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
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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. 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
Ep. 306: Donald Trump's Followers Fear the Freedom and Humanity of People Who are Not Like Them
Ep. 305: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity
Ep. 304: Philosopher Cornel West Reflects on Donald Trump, the Virus, and Questions of Karma and Justice
Ep. 303: Donald Trump Won the First Debate Against Joe Biden -- and Will Steal the 2020 Election Using Violence and the Courts
Ep. 302: Rev. Al Sharpton Warns That Donald Trump is a Dirty Street Fighter Which is Why Joe Biden and The Democrats Don't Know How to Defeat Him
Ep. 301: The Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Has Put America's Multiracial Democracy on Life Support
Ep. 300: To Save America the Republican Party and Its Policies Must Be Burned to the Ground
Ep. 299: The Republican Party is Dying Because There Are Not Enough White People
Ep. 298: The Truth Report -- Donald Trump's Scheme to Steal the 2020 Presidential Election is Much Bigger Than Just The U.S. Mail
Ep. 297: President Joe Biden's First 100 Days and a Return to Normalcy for the American People
Ep. 296: Donald Trump Should Be Criminally Prosecuted for His Willfully Negligent Response to The Pandemic
Ep. 295: The Truth Report -- Donald Trump is Bullying the American People
Ep. 294: Donald Trump is Using The American People as Fuel For His Fascist Political Machine
Ep. 293: The Rhetorical Genius of the Demagogue Donald Trump
Ep. 292: Is It Ever Appropriate For White People to Wear "Blackface?"
Ep. 291: Cornel West Explains How George Floyd is a Martyr and The Struggle Ahead Will be Long and Perilous
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