VIDEO: Glenn Beck on WWE's demonization of the Tea Party
Update: For some reason the MLB has appeared on this video.
Find the video direct from GlennBeck.com here - WWE creates controversial Tea Party wrestler
Glenn Beck Show: WWE Demonizes Tea Party Character
GLENN BECK: You know I can take it from a lot of people, I really can. I can't take it from the stupid wrestling people, especially since a lot of the people -- I would imagine that a lot of the people who watch wrestling are not New York elites. Now call me crazy, I'm going out on a limb. I don't think a lot of Ivy league Harvard professors are watching WWE. I also don't think a lot of the progressive administration officials are watching the WWE. So who watches it?
I personally think when the WWE comes after the Tea Party, that's like NASCAR coming after the Tea Party. Maybe at a higher level than wrestling...
What's most perplexing isn't that the WWE has created a Politically incorrect Villain to manufacture visceral feelings of hate, that's par for the course in Wrestling. As Glenn Beck and his co-hosts discuss, what's confounding is how the caricature alienates the core audience.
GLENN BECK: ... Who are they appealing to?It's an understandable observation for Beck to make but those familiar with the theatre of wrestling should be aware that anything goes when it comes to "getting a draw". Whether a reaction is good or bad is negligible as long as it elicits a reaction, the stronger the better. The art is in harnessing those reactions and manipulating them through effective storytelling. At its purest, Wrestling is a circular hype machine not unlike Punditry.
STU BURGUIERE: Wouldn't the argument be -- at least one of the arguments would be they're trying to create villains. They do this all the time, they're trying to create a villain. Like when I was a kid, I remember the Iron Sheik. The Iron Sheik was from Iran and was always saying terrible things about America - that doesn't mean the WWE [WWF at the time] didn't like America. They were trying to make a villain out of the Iron Sheik. But this is different, the villain, the guy you're supposed to hate is this stereotype of this conservative I've never met
GLENN BECK: The problem with this is a bunch of Sheiks weren't watching the WWE. So you're making a villain of what? -- 80% of your audience who are tired as it is of being miscast...
Whilst its curious that WWE would alienate a largely Conservative Wrestling fanbase considering Linda McMahon ran for Senate as a Republican. One needs to be aware of the scruples of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon who has yet to find a cow too sacred to be sacrificed. In service of "the business" Vince has forsaken his own safety, children, money, integrity, marriage, character and even his own death. The manufactured controversy has been successful with the coverage the WWE has received from objections voiced by influential media personalities like Glenn Beck and Alex Jones. A great buildup for the Wrestling Calendar's biggest show of the year, WrestleMania 29 featuring a title match between Mexican Champion Alberto Del Rio and the suddenly relevant Jack Swagger. Instant heat!
