Hulk Hogan Has Died
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tmz.com
He was an odd character but was truly a character - he was Hulk Hogan as you know him (bandana, the mustache, the yellow muscle shirt) from the moment he got up to the moment he went to bed; unlike some stars who had a life outside of their character, his character became his life which was really something interesting to behold up close.
I've been getting a lot of calls and talking to friends today; and again - while Hogan was not exactly a "good person" in all regards - he was a friend and brought a lot of joy to a lot of people and he will be missed.
the world of wrestling and kayfabe is so interesting and has so many parallels with real life.
Parallels is probably not strong enough a word to describe a world where a reality TV star who was part of WrestleMania in 2007 is President of the United States.
Bright yellow and red Hulkster with the green Publix basket, reaching down next to me to grab hotdogs or bologna or whatever it was and nodded 'hello'.
Kind of like those grandpas who were very kind to all people but for unknown reasons had prejudice against minorities.
I was hopeful that this kind of bad influence in good people would stop with society evolving, but in reality things seem to be cyclical...
We all are. Not just Grandpas, but all the way down to current kids. It's just less obvious for the cohort you're part of.
That said, Hulk himself was completely warm and responsive to fans when I'd see him around signing pictures/merch and taking pictures with random fans over that week. I cannot imagine being "on" that well, he was a consummate celebrity at its finest example. I wish more celebrities could see, and execute even half as well.
https://www.vox.com/2016/5/25/11779910/peter-thiel-gawker-hu...
The end result of that is that media orgs are now far more cautious about posting “exposes” of powerful people. Gonzo journalism in America is basically dead except for a handful of independent outlets that have much less impact, funding, and reach. Now it’s substacks of people that used to work for the intercept and rolling stone because media with money is playing it safe posting articles about trumps latest antics and 12 vacation spots you have to check out before you die.
It's not like they decided to fess up and play nice once they were caught red handed. They decided to double down and act even shittier in court thinking they were still the big bad bullies and finding out the hard way courts don't really like that sort of attitude.
Absolutely no one would be taking Gawkers side here if the victims happened to be more sympathetic. The facts of this case were pretty one sided, as shown by the win in a notoriously difficult to win sort of case. The behavior of Gawker in court was absurd on top of it all.
If this were a case of a SLAPP lawsuit or burying them in legal costs over a series of marginal cases I would agree. It was not. It was simply one of their victims finding the means to finally stand up to an organization that abused it power consistently and with malice. The bully found out the hard way they weren't the biggest bully on the block, and refused to back down.
Nothing of value was lost. Very little of what Gawker was doing was in the public interest. It was life-ruining clickbait at it's worst.
How is that different from what was before?
Even if one supports this revenge-based justification, it doesn't mitigate the societal harm done when a path is carved out for billionaires to shutter news orgs who print things they don't like.
The societal harm: Republicans weaponizing Gov power and billionaire resources against news outlets - which is happening at this moment.
R.I.P. Mr. Bollea
Confirmed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ3lCUixbvE
RIP Terry.
There will never be anything like either of these generational entertainers in this century. Not even AI can replicate their personalities.
Mourning for both of them.
I most certainly understand and respect there are political views that don't map well to the two party system. So with that context the last bit of my original comment is more like if you are actually conservative and trying to express yourself within our current two party system, you're voting Democrat. The whole party most certainly isn't conservative, but there is a large moderating establishment that makes its overall results align much more closely with conservatism than what's currently being offered by the Republicans.
The anti-capitalism movement is completely misguided. Capitalism has improved the human condition immeasurably! Every other system tried recently has failed miserably.
Is capitalism perfect? No, so let's work on improving it, in the face of robotics and AI!
The future is bright, if we go energy-intensive and break out into the larger Solar System! Otherwise, we face stagnation and decline...and likely a global catastrophe.
fix the system, don't rig the system, and "fuck the system" and anti gubment anti UN nonsense just plays into the monarchists hands.
right is and will always be WRONG. LEFT is just a wishlist, utopian general vector of where to go, but never achieved.
there, i fixed your brain, now wake up and spread the word.
Also 'we have to keep what we're doing because if we don't the earth will be destroyed because of what I want us to keep doing' isn't the best selling point.
i think it's a bit unfair to judge him on some things he said privately to a friend.
i've said a lot of things privately in my life that i would disown.
but yeah he did a lot of bad things to a lot of people over the years according to some books i read.
I heard Keanu Reeves anonymously donated millions to cancer charities. It’s private. Should we not include this in our assessment of his character?
Or are we just excusing disgusting racism/sexism because Hogan did it with an inside voice?
Let's not forget some people have better PR firms than others...
I think it must be nice to think private racist thoughts expressed so regularly are just fine. Usually this kind of thinking is because the person can't ever imagine being affected by racism.
I wonder how many people throughout his career he refused to work with, didn't hire, went after, because of their skin color. People aren't famously racist without ever expressing it.
No, he was a business partner of Mr. T for years.
You should listen to the racist recording. It wasn't nebulous, it was clearly and explicitly racist. Most people think he went way too far. This isn’t a case of subtle racism where people might be overreaching; what he said was awful.
Sorry you can't outgrow your childhood, but you should come to terms that the man you idolized was a shitty person.
Here's the quote, talking about his daughter: “I mean, I’d rather if she was going to fck some ngger, I’d rather have her marry an 8-foot-tall ngger worth a hundred million dollars! Like a basketball player! I guess we’re all a little racist. Fcking n*gger.”
Feels fucking gross to even read this out loud.
PS. When Uncle Phill went, it was also sad.-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjLzbGFgyvU
Rest in power, brother. Say hi to the Macho Man.
What a an amazing talent and performer.
He also sabotaged the careers of other, better wrestlers and tried to prevent Jesse Ventura from unionizing. Fuck him. Fuck his racist ass, I hope Vince joins him in Hell soon.