A few days ago, a prime time network television program supposedly "exposed the fakery" involved in professional wrestling. I didn't watch, but remember being somewhat astounded that network programmers would think that there are people out there who don't know that professional wrestling is phony. The idea that apparently a significant number of adult people in America could take as a serious sport, a bunch of overweight men (and women) clowning around in sequined costumes with capes and masks, pretending to jump off ropes and land on each other's necks, "body slam" or hit each other with bare fists, etc. while some guy in a striped shirt walks around them and pretends to "referee" whatever this exhibition is supposed to be, absolutely baffles me.
So, when I learned that the people of Minnesota actually elected one of these "wrestlers" (totally out of the blue) to be their governor, I really became concerned. I have since learned that professional wrestling is one of the most popular "sports" in the country. Cable TV ratings for this stuff is reportedly very high.
I have suffered the bombardment, the past month or so of election advertisements. These included radio sound bites from candidates accusing each other of being "Anti-Christ" incarnates. TV ads showed them with open collared shirts (just like we common folk) in wheat fields with farmers, visiting slums, working in construction, charging up state house marble stairs, brief case in hand with steely eyes and firm jaws. They all said they would lower our taxes, put criminals in jail, support education, save social security...blah-blah-blah!
Then, it became clear. What happened in Minnesota is not a fluke. It actually made sense. These politicians and "professional wrestlers" have a whole lot in common. They are at best, actors, and at worst, phonies who count on really gullible people to elect them. They have to be, because the only way they can pry a "constituent" away from TV wrestling (or equivalent inane programming) long enough to vote, is to provide some kind of entertainment equivalent to their electorate's expectations.
As I was trying to comprehend the reason for why voters would frivolously elect a "WWF" wrestler as their governor, I wondered what would happen if the nation decided to elect someone similar to the presidency.... Then it occurred to me... My God, we already have!