I want to tell you how much I enjoyed your article about the “sports entertainment” industry, “Inside Wrestling Inc.” (SOCIETY, Feb. 7). I have to admit to being one of the millions of people who tune in, turn on and enjoy watching the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on virtually a daily basis. I never miss Monday night’s “Raw Is War,” Sunday night’s “Heat” or Thursday night’s “SmackDown!” Of course, there are also the Saturday and Sunday recaps (just in case), and with on-line access, I am able to find out what is happening every day behind the scenes. I have been watching wrestling since the early 1970s, when my ex-husband got me hooked by taking me to live events at our neighborhood Amusement Park Ballroom. Once I had children of my own, they grew up watching Hulk Hogan, “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Andre the Giant. Now I am a grandmother, and my 5-year-old grandson watches Stone Cold, Triple H and his “grammy’s” favorite, The Undertaker. He usually watches on Saturday mornings, giving up his cartoons for an hour to enjoy screaming at the TV when his favorite wrestler is mentioned. All the controversy surrounding the sports-entertainment industry has had little or no effect on those of us who “get it.” The athletes involved in this sport are very talented and put their bodies through a lot to please the viewing audience. I am a college-educated female, and I work for a government-contracting company in a management position. So the myth that everyone who watches wrestling is an uneducated, beer-guzzling moron doesn’t hold true.
Karen A. Roberts
Middletown, R.I.
I was stunned and offended when I opened my mailbox and saw the cover of your Feb. 7 issue. I immediately wondered if the postal worker had delivered an “adult” publication to my box by mistake. Why would a serious magazine choose this topic and cover? I am not a cerebrally challenged individual who enjoys wrestling, nor am I even mildly interested in the craze that has captured prepubescent boys and other males in this country. In short, what happened?
Edward P. Fiszer
Toluca Lake, Calif.
After reading your cover story on professional wrestling, I just had to add my two cents’ worth. I have been involved in education and real wrestling for the last 20 years, and have spent that time trying to promote and defend the true sport of wrestling to people of all ages. I find it ironic that real, amateur wrestling struggles on in virtual anonymity while the “professional” version thrives. The interscholastic version of wrestling tries to abide by the rules of safety and good sportsmanship, while the pros gain attention by lacking in both of those areas. I am more than a little concerned about a society that finds such antics attractive.
Jeff Hauser
Whitehall, Wis.
The enduring popularity of the World Wrestling Federation and its “entertainment” is a troubling sign for an already violence-weary nation. Filling impressionable minds with the idea that violence, indecency, drinking, spitting and swearing are acceptable and even celebrated activities will surely have lasting repercussions on our society. These “professional” wrestlers embody all the values any decent person would despise. Like pied pipers, they are enticing and deluding our youth. In their willingness to do anything for a buck, they are reaching ever-deeper levels of depravity. Parents who allow youngsters to absorb this material are naive to think it is harmless.
Brian Bosworth
Williamsville, N.Y.
The reason I’m writing this is simple: to thank NEWSWEEK for recognizing how big this craze is getting. Wrestling truly is my life. These guys are amazing at what they do. Little kids idolize them; heck, I idolize them. Vince McMahon deserves all the success that comes his way. He has made a business that was always fairly good into something that’s almost like pure gold. I’d just like to say that wrestling is here to stay and will always be here, no matter what happens. It is a disease. It gets into your body and mind and you’re done, hooked for life. Look at me: a 19-year-old female college student watching wrestling religiously like one of the guys.
Colleen Diane Erdossy
Marysville, PA.
In your cover story on wrestling, you say that the National Wresting Alliance, “rechristened World Championship Wrestling,” is owned by Ted Turner. As president of the 51-year-old NWA, I can assure you that our organization is not owned by Ted Turner, although in 1988 he bought a company called Jim Crockett Promotions that was a member of the NWA. In 1993, because of a dispute between the NWA board of directors at the time and WCW management, WCW withdrew from the NWA; that took the NWA off national television. But our organization has not only survived; it has continued to grow.
Howard T. Brody, President
Tampa, Fla.
Why is the bizarre phenomenon of professional wrestling increasingly popular? It’s simple: the dumbing down of America has entered its terminal stage.
C. W. Griffin
Phoenix, Ariz.
Vecelie Berry just doesn’t get it (“It’s Time We Rejected the Racial Litmus Test,” MY TURN, Feb. 7). Schoolchildren aren’t out to prove their “racial identity”; they only want to feel accepted among their peers. Therefore, most conform to the common mannerisms of the majority. For example, as a white child attending majority-black schools in Columbus, Ohio, I felt most accepted when I “hung” black. My black friends in majority-white suburban schools often behaved similarly, yet the underlying reason for their behavior, as well as mine, was much simpler than race.
Brian Sells
Chicago, Ill.
Berry’s perspective really is the future of desegregation. I hope the pendulum will swing back toward the middle and we will no longer have phrases like “African-American,” “black history” and “Black Entertainment Television.” We need to rid ourselves of all racial distinctions. To speak of “being black” is just as divisive as talking about “being white.” Why can’t we just be?
James W. Duncan
Houston, Texas
It’s tiresome to hear continual repetition of the same illogic regarding the morality of atheists, this time by Talmudic scholar Jacob Neusner (“Finding God,” NATIONAL AFFAIRS, Feb. 7). His statement “I’d rather have a Christian bound by Scripture, as I am, than a functional atheist, bound by nothing” arrogantly assumes that his is the only possible source of binding moral principle. Many atheists (and believers as well) are humanists, bound by an injunction to improve human happiness and reduce human suffering. This injunction can arise from an enlightened, rational view of self-interest; it does not require belief in the supernatural. Judging by the bloody history of the millennium now ending, led mostly by people “bound” by supernatural faiths, it might be time to try a more rational source of morality.
Harvey Wachtel
Kew Gardens, N.Y.
John McCain finds it impossible to imagine that an atheist would be elected president because an atheist doesn’t embrace “Judeo-Christian principles.” Well, neither do Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists. Maybe McCain has never read Article VI of the Constitution, which states, “No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”
Matthew J. Barry
Redmond, Wash.
Your article has Woodrow Wilson rejecting the League of Nations. Wilson did not reject the league. In fact, he just about killed himself campaigning for it. It was the Senate, led by Henry Cabot Lodge, that rejected it.
Jim O’Malley
Lawrence, Kans.
It’s amazing to me to see a disgraceful character like John McEnroe dignified by being named captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team (“Captain America,” SOCIETY, Feb. 7). I now face a dilemma: I want the United States to win, but it will still rile me to see him associated with victory, even though he won’t have a racquet in his hand.
Shell Fisher
Carmel, Calif.
While your Jan. 31 article on Alzheimer’s was timely and informative, I’d like to clarify the wording in your report (“Coping With the Darkness,” SOCIETY) on the study of a pioneering design at a “senior center” by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. This facility, Woodside Place of Oakmont, Pa., is licensed as a “personal care home” (also known as a residential Alzheimer’s facility), and is not a “senior center.” I’d also like to note that the 25 percent reduction in residents’ mobility that we found occurred only in the one nursing home we used as a comparison site, not in a large group of nursing homes.
Myrna Silverman, Ph.D.
Pittsburgh, PA.
In our Feb. 7 story “Jefferson’s Other Family” (SOCIETY), we mistakenly said the Jefferson family cemetery is at the University of Virginia. It is actually on the grounds of Jefferson’s Virginia home, Monticello.
In our Feb. 7 article “A Bloody ‘Army’ on Trial” (NATIONAL AFFAIRS), the quote that “Sara Jane [Olson] was on the fringe” of the Symbionese Liberation Army was incorrectly attributed to former SLA member Bill Harris. In fact, Olson’s attorney Susan B. Jordan made the statement, and she was referring to Olson’s interest in political activism in general, not to an association with any revolutionary group such as the SLA. Jordan spoke in an interview held before the judge in the Olson case issued a gag order.
