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. 324: "Judas and the Black Messiah" is a Marvelous and Flawed Film
Ep. 323: The American News Media And a Crisis of Journalistic Imagination
Ep 322: Dr Carl Hart Reflects on Freedom and Drug Use For Grown-Ups
Ep. 321: The Truth Report Sneak Preview -- Dr Justin Frank Warns That Donald Trump's Political Cult Members Are Experiencing a Mass Psychological Emergency
Ep. 320: The American People Will Not be Able to Escape The Age of Trump and Its Evil Shadow
Ep. 319: How the American Mainstream News Media Enabled Donald Trump's Coup Attack on the U.S. Capitol
Ep. 318: Sneak Preview -- The Truth Report: Tim Wise on White Privilege and Trump's Coup Attack on the US Capitol
Ep. 317: Dr. Cornel West Reflects on Trump's Fascist Coup Assault on the Capitol Building and America's Long Catastrophe
Ep. 316: Futurist John Feffer on His Hopes and Worries for America and the World in the Year 2021 and Beyond
Ep. 315: America is Now an Undead Country Whose Fantasies and Lies About Itself Have Now Been Vanquished
Ep. 314: What Will Donald Trump do Next? Start a TV Network and Open a Theme Park
Ep. 313: Poet Nikki Giovanni Reflects on Living a Life of Truth-Telling, Mortality, and the Ultimate Emptiness of White Supremacy
Ep. 312: The Truth Report -- Wajahat Ali Has Spent Several Years "Reaching Out" to Trump Supporters -- And It Did Not Go Well
Ep. 311: Ace Atkins on Race, Writing Bestselling Crime Novels, and the "New South"
Ep. 310: Thom Hartmann Counsels That Joe Biden May be The Last Chance to Save American Democracy/Chauncey DeVega Reflects on the 2020 Election and Joe Biden's Victory
Ep. 309: Election Day 2020 -- Planning for the Worst and Hoping for the Best
Ep. 308: The Truth Report -- The American People are Living in Donald Trump's Horrible Reality TV Show And Cannot Escape It
Ep 307: The Truth Report -- Timothy Snyder Warns That as Election Day 2020 Approaches America is in The Midst of a Slow-Motion Reichstag Fire Emergency
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