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| There he is, at the center of EVERY conflict Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Well, the Internet exists, and a wrestling fan community certainly exists there. But the way that the abbreviation is used is to imply that there's a selectivity to the membership of said group, like it's a hive-minded enclave of pock-marked fans who all root for heels, hate the WWE's mega-popular good guy, masturbate to indie wrestling tapes, and want a return to the Attitude Era. The truth is, the "Internet Wrestling Community" is a thing that is real, but it's not what the stereotype entails.
This community includes everyone on the Internet who talks about wrestling. Nowadays, that's pretty much everyone, or at least everyone under the age of 50. I am the same member of it than the 12-year-old kid surfing on the family PC with a web filter, following only WWE, festooned in every colorful John Cena shirt under the sun. I could not be philosophically more distant from that theoretical pre-teen, but here we are, on the same series of tubes that allows us to send data, dick shots, and LOLCats to each other, right?
That's why it's so goddamn comical to see fans call out other fans and use the generalization of "haha, stupid IWC wants to see this because they're stupid." As it turns out, those levying the criticism are not only on the Internet levying it, but they also might end up agreeing with the people they're criticizing in a lot of other ways. That is, if they're replying directly to people and not building a magnificent straw man.
But I wonder if the tone of conversation now less an exchange of ideas and more an ideological war to try and see whose mindset will win out and become a hive-mind for this fictitious group. Obviously, this is not an argument that anyone will win, because no matter how many people fall into a consensus, there will always be dissension among even the most arbitrarily-selected group of fans. Even then, specifics within the consensus will always be debated. The only way you get perfect lockstep is when you build an army of cyborgs.
This might seem like a straw man itself to frame the debating as almost as bad as political discourse in America nowadays. The sad truth is that for everyone who is trying to politely debate a topic in civilized tones with the goal either being reaching an accord or at least exchanging of ideas for illumination's sake, there's an argument going on where we have one guy lecturing a legion of fans who may or may not exist in mindset about why they should feel okay about Cena/Rock at Mania this year.
Everyone is always going to have his or her own opinions about a subject, whether they're based in reality or rooted in some twisted fantasy (and every point in between). It's up to the individual person to choose which opinions they respect and which ones they don't, and hopefully, people will choose to exist in a place where they can hear more than one take on a subject. There's merits to hanging out in an echo chamber every once in awhile to hear/read the comfort of people agreeing with you, but if you spend all your time in one, then your own worldview can become warped.
And of course, there's no promise that every dissenting opinion won't be annoying. Hell, I find people I agree with arguing in tones that I hate. The thing is learning to figure out which opinions are horrible, and thus, which ones that should be filtered out. Trust me, it's a lot easier not to listen to someone prattle on/read someone who has no clue than it is to shout them down with what you might think is superior logic.
For better or worse, the smart and the dumb, the nerdy and the cool, the annoying and the logical, all make up the rich tapestry of fans on the Internet. There's really no event in recent memory that has punctuated that like last night's Royal Rumble. It's great to share those opinions and foster something that's a little bit better than "PUNK RULZ CUZ UR DUMB" "NO ROCKY IS KEWL CUZ COOKIE PUSS." But to try and change that through out and out enmity to try and assimilate everyone into a fictitious "IWC" is insane.
The "IWC" doesn't exist. It never will. Actually, that's wrong.
The IWC stands for International Wrestling Cartel, and it's a pro wrestling company based out of Pittsburgh, PA. They'll be at National Pro Wrestling Day offering a title match. What it isn't is a hive-minded International Wrestling Community that likes all the same things and should think uniformly or else DIE. The sooner that is accepted as truth, the better off everyone will be.
