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3.14.2008

An Alternative View On Jeff Hardy

The following article was written by indy wrestler, "Bam Bam" Bruno Davis.

Now, I'm not normally one to blog or whatever, and I don't remember much from any high school English class , so excuse me if this isn't up to you scholarly standards.

I'm going to come out and say now that this may sound biased. I'm a libertarian, so I am a big believer in personal responsibility and personal freedom. I feel it is better to come right out and state my stance rather than try to present it as fact, let you come to your own conclusion.

Jeff Hardy was recently suspended for another "Wellness Policy" violation. The majority of the opinion seems to state that Jeff Hardy is some sort of bad person for failing a drug test. I have a somewhat alternative view. I think that in a free society, Jeff Hardy should be able to take any kind of drugs he wants and still be able to stay in line with the wellness policy.

From what I have read, the wellness policy is in place to assure the "Well Being" of it's employee's. Now I find that a bit vague, but let's assume that means it is in place to assure the talents are healthy enough to perform. A well instituted policy is a good idea, make sure nobody on TV is in any kind of physical trouble or will effect the overall show. Great idea. Assure your TV show will run smooth, then rest easy at night knowing the talents are healthy. That doesn't mean it is the WWE's job to be a babysitter for the performers to make sure they are not breaking the law.

There is a very simple reason why WWE tests for illegal drugs. They are illegal. Not necessarily because they are bad for you. All the performers already have to do tests for their physical ability, and they routinely pass, but people are constantly failing for other "dangerous" drugs. I believe that if they pass the physical tests, then they should be free to do whatever ever drugs they want, as long as they keep themselves healthy. When the time comes where their drug abuse affects their performance, it will become evident during a wellness test, at that point, WWE should take action. What drugs a person takes recreationally, like anything done recreationally should be at the discretion of said person, not the WWE.

To say WWE should test for the drugs simply because they are illegal, would be like saying WWE should install camera's in the workers cars to make sure they don't run red lights (which, would be far more dangerous than doing most drugs). Unless it directly affects the company, anything the policy checks for is an invasion of privacy.

I am not going to get into any boring statistics, or the pro's and con's of steroid and pain pill used in moderation. This is simply based on my personal views on an individual's individual freedoms. Since what Jeff Hardy does in his free time is neither ours, nor the WWE's business, I will simply judge him based on what I know, which is what I see on TV.

Visit Bruno Davis online.


15 comments: on "An Alternative View On Jeff Hardy"

Anonymous said...

I completely agree with you, shit I don't even think drugs should be illegal.

Anonymous said...

Stupid argument.

Eddie Guerrero didnt have drugs affect HIS performance but they took his life.

Get a clue Bruno.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the last comment. If you think a person should take recreational drugs whenever they want as long as it doesn't effect performance is your opinion. Jeff Hardy and the other WWE stars are CONRACTED WORKERS. That means that if they do something to break contract then they can get punished. Shit I am not even contracted where I work however if I fail a drug test I get fired. No suspensions or fines or even a company paid trip to rehab. As much as this next statement is mentioned it needs to be mentioned again. Jeff Hardy is a ROLE MODEL. Little kids look up to him. He needs to act the part. I agree that this doesn't make him a bad person, but deciding on the career he chose has consequences.

Bill the Mark said...

Anonmymous;
Bruno isn't talking about Hardy taking drugs to IMPROVE his performace or look. What Hardy does for his recreation, IN HIS TIME, is his business. Eddie did his thing to improve his look. Was it a risky gamble? Yes. But it was HIS choice. And besides, what exactly was in Hardy's system, too much spray-on tan solution? He does look addicted to the orange shit.

D.J.B. said...

I too am a Libertarian, and I understand where you are coming from. I don't agree with everything, but I do agree with most everything.

The personal decision of each person should be exactly that, PERSONAL!

Anonymous said...

Really? Eddie Guerrero snorted copius amounts of cocaine to improve his look?

Anonymous said...

Just to respond to a couple comments...

anonymous said...
Stupid argument.

Eddie Guerrero didnt have drugs affect HIS performance but they took his life.

Get a clue Bruno.





I understand where you are coming from, but I think we are arguing two different points, I am not saying that drugs are safe or advocating people use them. I am simply stating that it is the individual's choice whether or not to take said drugs.

Anonymous said...
I agree with the last comment. If you think a person should take recreational drugs whenever they want as long as it doesn't effect performance is your opinion. Jeff Hardy and the other WWE stars are CONRACTED WORKERS. That means that if they do something to break contract then they can get punished. Shit I am not even contracted where I work however if I fail a drug test I get fired. No suspensions or fines or even a company paid trip to rehab. As much as this next statement is mentioned it needs to be mentioned again. Jeff Hardy is a ROLE MODEL. Little kids look up to him. He needs to act the part. I agree that this doesn't make him a bad person, but deciding on the career he chose has consequences.




Perhaps you misunderstood my point, I am not saying that the WWE does not have the right to institute a drug policy, I believe the only reason they insitute the policy is because those drugs are illegal, and they find themselves being pressured to test for them by the government, and the general public.

The WWE has the right to include whatever they want in their contracts, be it a dress code, or a drug policy. My personal beliefs have to be left at the door because the performer signed the contract. I did not mean to create an argument for workers rights, it was mearly a critque of the wellness policy based on it's public and government role in creating it, along with the backlash against Jeff Hardy.

The roll model argument is tougher because people often base it far more on a their personal belief system, rather then consider the "role models" rights and responsibilites. I normally liken it to discussing religion, as ones beleifs are hard to change... but what the hell.

Jeff Hardy is a pro wrestler, he gets paid to be a pro wrestler. His job is not to be a role model, but some children choose him to be one anyway. There is not much somebody can do when they find they have become a role model, it seems to me like they have some of their rights taken away because people have deemed them responsible for their children. Parents should worry about their children and nobody else (with some obvious exceptions).

I understand people think we should take precautions with children, especially when drugs are involved. Children are very impressionable and may very well pick up these bad habbits, but it is the parents responsibility to stop this from happening, not Jeff Hardy's.

I could also get into a discussion regarding why certain things (like drugs) vilify role models while other things (violence) don't... but this has gone too long already.

d.j.b. said...
I too am a Libertarian, and I understand where you are coming from. I don't agree with everything, but I do agree with most everything.

The personal decision of each person should be exactly that, PERSONAL!





Cool that you are a libertarian too. Considering you share the same basic politcal opinion, I would be interested to know what points you disagree with. I could always just be wrong afterall.


anonymous said...
Really? Eddie Guerrero snorted copius amounts of cocaine to improve his look?




I think this might be the same guy who made the first argument, but I am going to respond anyway because I happen to feel pretty strongly about that topic, and the topic of indivual rights in general.

When Eddie Guerrero died, I was crushed. He was my favorite person to watch on TV, and I had been a big fan for many years. It was close to ruining me on the entire wrestling idea altogether, and to be honest, it still gets to me. But I am a non-issue, he also left behind his wife and daughters without a father. They have been deprived of a father for the rest of their lives because of his drug habbit. His drugs almost ruined his life a few times, along with the lives of his family.

I still think about it sometimes, hoping that it won't happen again. And maybe the wellness policy will prevent this from happening again, which is fantastic. But despite all this, and I hope you are still following because this is my main point; I cannot agree with something that infringes on a persons individual freedoms, and that includes the right to do stupid and crazy things.

bam

D.J.B. said...

Actually the only part I disagree with you on is nit-picky. I do believe that there should be a limit as to what drugs, or what amounts the guys take. We do agree that as long as it is at their liesure, then ok, but I personally think that any copius amount can affect more than just them, through either their work as a whole, or the way they hit moves which could endanger the other boys.

Like I said, very nit-picky, but just something.

Anonymous said...

Eddie's "freedoms" destroyed the lives of everyone in his family. His "choice" to snort coke like it was water destroyed his wife, his kids and it led to Chris Benoits story.

Wrestlers are too stupid to look after themselves and need sanctions to prevent them from killing themselves.

Rude
Awesome
Bigelow
Pillman
Rocco
Grunge
Spicolli
Eddie
Bulldog

and on and on we go.

Anonymous said...

A company with the history of WWE and its performers must have regulations like this because no other organization can site a death rate as high as WWE.

Yes, baseball has had it's steroid issues and I'll be curious to see in 15 years how many players from that era have died, but right now the pro-wrestling industry leads the way in terms of drug (all forms) ralated deaths. Due to this very reason, they must police what their performers are consuming in their spare time because the individual CAN'T do it on their own. It's a proven fact, given how many wrestler deaths have occurred or how WWE struggle to find alive former wrestlers to put into the hall of fame each year.

In the end, the wrestler has a responsibility to uphold to many people: himself, his employer, and his fans. The wrestler is a role model whether they like it or not; it's a part of the job and that was accepted when he/she signed the dotted line on a WWE contract. In the end, you can't really blame WWE for wanting to protect themselves and their employees by having clauses in the contract that say an employee must be "well".

In conclusion, I think its great Jeff Hardy was suspended. How many more times will it take him to get it given this instance and his past? Perhaps because of this and other interventions Jeff Hardy might actually be live in 15 years when Vince inducts him into the hall of fame.

Anonymous said...

They aren't "taking away personal freedoms" as much as they are trying to make sure these guys don't die by 40. They have the employees well being in mind and are simply trying to do the right thing. I see where the argument is coming from but it just doesn't have legs to stand on.

D.J.B. said...

You guys are right about the effects these things had on them and their families, but what I want to ask you is this: Were they forced to make these decisions? Nope. They were personal choices. Every choice a person makes has consequences, people know that going in, and sometimes they make them anyway. The fault is their own. Should they have? No. Did they? Yes. Were they forced to? No. Did they make that decision and then deal with the consequences later? Yes.

Anonymous said...

When a wrestler gets busted for anything in reflects poorly on the company, if it were my money I'd have their ass. Personal freedoms, don't like it work someplace else that's your choice.

Anonymous said...

why the f*ck is Bruno Davis of all people writing blogs?

Big Daddy Donnie said...

Cuz he's a friend of Tha O Show and he had an opinion.

Personally, I'm surprised he knows how to turn on a computer.

Andrew Davis on the other hand....