Excellent piece and very illuminating.

When I was young in the 80s, most wrestling fans thought professional wrestling was real. It was nuts. They couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

Speaking of eventualities though, eventually, the stunts became more and more extreme to appease the crowd. They had to go bigger and bigger to the point where only am imbecile would think it was real. Popularity dropped. A lot of people were angry they’d been duped. Then wrestling reinvented itself by coming out of the closet and embracing even more extremes of showmanship but now everyone knew. The stunts and gags you see these days are just … I can’t even find the word.

People still love it though, the way people loved public executions and gladiator battles. It does provide some form of deep psychological appeasement to certain types.

It makes one wonder though, how far can politicians take performance extremes before reality comes crashing through and people realize they’ve been duped because none of it was real? Let’s not kid ourselves that Trump is the only one. What happens then? Can politics reinvent itself to be concerned about everyday people for real or can the spectacle of governance for the privileged be made entertaining enough that the audience doesn’t walk away or riot when they realize that none of it will ever matter for them?

It’s a dangerous game.