No Place Is Safe In NPR Land

I generally do not listen to what passes for news on National Public Radio. My moments of listening on FM 89.5 are often resticted to Car Talk, A Way with Words, and sometimes A Prarie Home Companion (yeah, I know Garrison Kiellor is more than just a bit liberal politically but he still produces a fine show). But the so-called news on NPR I tend to avoid. That's why this morning I thought listening to Only a Game would be safe (I mean, what does NPR actually know about sports? Not much if you have listened to the show). At first I thought I was in for a fun time when they went to an interview with Thomas Hackett, author of "Slaphappy: Pride, Prejudice, and Professional Wrestling". Now for those of you who didn't know it, I used to be a big fan of professional wresting (or as my friend Gregg taught me to say, professional "wrasslin'" to distinguish it from Greco-Roman wresting... we even attempted a game based on the WWF which we called "Wrasslin'"). Boy, was I in for a shock. Now I know that they were going to bash the "red state" people who watch it, I'm used to that, but the way they went about trying to display their supposed superior intellect was appalling! The interviewer asked Mr. Hackett the following: "In a world where investment professionals don't bother to investigate Enron's fantastic claims and where a former body builder gets elected governor of California essentially on the strength of the celebrity he gained by taking steriods, it really isn't fair to characterize pro-wresting as phoney. Have I got that argument right?" Now had someone said something like that to me I would have done a pile-driver on them right then and there with their face winding up smashed into a copy of Aristotle. But Mr. Hackett, being an author who is invited to speak on an NPR show, said "Well, I mean, it's phoney in the way pretty much everything else is phoney." Huh? First off, what kind of argument is that presented by the interviewer? It certainly doesn't fit with any known valid structure. In fact, his premises are not only false (investment professionals DID investigate the claims of Enron, some saying it was all a house of cards, and while some were just greedy, some were out-and-out stupid and didn't understand what was going on), they make no sense (what the heck is he saying about Arnold, whose celebrity didn't come from taking steroids, and how does it tie into Enron). And just how do his two statements tie into whether or not professional "wrasslin'" is "real" or "phoney"? And what does Mr. Hackett mean saying everything is phoney? Is he advocating some type of solipsism? *sigh* The entire interview is like that. At one point the language they use about "The Rock" indicated they do not consider him a "real celebrity", and at another place in the show that people who believe professional wrestling is "real" are just like those who believe in religion, unwilling to give up cherished beliefs in the face of "solid facts" (it's amazing how NPR shows go out of their way to try to show those of us who have genuine beliefs in God, the Bible, and a life after death as wacky non-intellectual boobs). Now if they had wanted to indicate they don't think he is a "real athlete", they might be able to come up with an arugment based on how they define their words, but who could say with a straight face that "The Rock" isn't a celebrity?! Can't they even do a simple, straightforward interview without getting sidetracked into lefty land? I guess I have to be even MORE vigilant... and Mr. Rock, you ARE a celebrity.