Reality From Ringside #16
June 9, 2009
By: Doug Lackey of WrestleView.com
Never Talk Politics
Throughout my years attending college for eight years (I took the scenic route, by the way), there many things I have learned when it comes to establishing great relationships with all of humanity. Find mutual interests to foster greater understandings. Create meaningful dialogue through well-thought opinions and beliefs.
But most important of all of these is quite possibly the number one cardinal sin when it comes to forging great interactions with others and promoting your product: Never Talk Politics!
For the past month and a half, former WWE announcer but current WWE employee Joey Styles decided to channel his inner Rush Limbaugh and go all scary conservative on us through insertions on his twitter page. His insults towards President Obama and the events that have been happening through these troubled times (Supreme Court Justice Nominations, automotive giants announcing bankruptcies, overseas visits for the sake of diplomacy, etc.) have made for very heated discussions. So heated that it forced Jim Cornett to channel his inner James Carville and go all scary liberal in retaliation on his pod cast.
A humorous note: After three early Friday morning insults (between 6:50 and 7:10) on our President in regards to his Middle East visit and the potential GM bankruptcy, it took him a mere seven hours to publish a mini-disclaimer stating that his opinions were his own and in no way reflect those of the company that hired him.
I wake up every morning around seven, but normally I?m not so riled up until I?ve at least had my breakfast of champions? a pot of coffee. How anyone can have this much anger and political hatred that early in the morning is beyond me. If you were going to be angry about something at that ungodly hour, I would think it would be your alarm clock.
I have many questions that need to be asked about this entire ordeal while at same time teaching the valuable parable that I previously stated. Before I go into this one-way interrogation, I would just like to say that these are in no way political questions. I have no right to say that someone is wrong or right in their belief system or their deep inherent political philosophies. So, for your consideration Mr. Styles are my questions to you:
Your first visible post regarding American politics and beliefs on your twitter page was on April 22nd but then you did not publish another such post until May 11th. What happened during that time span? Did someone confront you about your first posting on the subject of same-sex marriage and slap you on the wrist? Or was it to the face? Or maybe nothing happened at all?
Was this a flash of humane consciousness that struck you during that time or did a female forbid you touch her for a very long time after you published it? Something must have happened during those two and a half weeks that kept you from returning to this O?Reilly-like state, because during this time you were vigorously promoting WWE.com and all of its great content. The mind wanders.
Did you post all of these political and philosophical remarks spontaneously? Were you thinking at all about the potential consequences about voicing such fervent and divisive opinions? Again, I?m not saying you are correct or incorrect in your stances; But is this the kind of logical mind that needs to be in charge of WWE’s internet marketing department?
Mr. Styles, the internet is not an infinitesimal blank sheet of paper? you have no eraser or ?undo? button once your remarks are out there for the whole world to see. No disclaimer can erase what you had written. And according to Jim Cornett and many across the vast fields of this internet you have been tending for WWE, you have accidentally linked your boss to your philosophies.
Whether Vince McMahon agrees with them or not is irrelevant; you have potentially offended a great portion of advertisers and sponsors that equate for an even greater portion of your corporation’s budget. Were your comments worth the prospective dropping of sponsors like AT&T or Subway?
Spouting your political opinions and philosophical tendencies never make for positive results? never. Regards of how right you think you are or how wrong you believe everyone else is? divisiveness and isolationism result in the hindrance of promoting anything. How can you actually promote your corporation in a positive manner while feverishly pounding away on your cell-phone in order to announce to the world that we have a Marxist president?
Did you not think some people might disagree with that sentiment? More important to the fact, do you think that some people who watch your programs and read your internet content, might disagree with the same intensity as you have?
Joey Styles should be fired.
There is no other logical explanation to be made. This is not a liberal/conservative argument. This is not a solution coming from the right or the left. This is a simple business-growing solution.
?Good afternoon! My name is Doug, and I believe that homosexuals have the right to marriage and abortion should remain legal.?
How many people do you think I would have offended with that? How long do you think I would keep my job as a professional salesman, where customer satisfaction takes precedent over all else? I would be fired after the first complaint.
The same should be said about Jim Cornett’s reply to Styles? remarks. I would think that someone in the same position and same stature in the same industry would refrain from voicing his own beliefs, but he just could not help himself and unfortunately placed himself in the same pot of boiling water. He could have turned down the burner and taken the high road, but chose to become just as furious as his counterpart creating even more tension.
Jim Cornette should also be fired.
You may have noticed that I have not provided links to Styles? comments or Cornett’s pod cast. These you can find on your own terms at your own discretion. There is no place for politics in professional wrestling; I would think that this would have been learned after Vince McMahon attempted to parody last November’s presidential election through fisticuffs of impersonators.
Until next time, mouth-breathers!