Irv Muchnick is one of America’s leading sports journalists and investigative writers.
His essays and other writing have appeared in Sports Illustrated, People, The Washington Monthly, and the Sunday magazines of the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of the books Chris & Nancy; Wrestling Babylon; Concussion Inc., Without Helmets or Shoulder Pads: The American Way of Death in Football Conditioning; and Underwater: The Greed-Soaked Tale of Sexual Abuse in USA Swimming and Around the Globe.
Irv Muchnick reflects on why the recent “revelations” about Vince McMahon’s alleged Caligula-like sexual exploitation of an employee, harassment, and of creating a larger environment of sexual predation at the WWE/WWF should in no way be a surprise given what has been publicly known for decades.
Irv also offers some context from his long history of reporting on the subculture(s) of professional wrestling and other sports such as swimming and gymnastics about how and why sexual harassment and abuse are unfortunately all too common both in those spaces and across American society.
And Irv connects the dots between Donald Trump and Vince McMahon and what he describes as the “Trumpification” of American politics and life.
Chauncey reflects on nostalgia, innocence, joy, pleasure, fan culture, and how to reconcile loving professional wrestling (and other things) with knowing about the real-life drama and human cost that it brings to its participants and others in that world. Ultimately, is innocence bliss?
And Chauncey shares a story about being a hero in your own neighborhood (even when sick), thanks everyone for their support during his battle with the cooties, and in that spirit makes a public health announcement about the merits of folk medicine and the all-powerful asafetida bag.
At the end of this episode of the podcast, there is also an “Easter egg” bonus segment from the archives with writer, movie producer, and director Barry Blaustein where he reflects on making the landmark professional wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat.
WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?
On Twitter:
https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega
On Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega
My email:
chaunceydevega@gmail.com
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?
Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com
Patreon:
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Ep. 386: Jonathan Eig Takes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Down Off The Monument and Makes Him Real
Ep. 385: The Truth Report -- Mark Jacob Explains How America's Mainstream News Media Surrendered to Donald Trump and The Republican Fascist Movement
Ep. 384: The Eclectic Star Wars Jerry Springer Animal Friends Episode
Ep. 383: Jason Van Tatenhove Reflects on the Perils of Right-Wing Radicalization and How He Found Himself a Leading Member of the Oath Keepers
Ep. 382: Donald Trump is Not Going Away Because He is the Worst of American Culture Vomited Out
Ep. 381: America is Sick With Diabolical Amnesia and Evil Forgetting
Ep. 380: "The Other Side of Prospect" and Gun Violence in the Shadow of Yale University
Ep. 379: Chris Hedges Warns That "The News" and "The Truth" are Not The Same Thing
Ep. 378: Ruha Benjamin on the Digital Divide and the "New Jim Code"/Did You Know That People are "Racist" Against Black Robots?
Ep. 377: Brian K. Vaughan Reflects on the Return of His Beloved Graphic Novel Series "Saga"/Paul Breines on Life Lessons Learned From His Time as a Freedom Rider in the Civil Rights Movement
Ep. 376: The Black American Civil Rights Movement Was One of The Greatest "Military" Campaigns and Insurgencies in History
Ep. 375: Separating Fact From Fiction and Myth About Vladimir Putin and the War in Ukraine
Ep. 374: Reflecting on Gratitude and Thankfulness on This Thanksgiving Day 2022
Ep. 373: The Republican Party's "Red Tide" of Fascist Sewage Didn't Fully Drown the American People
Ep. 372: American Democracy and Freedom are on the Ballot in the 2022 Midterm Elections
Ep. 371: Baynard Woods Reflects on What Happens When You Confront and Try to Disown Whiteness
Ep. 370: From Pat Buchanan and the Culture Wars of the 1990s to the Age of Trump and American Neofascism and Beyond
Ep. 369: "5 Days at Memorial" and How Doctors Decided Who Lived and Died During Hurricane Katrina
Ep. 368: It is Almost Impossible to Escape America's Poverty Trap
Ep. 367: The Truth Report -- The South Side of Chicago is Not a Problem to be Solved, It is a Home for the American Spirit
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