Re: A cultural observation

But apparently they don't really understand what's at stake. They should have chosen the name "Evilution."

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: SteamDoc@aol.com
  To: asa@calvin.edu
  Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 11:47 PM
  Subject: A cultural observation

  I start with a confession; at times in my life I have watched quite a bit of professional wrestling. I suppose we all have our "guilty pleasures" -- there was something about the athleticism (fake though most of it may be) and morality plays that appealed to me. I have watched less in recent years, perhaps maturity on my part and perhaps reaction to its sinking to lower levels of crudeness.

  Anyway, there is a long history of villians being cast to reflect the current targets of ill will for the U.S. public. During the Cold War, there were Russian villians. Around the time of the OPEC oil embargo, one started to see Arab caricatures (the Iron Sheikh, a Sultan or two). When apartheid was in the news in the 80s, a prominent villian was "Colonel deBeers, the mercenary from South Africa" who portrayed not-quite-concealed racism. Another villian was called "IRS" (apologies to non-US readers who may not get that reference). I think you get the idea; they pick identities that will get visceral negative reactions from their target audience.

  While flipping through channels the other day, I noticed that the current prominent confederation of wrestling villians is going by the name "Evolution".
  Make of that what you will.

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  Dr. Allan H. Harvey, Boulder, Colorado | SteamDoc@aol.com
  "Any opinions expressed here are mine, and should not be
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Received on Wed Jul 21 16:43:10 2004