Who doesn’t love a good bad guy?

When I was a teenager I not only loved watching wrestling, I also enjoyed buying its paraphernalia like action figures, magazines, and bubble gum cards. I remember reading the back of a Roddy Piper card that claimed he was the wrestler “people love to hate.” It was the first time I’d ever heard the phrase and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. At that time Piper was already a favourite of mine, but I thought about the wrestlers I really did despise, like Adrian Adonis and Greg “the Hammer” Valentine. I didn’t think it was possible that I actually

hating them. I just hated them, period. But it became clear to me over time what was happening. These villains me to hate them. Why? Because it meant money.

The only thing any of us love more than a good hero is seeing a villain get what’s coming to them. Maybe I wouldn’t pay a cent to see Bad News Brown scowl at me and call me a nasty name. But to see him in a fight against Jake the Snake? Heck yes! I would want to see Jake humble that loudmouth with a devastating DDT! (Oh man… I feel like jumping up and cheering just thinking about it.) And, yes, that sells tickets.

Similarly, we have favourite heroes in movies, but they are usually heroes because they are overcoming terrible people and terrible situations that we find threatening. Ellen Ripley facing off against a deadly and horrifying alien creature. Indiana Jones fighting off heavily armed Nazis. Luke Skywalker confronting Darth Vader. We love to hate bad guys. Without them our heroes are just plain ol’ people in cool costumes.

There is a big red flag to be raised here, however. As fun as this can be, sometimes we blur the lines between entertainment and reality. Even in real life, we can tend to love to hate bad guys. The guy in that reality TV show is such a jerk. The CEO of that big company is a crook. The person who cut you off in traffic is an idiot. It’s easy to hate them because like the characters in a book, a movie, or a wrestling match, we really don’t know them. We just see them as a picture of what is wrong and evil.

This gets especially scary when it comes to how we discuss crime, punishment, and the law. We hear of a crime and we’re enraged that the convicted felon didn’t get more time in prison. Don’t get me wrong—I know that feeling all too well, and I agree that often the sentence seems too light. However, most of us who say someone should have gotten a longer sentence 1) have no training in law or social work and 2) have never faced a sentence, let alone spent any time in prison. If someone needed an appropriate punishment for what they’d done, I’d rather the decision be made by a group of trained professionals who deal with these issues on a daily basis than by someone who doesn’t have the capacity to do so.

And then there are the instances where the aggressor’s lawyer pleads with the court that his/her client was mentally ill or insane. Many of us cry foul. The ironic thing is that we also have no problem saying, “What a sicko!” or “He’s crazy!” when we learn of the crime committed. We’re only fine with “sick” or “mental” being used in our outrage toward them, but not in understanding them as human beings or understanding its significance to the situation.

If we want true justice and prevention of crime, understanding people and their contexts is essential. Loving to hate people is never helpful. We should save that for the movies.

And wrestling, of course.

Congratulations . This is your week.

Best Actress:

Jennifer Lawrence as Veronica in . Joy and I just saw this one. Very weird movie, but the more you read about it and talk about it, it grows on you.

Best Actor: Jared Leto as Harry Goldfarb in .

Best Quote: “You know what I’m thinkin’? Two words… RE – MATCH.” — Wass Stevens as Nick Volpe in

This movie was very well received amoungst actual pro wrestlers. Mick Foley (aka Mankind, aka Cactus Jack) wrote an article on how good it was. And I just read today that when Roddy Piper viewed it, he was so moved he sat and sobbed when the movie was over. There’s no question: it’s a powerful story. Not for the faint of heart, though.