Wrestling With An Obsession!

[Gomendosi]

Ahh, the good old days, how I used to love being a naive youth, my days were filled with wonder and the pure joy of everything being new.
I developed a passion for the things that everyone around me liked as these where the only things I knew, I couldn?t go exploring to uncover new things for myself and nothing that would interest only me came by any of the houses I lived in. therefore it was a only a natural progression that my dear old nan got me interested in one of her favorite things, wrestling, yes? wrestling! Big sweaty men grappling and throwing one another round a squared circle!

Now the yanks (no offense) will understand this, the brits (no offense) may well be on board with me as well, the fact of the matter is that as a child, just the advert would make my blood race, I would hear that there was going to be a bout between a face (good guy) and a heel (bad guy) and I knew both of them. Well, that was it for me, I couldn?t concentrate at school and I would wait with baited breath, I would be on tenterhooks, it couldn?t possibly be as good as I was imagining it would be! It always was better though.

I started out watching Aussie?s wrestle (I think it went: ) THIS SATURDAY NIGHT AT FESTIVAL HALL? BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!!! I could be wrong it was a long time ago! But then there was this other show, in the later years when nans sight was going, it was helmed by President Jack Tunney, I think was his name, and sometimes he would come to the ring and sort out the goings on. His son Vince was a great announcer and there was this English bloke too.

I should get to my point! Okay, so? oh yeah, it seems that the Easter Bunny isn?t real, my brother told me! He is two years older than me so he would know yeah?
Anyway, it seems that Santa is just my mother & dad buying stuff and putting it under the tree, which is fine by me. My second oldest brother told me that one and he?s four years older so he definitely knows! Now to the point, I understand that wrestling is ?fake?, but, why the hell am I so passionate about defending it all the time. Whenever people hear that I am a fan of wrestling they automatically (yes it is automatic like they have it hardwired into their brain), they automatically feel they have to inform me of the worlds biggest conspiracy, wrestling is ?fake?! Mmmm, for some reason I arc up and tell them in a huff that yes, it is ?fake?, the things they are doing would kill a man in his prime and so they have to do it in such a way so as not to hospitalize each other but it is really just supposed to be good fun and so is not to be taken as reality, it is a soap opera for men!

?Oh yeah, I know that, but? the storylines are all worked out in advance, they all know what the others are going to do beforehand, its staged?

So what?s the story here? Why do people have to pull you down like that? Ridicule your interests even after you defend them? Would it be the same if I liked ballet? Or lawn bowls? Or is it just wrestling and I am too wrapped up in it to let it slide? How can something that is liked by so many people be seen as ridiculous by so few and yet their opinion still matters? Personally I think it is because it is attached to the memory of my nan and it is tied to my upbringing that I feel compelled to defend it so vehemently. But, should I have to? Would you let it slide? How well do you defend your obsessions?

I?m gonna put a figure four leg lock on the next mean hombre that steps into this here ring? oooooohhhh YEAHHAAA :beardM:





Sorry, I just realized this post went on for a while ; ]

 

[King_Oni]

As someone who is raised with watching wrestling a lot (and still watch it every now and then) I can understand where you're coming from. Though I in general rarely had the run in with the "but it's fake"-folk, I have some of those every now and then. I kinda expect that if I watch it as much as I did, people would understand that I understood it's fake. That logic (or lack thereof) is weirder to me.

I also feel like people cannot find a good reason to put it down, so they'll just pick an argument a lot of people will see as a bad spot of the "interest". I mean, I like to play a cardgame called Magic: the gathering (and in a really rare case even Pokemon). Now, that Magic game is "just a game" if it weren't that some cards are highly valuable in the tournament scene and end up being over a 100 USD a piece (and you're allowed to run 4 of a copy). That gets "ugly" if you play a vintage format there, where people run a so-called "Power 9" set (the 9 most powerful cards printed; but that might be debateble), which might go up to a easily 1500 USD for those 9 cards alone. And actually... people use the "those cards are "just" paper"-argument. But I don't care, it's the fun that counts. If I play tournaments or just for fun... I'm playing a game cause I like fun, I like the mental challenge to play other people and whatever they bring. Also add in, that it takes quite some effort to create a game with solid rules and support for new cards, that has to be paid for. It's not just "the phsyical cards". I also used to play (and I'm on the relapse now) a game called Warhammer. Basically it's a tabletop miniature game... or just "toy soldiers with rules". I have to paint em, assemble them, and that's a hobby that can be quite expensive. Paints, glues, models, rulebooks, the whole thing... a friend of mine recently got into that hobby, and dropped about 150 USD on it, just to get started... but in general, having an army (just by models alone) is, according to a lot of players easily 400 USD upwards. Do I defend it? Yes of course... how do I defend it? Well, how about "I like to play non-digital games, I like to improve motorskills by painting small models and by doing it with this hobby, I'm combining both the painting for the use of playing a game with those as well". In general I feel that most people who do not understand obsessions or interests (especially the ones that cost money) just put up a silly argument, for arguments sake, because there actually is no battle to be won for them. The best they can do is make me have less fun personally... and I'd be a total pushover if I were to let that happen.

But how well do I defend my obsessions? I don't know if it's "well"... it's just more that I defend em from my personal perspective. Interests and obsesessions are mine for a reason. I like something about it. Even if this were wrestling; perhaps I just like to see big guys in tight pants go at it. Maybe I like to see interesting storylines develop, or maybe I'm just in it because I like to see some physical action that can only be surpassed in videogames. If anything, it's still my personal reason, and their duty to tell me "but you know this is fake" is of no real relevance here because I don't watch it for the sake of being real. Heck.. I could rather watch MMA for the testosteron-showcase... weirdly enough there is no appeal for me. So that kinda excludes men grappling already.