Wrestling kills? No, bad parenting does.
I'm back, and I have something to say. I'm pissed. What could be the kick in the ass that brought me out of posting laziness? I'll tell you. A kid died. A little kid, killed by another little kid. "But Josh, as sad as that is, it unfortunately happens alot these days. What's so different?" Well, nothing's different. They're blaming wrestling...again.
The article that so angers me...
To summarize, that's an article about a 4 year old who killed his 2 year old brother, and the mother is blaming wrestling. First line that jumps out at me "Jacqueline Davis says she came out of the shower and found her two-year-old son Jacquion unresponsive on his bedroom floor." Why would you leave a 4 and 2 year old alone while you go shower in another room? That's a recipe for disaster, but let's move on.
"She says her four-year-old son told her and police that he was pretending to be WWE professional wrestler who he watches dominate opponents on the Friday night show.
The 4-year-old allegedly choked his brother with part of a curtain. "
I have been watching wrestling for 23 years, and I have never seen anybody choke another guy with a curtain.
If you watch the video on that page, at one point the Mother says "They shouldn't have that on TV. My boy, he's very influenced."
"The victim's mother says she's convinced exposure to professional wrestling played a part in the tragic murder." Well, maybe you shouldn't have let him be exposed to it. Or maybe, you should have sat with him and explained that it's okay for those guys to do it to each other, but this isn't something you should do at home. It all comes down to responsible parenting, which seems to be VERY lacking in this case.
I think it's pretty well known among..oh, everybody who knows me...I am a HUGE wrestling fan. I watch it every Monday night on TV, I go to a local restaurant to watch the monthly pay-per-view events, and I own a huge collection of DVD's I can watch when it's not being shown on TV. I have a son, and I can tell you, he WILL be exposed to wrestling as he grows. He can feel free to sit in my lap as I watch my show and DVD's and we will watch TOGETHER and I will explain the storylines, and also what is permissable and not to do among us. Can the guys on TV jump on top of each other? Yes. Can you jump on top of Mommy as she sleeps? As funny as that would be to see, no, you cannot.
I count some local wrestlers as my friends, and I try to get out to see their shows as often as I can. When Jericho is old enough, he can be welcome to join me at the family friendly shows, and I will be sure to explain to him the difference between "Uncle Adam" in our living room playing Guitar Hero with Daddy, and the character of the "evil cowboy" we see in the ring. It all comes down to taking the time to talk to your kids, which so many people don't do. They use TV as a babysitter, and then are shocked at what "the babysitter" taught their kids. Why don't you ever see an article about "I put my kid in front of a Sopranos episode, and left the room for an hour. When I came back, he had cracked his little brother in the head with a baseball bat for being a fucking rat. They shouldn't show that kind of thing on TV!" Why? Because that would be stupid. Everybody knows that you don't show Sopranos to a little kid, but wrestling is the easy target, and gets the blame again. Is wrestling violent? Yes, yes it is, surprisingly. There are storylines and skits, explaining why they are doing what they do, but in the end it's 2 hours of guys beating each other up. Once people realize that, we may not see any more of these articles but I'm not holding my breath. Why look in a mirror when it's so easy to point a finger elsewhere.
The article that so angers me...
To summarize, that's an article about a 4 year old who killed his 2 year old brother, and the mother is blaming wrestling. First line that jumps out at me "Jacqueline Davis says she came out of the shower and found her two-year-old son Jacquion unresponsive on his bedroom floor." Why would you leave a 4 and 2 year old alone while you go shower in another room? That's a recipe for disaster, but let's move on.
"She says her four-year-old son told her and police that he was pretending to be WWE professional wrestler who he watches dominate opponents on the Friday night show.
The 4-year-old allegedly choked his brother with part of a curtain. "
I have been watching wrestling for 23 years, and I have never seen anybody choke another guy with a curtain.
If you watch the video on that page, at one point the Mother says "They shouldn't have that on TV. My boy, he's very influenced."
"The victim's mother says she's convinced exposure to professional wrestling played a part in the tragic murder." Well, maybe you shouldn't have let him be exposed to it. Or maybe, you should have sat with him and explained that it's okay for those guys to do it to each other, but this isn't something you should do at home. It all comes down to responsible parenting, which seems to be VERY lacking in this case.
I think it's pretty well known among..oh, everybody who knows me...I am a HUGE wrestling fan. I watch it every Monday night on TV, I go to a local restaurant to watch the monthly pay-per-view events, and I own a huge collection of DVD's I can watch when it's not being shown on TV. I have a son, and I can tell you, he WILL be exposed to wrestling as he grows. He can feel free to sit in my lap as I watch my show and DVD's and we will watch TOGETHER and I will explain the storylines, and also what is permissable and not to do among us. Can the guys on TV jump on top of each other? Yes. Can you jump on top of Mommy as she sleeps? As funny as that would be to see, no, you cannot.
I count some local wrestlers as my friends, and I try to get out to see their shows as often as I can. When Jericho is old enough, he can be welcome to join me at the family friendly shows, and I will be sure to explain to him the difference between "Uncle Adam" in our living room playing Guitar Hero with Daddy, and the character of the "evil cowboy" we see in the ring. It all comes down to taking the time to talk to your kids, which so many people don't do. They use TV as a babysitter, and then are shocked at what "the babysitter" taught their kids. Why don't you ever see an article about "I put my kid in front of a Sopranos episode, and left the room for an hour. When I came back, he had cracked his little brother in the head with a baseball bat for being a fucking rat. They shouldn't show that kind of thing on TV!" Why? Because that would be stupid. Everybody knows that you don't show Sopranos to a little kid, but wrestling is the easy target, and gets the blame again. Is wrestling violent? Yes, yes it is, surprisingly. There are storylines and skits, explaining why they are doing what they do, but in the end it's 2 hours of guys beating each other up. Once people realize that, we may not see any more of these articles but I'm not holding my breath. Why look in a mirror when it's so easy to point a finger elsewhere.