Overlooking the Cons
***OVERLOOKING THE CONS***
This is going to come as a shock to most of you, but nobody is perfect. We all have our flaws, though some are more forgivable than others. This journal details the flaws we as human beings are willing to forgive. If you love someone enough, you can learn to forgive a lot of their wrongdoings, opposing beliefs, or miscellaneous flaws. But if all you know about a person is their negative side, then you’ll have a hard time warming up to that person. It’s the reason we love our friends and families, but hate strangers who appear to be negative, such as politicians, celebrities, or people we only have a chance encounter with.
Because I’m a wrestling psychotic and you knew an example from WWE was coming, the first one I’d like to site is Chris Benoit. When people hear that man’s name, all they can think about is his 2007 double-murder suicide, in which he killed his wife and son before himself. Nobody in the wrestling community wanted to talk about him. Whenever one of his matches comes up on the WWE Network, there’s a warning before the show about how the “content and insensitive dialogue” don’t represent their corporate views. But this is just one side of the coin. If you’ve been a fan of Chris Benoit before 2007, you would see that he put on five-star matches on a regular basis in a profession where small guys like him were shunned in the land of giants. You don’t necessarily have to forgive what he did to his wife and son, and really, why would you? But if you’d rather see him as a badass wrestler who entertained the fans with his quick pace and crisp techniques, then you are indeed overlooking the cons. It takes serious devotion to do so and it’s something not all wrestling fans can do. I’m one of the diehard fans who can.
But then you have an example from mixed-martial arts, particularly in the UFC, where I’m not willing to overlook the flaw in question. Such is the case with heavyweight fighter Matt Mitrione, who in 2013 threw a whole bunch of hateful transphobic slurs at male-to-female fighter Fallon Fox. What makes this hard to swallow is that Mitrione’s punishment was extremely minimal coming from a corporation that prides itself on being a friend of the LGBT community. He was suspended for two weeks and was fined an “undisclosed” amount of money, which could have been anywhere between a million bucks and two pennies, probably closer to the latter. Mixed-martial arts is by no means a friendly business, but Matt Mitrione is not alone in feeling the way he does. The entire community wanted to chase Fallon Fox away with pitchforks and torches. That kind of bigoted attitude is common in MMA and wrestling and instead of teaching acceptance, people choose to hate each other and make some dough off of it. At least Chris Benoit got his comeuppance. When are the transphobic bigots of the UFC and WWE going to get theirs?
So where exactly does one draw the line when it comes to accepting other people’s personal baggage? Hell, there used to be a game show on GSN called Baggage (hosted by Jerry Springer, of course) where a bachelor had to choose between three suitors based on their most forgivable flaws. How do you judge overlookable criteria without coming off as a hypocrite? Hell, I probably seem like a big hypocrite right now because I’d rather be a fan of a murderer who got punished than a bigot who didn’t.
Drawing the line is something everybody has to do. Famous musician Bryan Adams drew the line when he refused to do a concert in Mississippi (because of their anti-LGBT laws) but played one in Egypt (a country with worse LGBT laws). I don’t speak for Bryan Adams, so he’s going to have to explain this one on his own. Roger Waters also has explaining to do since he’s boycotting Israel (a country with a history of genocide) and gladly playing concerts in America (a country with a history of genocide AND slavery). I don’t speak for Roger Waters either; he’s perfectly capable of putting the Howard Sterns and Adam Sandlers in their places.
So where do you guys draw the line when it comes to forgiving flaws? Is it only something you do with friends and family or can you do it with public figures as well? Consider this: the more you get to know someone, the less likely you are to judge that person. We’ve got ears, say cheers!
***WRESTLING JOKE OF THE DAY***
If Stephanie McMahon was a Mexican luchador, her name would be MILF Mascaras.
This is going to come as a shock to most of you, but nobody is perfect. We all have our flaws, though some are more forgivable than others. This journal details the flaws we as human beings are willing to forgive. If you love someone enough, you can learn to forgive a lot of their wrongdoings, opposing beliefs, or miscellaneous flaws. But if all you know about a person is their negative side, then you’ll have a hard time warming up to that person. It’s the reason we love our friends and families, but hate strangers who appear to be negative, such as politicians, celebrities, or people we only have a chance encounter with.
Because I’m a wrestling psychotic and you knew an example from WWE was coming, the first one I’d like to site is Chris Benoit. When people hear that man’s name, all they can think about is his 2007 double-murder suicide, in which he killed his wife and son before himself. Nobody in the wrestling community wanted to talk about him. Whenever one of his matches comes up on the WWE Network, there’s a warning before the show about how the “content and insensitive dialogue” don’t represent their corporate views. But this is just one side of the coin. If you’ve been a fan of Chris Benoit before 2007, you would see that he put on five-star matches on a regular basis in a profession where small guys like him were shunned in the land of giants. You don’t necessarily have to forgive what he did to his wife and son, and really, why would you? But if you’d rather see him as a badass wrestler who entertained the fans with his quick pace and crisp techniques, then you are indeed overlooking the cons. It takes serious devotion to do so and it’s something not all wrestling fans can do. I’m one of the diehard fans who can.
But then you have an example from mixed-martial arts, particularly in the UFC, where I’m not willing to overlook the flaw in question. Such is the case with heavyweight fighter Matt Mitrione, who in 2013 threw a whole bunch of hateful transphobic slurs at male-to-female fighter Fallon Fox. What makes this hard to swallow is that Mitrione’s punishment was extremely minimal coming from a corporation that prides itself on being a friend of the LGBT community. He was suspended for two weeks and was fined an “undisclosed” amount of money, which could have been anywhere between a million bucks and two pennies, probably closer to the latter. Mixed-martial arts is by no means a friendly business, but Matt Mitrione is not alone in feeling the way he does. The entire community wanted to chase Fallon Fox away with pitchforks and torches. That kind of bigoted attitude is common in MMA and wrestling and instead of teaching acceptance, people choose to hate each other and make some dough off of it. At least Chris Benoit got his comeuppance. When are the transphobic bigots of the UFC and WWE going to get theirs?
So where exactly does one draw the line when it comes to accepting other people’s personal baggage? Hell, there used to be a game show on GSN called Baggage (hosted by Jerry Springer, of course) where a bachelor had to choose between three suitors based on their most forgivable flaws. How do you judge overlookable criteria without coming off as a hypocrite? Hell, I probably seem like a big hypocrite right now because I’d rather be a fan of a murderer who got punished than a bigot who didn’t.
Drawing the line is something everybody has to do. Famous musician Bryan Adams drew the line when he refused to do a concert in Mississippi (because of their anti-LGBT laws) but played one in Egypt (a country with worse LGBT laws). I don’t speak for Bryan Adams, so he’s going to have to explain this one on his own. Roger Waters also has explaining to do since he’s boycotting Israel (a country with a history of genocide) and gladly playing concerts in America (a country with a history of genocide AND slavery). I don’t speak for Roger Waters either; he’s perfectly capable of putting the Howard Sterns and Adam Sandlers in their places.
So where do you guys draw the line when it comes to forgiving flaws? Is it only something you do with friends and family or can you do it with public figures as well? Consider this: the more you get to know someone, the less likely you are to judge that person. We’ve got ears, say cheers!
***WRESTLING JOKE OF THE DAY***
If Stephanie McMahon was a Mexican luchador, her name would be MILF Mascaras.
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