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| A problem no one wants to fix Photo Credit: Kevin Steen |
Jim Cornette won't shut his goddamn mouth. That's a problem, for sure. What's an even bigger problem is that people still pay him attention. Whether it's high-follower/influence fans or wrestlers yelling about him or, more damaging, wrestling news sites that keep mining content from the bigoted things he says on his podcast or on Twitter, the cycle of outrage needs the outrage portion to keep turning. That's at least the theory behind containing his idiocy and/or blatant attempts at getting paying work by turning his comments into angles. Ignoring and blocking works with trolls with 34 followers, none mutual, and Groyper avatars because they have no social traction. Cornette, however, has a podcast, a history in the business, and six figures of followers who are not shy about invading your mentions to tell you how wrong you are if you like something he's deemed an "outlaw mud show."
Furthermore, I'm not sure it matters if every single person not in the biz blocks and mutes Cornette, Brian Last, and all of their minions on Twitter. Cornette will always hold sway because the wrestlers take him seriously, especially ones who work for a major, televised promotion in All Elite Wrestling. You can @ Joey Janela or Cody all you want, but they're prideful guys who have a lot of esteem for their own work, and in Cody's case, the work of the people in his company. You have about as good a chance at changing a famous wrestler's mind on not reacting to trolls as you do running for President with a five dollar budget.
The wrestling community is left with an aggressively annoying threat and no real way to deal with it. Cornette's cult (and my god, it's a cult if I ever saw one) is invasive and impossible to shut out. Jack Dorsey's terms of service, which ban trans activists for breathing let alone trying to fight their own harassment, doesn't think that Cornette's group engaging in targeted harassment is worthy of punishment. Using Twitter means you have to be careful out there when saying anything that could be construed as sacrosanct to wrestling. Much like with Nazis, TERFs, and Harry Potter, the Cornette group is not going away.
So what do you do? The only thing I can think of is mockery. Taking the piss out of Cornette and his followers is the only real way to get any satisfaction from their continued existence on this website. Make fun of them. Sure, they're denser than a black hole in that the mockery won't make them feel shame. They're going to be here regardless. No, the mockery is for you and your friends. If you can't get rid of them, at least give them a purpose. Their criticisms don't serve any; that's for damn sure. They're sexist, racist, transphobic, homophobic, and Twitter won't do a damn thing about them. Dunking on them might be the way to go, especially if reporting them doesn't.
Furthermore, I'm not sure it matters if every single person not in the biz blocks and mutes Cornette, Brian Last, and all of their minions on Twitter. Cornette will always hold sway because the wrestlers take him seriously, especially ones who work for a major, televised promotion in All Elite Wrestling. You can @ Joey Janela or Cody all you want, but they're prideful guys who have a lot of esteem for their own work, and in Cody's case, the work of the people in his company. You have about as good a chance at changing a famous wrestler's mind on not reacting to trolls as you do running for President with a five dollar budget.
The wrestling community is left with an aggressively annoying threat and no real way to deal with it. Cornette's cult (and my god, it's a cult if I ever saw one) is invasive and impossible to shut out. Jack Dorsey's terms of service, which ban trans activists for breathing let alone trying to fight their own harassment, doesn't think that Cornette's group engaging in targeted harassment is worthy of punishment. Using Twitter means you have to be careful out there when saying anything that could be construed as sacrosanct to wrestling. Much like with Nazis, TERFs, and Harry Potter, the Cornette group is not going away.
So what do you do? The only thing I can think of is mockery. Taking the piss out of Cornette and his followers is the only real way to get any satisfaction from their continued existence on this website. Make fun of them. Sure, they're denser than a black hole in that the mockery won't make them feel shame. They're going to be here regardless. No, the mockery is for you and your friends. If you can't get rid of them, at least give them a purpose. Their criticisms don't serve any; that's for damn sure. They're sexist, racist, transphobic, homophobic, and Twitter won't do a damn thing about them. Dunking on them might be the way to go, especially if reporting them doesn't.
