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:
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My email:
chaunceydevega@gmail.com
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?
Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com
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Ep. 174: Yascha Mounk on the Rise of Trump and the Decline of Western Democracies
Ep. 173: Bandy Lee Continues to Warn the World About Donald Trump's Mental Health
Ep. 172: America's Elites Will Survive a Nuclear War and You Will Die
Ep. 171: Carol Anderson Explains White Rage and the Rise of Donald Trump
Ep. 170: George Ciccariello-Maher Told the Truth About Toxic White Masculinity and Mass Shootings and Lost His Job
Ep. 169: White Supremacy and the So-Called "War on Christmas"
Ep. 168: News Journalist Marvin Scott Shares Five Decades of Amazing Stories
Ep. 167: Brian Klaas Explains How Donald Trump is the Despot's Apprentice
Ep. 166: All Things "Star Wars" and "The Last Jedi"
Ep. 165: Nancy MacLean Dissects the Evil Republican "Tax Reform" Bill
Ep. 164: Henry Giroux Evaluates America One Year After Donald Trump
Ep. 163: Anti-Black Violence, Whiteness, and the Pleasures of Owning People
Ep. 162: Bruce Bartlett Explains Why the Republican Party Must Die
Ep. 161: Rory Karpf on His New ESPN 30 for 30 Documentary About the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair
Ep. 160: John Gartner Warns That Donald Trump is Mentally Ill/John Mueller's Indictments
Ep. 159: White Supremacists Don't Know Much About European History
Ep. 158: Lecturer Lars Maischak "Threatened" Donald Trump on Twitter and Lost His Job
Ep. 157: Tom Nichols Explains Donald Trump and the Nuclear "Madman Theory"
Ep. 156: Nancy MacLean Explains the Radical Right-wing's Plans to Destroy American Democracy
Ep. 155: Frank Miller Reflects on Batman and a Career in Comic Books
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