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| Less and less of the WWE Universe can relate to these two Photo Credit: WWE.com |
However, there's a deep fallacy in his criticism of the angle. He claimed that "New York elites" weren't the ones watching WWE, that the ones who do watch are conservatives who'd agree with Colter. As David Shoemaker pointed out last week, that's not entirely true anymore. He cited the young fans of WWE getting caught up in the Obama zeitgeist, which is valid. However, I'd take it one step further and say that it's not necessarily that just young people are getting caught up in wrestling, but that it's being imbued in what is derisively termed as "hipster" culture.
Independent wrestling, especially promotions like Chikara, has found a niche with the Brooklyn-centered movement of sorts (although I really cringe at sweeping all of what are termed hipsters with a broad brush... they're people with different thoughts and feelings and personalities). Even the corporate entities have footholds among this sort of community. WWE's TLC pay-per-view took place at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, and it was probably the hottest crowd they had all year. Furthermore, listen to the outcries of support for wrestlers like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. In certain, urban and liberal areas, WWE is super popular, and it's a differently-viewed WWE than what you'd get in Average Middle American City #23239.
But just as I kinda hate sweeping the hipsters with a broad brush, Middle America is also filled with different identities and personalities. I'd say even the conservative base that would have embraced Colter and Swagger years ago aren't those kind of people anymore. Sure, there will be some people who cling to the notion that only "New York elites" care about things like sympathy for people who just want to live the American Dream, but by and large, I feel like there's more of a sea change among conservatives in regards to Latinos in general. It has to do with one of two things.
One, the Republicans see that they are getting pantsed among Latino voters, and part of that probably has to do with the fact that the talking points from that party have been hostile towards them (even as business owners who skew to the right would exploit them for cheap, undocumented labor). Rather focusing on fire and brimstone towards the undocumented ones, thus engendering a less than friendly attitude towards all Latinos, legal or illegal, the narrative has switched to embracing the demographic. So obviously, Swagger and Colter are dinosaurs.
Two, and this is the one that I hope is the stronger feeling, maybe people, regardless of political affiliation, are becoming better human beings. I know it's hip to expect the worst in people, but maybe we as people can't be defined by stereotypes. Then again, the fact that Beck needed WWE's help to get back into the spotlight after being jettisoned from the mainstream years ago is a testament to his arguments. I don't think we're all ready to sing kumbaya in a big, nationwide circle yet, but maybe we're improving.
Regardless though, Beck's last gasp at relevance is rooted in nothing but assumptions and half-truths. Besides, WWE isn't tapping into some kind of moral highground on everyone else. They're usually the last ones to catch up to societal norms. Well, they used to be the last ones. While K. Sawyer Paul and Rich Thomas stated correctly on the last International Object podcast that if it's wrong in wrestling (I would say that "wrestling" is the wrong term here... it's more "WWE" in specifics), it's wrong in real life, and while that's still true, there are now some quarters of the fringe that lag even behind WWE.
And thanks to Beck, now we know where the next bottom down is.