WSJ Columnist Thomas Frank Does Good Culture-Mongering on Linda McMahon — But It’s Still Just Culture-Mongering
Dissident Wrestling Journalists Tell Linda McMahon Story More Faithfully Than the Leading Ones
July 20, 2010Dave Meltzer Reports Ricky Steamboat ‘Still in Hospital and in Great Head Pain’
July 21, 2010As I’ve said till I’m bluer in the face than one of Linda McMahon’s wrestlers getting choked out, I don’t think the answer to the riddle of her Senate candidacy in Connecticut can be found in the deconstruction of World Wrestling Entertainment texts, sacred or otherwise.
Having said that, I must admit that the redoubtable Thomas Frank, The Wall Street Journal‘s affirmative-action lefty columnist, has produced a good one today: “In Connecticut, a GOP candidate with a class warrior past,” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703724104575379510984766960.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_t (full text available to subscribers only).
As impressive as Frank’s literary analysis might be, it pales in comparison with an examination of the real-life abuse inflicted on WWE’s “independent contractor” performers, up to and including waivers of liability for deaths themselves, of which there have been many.
The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Connecticut media — just about everyone — have barely scratched the surface on that one.
Irv Muchnick