Saturday, May 26, 2012
The wrestling section of the
internet were irate when they saw the flak Chris
Jericho got for besmirching the Brazilian
flag during a WWE house show in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Apparently Chris
Jericho was trying to entertain the fans by kicking their country’s main emblem
off the ring.
I like Chris Jericho and all
but the Brazilian people never really got entertained with his antic.
What he did is like riding a
plane and shouting “bomb” because he thinks people will find it funny.
It’s not.
Jericho got suspended by the WWE for 30 days because of his actions but the more
important thing here is he escaped prejudice of a country where people are
extremely patriotic and has the tendency to piss off anyone who tries to
disrespect their land.
Has anyone seen Fast Five? The hell… this land has the
worst crime rate. Even the animated film Rio showed the slums and the high sense to express dominance.
Now you know why there are a
lot of MMA fighters in this land.
Americans and other cultures
will find this flag-kicking incident crazy. Canada in particular has been a butt of all US jokes. Some
countries aren’t like Canada though. We collectively sighed when Jessica Sanchez lost her bid to become
the first Pinay American Idol. Even
if in her interviews she barely has a hint of Filipina in her, we are still
welcoming her in open arms. One nice way to take things in perspective is the
way anti-American policy protesters burn the US flag whenever a country wants
to get back at the world power.
I think wrestlers and
entertainers in general need to be sympathetic and understanding to other
cultures. I have been extremely pissed off at Hollywood producers who think it’s
a good idea to disrespect the Catholic
Church because they are afraid to mess up anything Islam. I wouldn’t dare piss religion because it’s important for a
character to respect it – which is why it bugs me why atheists and agnostics
find it dandy to just concoct some kind of shock and awe moment.
While I don’t approve the
protesters of the recent Lady Gaga
concert (mostly because they are blowing other things out of proportion), I can
relate to Indonesia for banning the
act. Maybe Judas is a song Lady Gaga
shouldn’t do in the country… and maybe Lady Gaga could hide her skin more.
Arrogance and ignorance pretty
much make up for a lot of crimes. I can imagine the Brazilian nation to get
angsty on the proceedings but hopefully Chris Jericho and the WWE community has
learned to respect different cultures brought about countless lives, a lot of
sacrifices, and years of hard work.
Chris Jericho has since
apologized for his actions – which is a good move. If he wanted to insult the country in an entertaining manner, he could have just done what The Miz did - where he spoke Portuguese and insulted the Brazilian people. Brazil fed on this because a WWE superstar actually learned their words.
Hopefully Jericho will remain culture
sensitive.
Game over.
