Okay. I'll play.
First: SB 1070 is a law that required people to be able to show that they are in this nation legally, when and if stopped for other legitimate reasons. Please explain to me how this is a bad idea. "But, it's mean to Mexicans.' Only the ones who are already committing a crime, by being here illegally. Doesn't bother anyone else with the basic common sense required to carry their ID in their wallets.
Second: Republican support of SB 1070 doesn't show any form of racism, or dislike for immigration. The only thing shown by that poll is that most of the people who answered those polls are in favor of reducing illegal immigration. (Note that I keep using the word "illegal." It's kind of important.)
Third: It's already a federal law that immigrants must have this ID on them, at all times. So, what you're claiming is that SB 1070 somehow evil, because this law would require the Arizona Police to actually enforce a law that is...... wait for it...... already on the books.
(I'm referring to USC § 1357, the full text can be found at
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1357#f_2 )
Which translates to one thing. People actually do see characters who go this far out into the fringe as being what the mainstream right-wing is. It's simply not. My issue was never with how the character is being portrayed, on camera. My issue is the fact that people are seeing this as a showing of how the majority of people on the right feel. And, frankly, you've proven my point, and done so with impressive skill. Thank you.
And, now it's my turn to keep this on topic, so that it (hopefully) doesn't get deleted.
I do agree with you, on one thing, though. Jack Swagger has needed a manager since Day 1. I like the guy's work, but he simply cannot cut a promo. And, his lack of mic skills seems, to me, to be what has been holding him back during the entirety of his WWE run.
I know. I know. "Vicky." I'll say this straight out. Vicky Guerrero outright sucks as a manager. She simply cannot get actual heat on anyone, except herself. AJ Lee got more actual heat on Dolph Ziggler in 24 hours than Vicky did in 24 months. And, she did it before a single word came out of her mouth.
And, Ziggler is very easy to loathe. He's that pretty boy jock who always thought he was God's gift to Earth, and his crap doesn't stink, while going out of his way to ridicule everyone who didn't live up to his standards of appearance and living. Almost everyone has had to deal with that kind of prick before, and Vicky was incapable of getting people to dislike THAT character. Frankly, that's incompetence, on her part, in my eyes.
And, if she couldn't get Ziggler heat, what the hell chance did Swagger ever have with her? Why do I say that? Because, until this point, Swagger's character was a generic, moderately cocky wrestler who could actually back up most of the things that he said. He almost never ran from a fight, and (to the best of my knowledge) never cheated. That's not a natural heel character. That's a mid-card babyface character. He had zero chance of getting any actual heat with that character, especially with Vicky as her manager.
Now, Dutch Mantell is a full paradigm shift for Swagger's character. First off, it's a VERY easy character to outright hate, since his attitude is, to be frank, revolting. I will admit, though. Up until he said the words "cross our border," I was really hoping for the swerve being that the characters were enraged by "YOLO" and "Swag." Had that happened, I would have instantly stopped seeing Swagger and Coulter as heels.
Secondly, Dutch Mantell is a heel's heel. Unlike Vicky, who would likely have a difficult time keeping heel heat on the Klan, Dutch could probably turn apple pie and vanilla ice cream heel, inside two promos. Okay, maybe 5 promos.
Also, Dutch is completely old-school. If you watch the promo again, you'll notice that he wasn't trying to be complicated. He certainly wasn't trying to be cool or snide. In wrestling, you're not supposed to show off every aspect of a person's humanity. You're not supposed to have a reason to like the heels. You're not supposed to have a reason to dislike the babyfaces.
Almost every heel who has ever turned face by the crowd has fallen victim to this. Randy Orton comes to mind, off the top of my head. He wants to be a heel. But, the main parts of his character that he plays up are things that people wish they had in themselves.
And, that's what Dutch did right. He kept his promo very simple, very to the point, and very easy to play off of for next time. And, he ended it with something that can be easily remembered, both by Swagger/Coulter, to get their points across, and by whichever babyface eventually stops them, to rub their faces in their wrongdoings. "We, the people."
From what I can tell, the single biggest trap that writers fall into, when writing villains, is to not flesh out the underlying reason for their actions. In WWE, Kane is an exceptional example of this. His entire character is built around, "I am evil, so I do things that are evil, because I like being evil. Yay, evil!" (And, if you've watched the Kane DVD, you've seen that, outside of "yay, evil!" I was not exaggerating.) But, nobody thinks in those terms. Or, to be more accurate, no sane person thinks in those terms.
The most important aspect of being a villain is that your character believes that he is doing the right thing. After all, everyone is the hero in their own story. Swagger and Coulter actually believe that they are right. And, that conviction brings out mannerisms that simply do not occur if all you've done is memorize a script. "My character would say this" is much easier to convey than "this is what I've been told to say."
Hopefully, Swagger will spend a significant amount of time with Dutch, and take every possible opportunity to learn from him. If this gimmick has any longevity, this can do absolutely nothing but help Jack Swagger for the rest of his career.
People mentioned that "It'll only take one sponsor...." I doubt it. WWE is still a highly marketable product, and would be able to replace a few sponsors, since Raw and Smackdown are still pretty high in the ratings. I think that it would take a lot more than one sponsor. Oh, wait. Mohammed Hassan. Dammit.
