Wrestling with the male image

Canadian and WWE wrestler Chris Benoit was found dead along with his wife and his seven-year old son. Authorities say that it was a murder-suicide: Benoit strangled his wife on Friday and suffocated his son during the weekend. Police found anabolic steroids in his home. Was it ‘roid rage? I think so. It makes me fume about the wrestlemania among a large segment of the American male demographic. What is so manly about a guy taking steroids to win? It’s the coward’s way of winning and yet wrestling fans don’t seem to mind.

Quite an example for our youths.

You know, this reminds me about the scene from Gladiator where Maximus (Russell Crowe) quickly kills about half a dozen opponents. He then throws his gladius at the rich spectators and shouts at the rest of the crowd “are you not entertained?!?!?! is this not why you are here?!?!”

What is it about men, and I’m a man, that gives them glee in seeing two guys bash each other senselessly? What is the virtue in that? I say this not only as an intellectual but as an Iraq War veteran who knows the consequences of the actions of a President with an overly-developed testosterone and an underdeveloped heart (and by “heart”, I mean “courage,” as in, George Bush lacked the personal courage to go to Vietnam and yet he’s sending thousands of young men to a ill-conceived conflict.) Why are these spectators not signing up to join the military; the ultimate test of manhood? I guess they’re just too content to see others fight and die just as they are content to see other men beat the crap out of each other.