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:
https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow
Ep. 286: The Pandemic is the First of Many Disasters That Will Change the World As We Know It
Ep. 285: From Donald Trump's Fake Pandemic "Protests" to a Second American Civil War
Ep. 284: Ben Fountain Reflects on the Surreal Reality That is Life in the Age of Trump's Pandemic
Ep. 283: Hundreds of Ku Klux Klan Members Have Surrendered Their Robes and Hoods to Daryl Davis
Ep. 282: Don Winslow Explains How Donald Trump is Everything Wrong with American Masculinity
Ep. 281: Tim Wise Explains How White Privilege is Making the Coronavirus Plague Much Worse
Ep. 280: The Truth Report -- Navigating the Coronavirus Pandemic and Then Making a Better America and World
Ep. 279: How Donald Trump and the Other Plutocrats Will Use the Coronavirus to Make Life Even Worse for Working Class and Poor Americans
Ep. 278: The Coronavirus and Social Inequality in America
Ep. 277: Rachel Bitecofer Explains Why Bernie Sanders Has a Better Chance Than Joe Biden of Beating Donald Trump
Ep. 276: Greg Palast Explains How Donald Trump and His Republican Party Will Steal the 2020 Presidential Election at the Ballot Box
Ep. 275: The Truth Report -- "Star Trek's" Walter Koenig Reflects on Humanity's Future, Hope, and Despair in the Age of Trump
Ep. 274: Tochi Onyebuchi on His New Book "Riot Baby", Black Revenge Fantasies, and Freeing Himself From the White Gaze
Ep. 273: The Truth Report -- After Impeachment Donald Trump is the Jim Jones of American Presidents
Ep. 272: Vince Houghton on Nuking the Moon: And Other Intelligence Schemes and Military Plots Left on the Drawing Board
Ep. 271: How "Revolutionary Love" and "Radical Empathy" Can Help Stop America From Destroying Itself
Ep. 270: Are Donald Trump and His Inner Circle Manipulating the Stock Market For Their Own Personal Gain?
Ep. 269: Why the Democrats Must Embrace the Great Legacy of FDR and Other True Progressives and Liberals to Defeat Donald Trump in 2020
Ep. 268: Donald Trump's Authoritarianism Report Card
Ep. 267: New Year's 2020 Goals, Resolutions, Reflections and Well-Being in Challenging Times
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