments in my childhood was meeting professional wrestlers backstage after a pay-per-view event. Apart from being physically huge and incredibly tan, what struck me most was the reversal of their personalities backstage. Interestingly enough, the “heels” were by and large kind, patient, and more than willing to pose for photographs. Their calm demeanor, juxtaposed with my understanding of who they were on camera, probably sowed the seeds of my present outlook on life. To add to my confusion, the “faces” were often curt, disinterested, and seemed to view my presence backstage as an inconvenience. For some, once the people are in, the cash is in the front pocket. For others, being the villain is just a price one pays for telling the truth as they see it.
Ahmad Esfahani lives in Greenfield.