I am almost reminded of the feud between Sgt Slaughter and Hulk Hogan leading to Wrestlemania 7. WWF thought creating an extremely negative situation would result in talk, which would result in ticket sales, which would result in money.
Although it wasn't as easy to communicate back then, there were threats of violence and death toward Sgt Slaughter for siding with Iraq. This resulted in WWF switching Wrestlemania to a smaller venue and they actually lost money and ticket sales.
A very different plot, but my point being that you can only push so much negativity on people before a small number of them can't take it and start acting out. You piss some people off, even over what seems like can be a trivial thing and they react primatively and stupidly.
I actually didn't mind the Iraq sympathizer thing at the time. The current subversion of fan expectations after years of build up pisses me off to no end. I, of course, know it's just a show and not something to get violent about. However, the dumbass people who take it way too seriously... I can only imagine how angry they are.
Even as a psychologist, I sometimes just don't get people.
Although it wasn't as easy to communicate back then, there were threats of violence and death toward Sgt Slaughter for siding with Iraq. This resulted in WWF switching Wrestlemania to a smaller venue and they actually lost money and ticket sales.
A very different plot, but my point being that you can only push so much negativity on people before a small number of them can't take it and start acting out. You piss some people off, even over what seems like can be a trivial thing and they react primatively and stupidly.
I actually didn't mind the Iraq sympathizer thing at the time. The current subversion of fan expectations after years of build up pisses me off to no end. I, of course, know it's just a show and not something to get violent about. However, the dumbass people who take it way too seriously... I can only imagine how angry they are.
Even as a psychologist, I sometimes just don't get people.