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Hey gang! I was going to jump into this edition of Commentary with all the cool things going on in the background but decided not to. If you want to know what is happening behind the scenes, subscribe to our company newsletter by clicking HERE and filling out the required information. Oh! If by chance you don't like what you are getting every other Saturday, you can go back to said link and unsubscribe. So, what I want to talk about is the power of words. In 2017, I decided to go back into writing and reopen The World of Myth Magazine. Now, I am going to be one hundred percent honest. I was perfectly happy with my life of fitness and being a parent, as I went from being entertaining to being entertained. And, I was okay with that. It was while I went back to college that I fully started back the company with the encouragement of a business professor who believed that I had what it took to be successful. So, I jumped back into the public, and things went off fantastic. I was able to balance everything nicely, so I was okay, putting in the time needed to produce the magazine. It was about eight months later. I decided I wanted to restart the JayZoModcast Network and put myself out there for people's entertainment. Not for nothing more or less, it was what it was, and I was okay with that—it gave me an opportunity to connect with my brother and with my best friend. But, in today's world of events, they are both not a part of the network, and I podcast alone every Wednesday on My Public Life as an American Nerd. Now, I completely understand that putting myself out to a public of strangers opens me up for trolling and crummy comments. I get that I do. For most of my life, I have had someone on the sideline, screaming out, "Hey, you suck!" I am fairly used to it, and I have a pre-typed message for those sorts of folks. My personal favorite are those same people who email me with crap like: Yo! U sux and h8 u! I admit, sometimes I have to use Google to figure out the message—It's like breaking a code to find the secret message. The reason I am bringing all of this up is last Wednesday's episode, I had to restart and restart the show until I found myself past midnight, and I was tired. So not wanting to read from a screen, I went free form. I talked about a bunch of stuff that was on my mind, and one of them was the unionization of professional wrestling. I explained that having SAG-AFTRA as a union for professional wrestlers was not something I agreed with. As a promoter of an independent promotion AKA JPWI, that would spell disaster for companies like mine who made less than a million dollars annually. It would destroy the Indies leaving it all to the folks who make more than what most people see in a lifetime. Again, looking at SAG-AFTRA as a union. In movies, this is how it works… If you are an actor and work on indies for a living, but you go to SAG-AFTRA, they get you a job as an extra for, say, $500 a day rate. Afterward, you go back into Independent Hollywood and say, I took a job for an ex amount of money. So, therefore, per union rules, can no longer work for less. They are no longer available to work with shoestring productions because per SAG-AFTRA, you cannot go backward on pay. That applies with a professional wrestler all the same; under union rules and guidelines, you cannot work for less, which sets up this scenario. Say, I have a person who wrestles for JPWI on a regular basis and then gets to work as a Jobber for one of the major circuits for say $5,000. Under union rules, that wrestler cannot come back to the Indies and work for anything less than five grand. But what happens when the entire show's budget is ten thousand dollars? The wrestler is out of work because of not having the finances for it. So over time, the market will die down, and the Independent Wrestling Promotions would disappear, no, not overnight but over time. But the result would be the same. Well, that is the exact argument I laid out on the podcast. I wrapped, shipped it out to the circuit and forgot about it. That is until I got an email from someone who listened to the show and declared that I was a racist for not wanting to have unionization of professional wrestling. Now, at first, I laughed. I honestly did. Anyone who knows me is aware that I do not judge a person based on their skin color, the god they worship. Nor if they voted for Biden or Trump or the gender of their intimate partner. I don't care about any of that. I judge a person by the extent of their character. Whether you are a good person or a douche bag, I accept you for who you are but do not associate with asses, people who are not a joy to be around. For me, it is that simple! I don't know how I did it or when it happened, but I gave that word power. I despise the word racist. In my life, I saw it on both ends. My great Uncle used to call me Little Chicano because my father is of Spanish heritage. In school, I was called the gringo with a Mexican name. And, to be called a racist bothered me deeper than I realized. But instead of making a public list of all the reasons I am not racist; I am taking back that power and will not. If you believe that I am, you sincerely have no idea who I am as a human being because I will treat you the way I would like to be treated. In closing, I would like to say that I am thankful to have all of you reading this in my life (yeah, you! I know you're reading). Times are turbulent at the moment; remember to be kind to each other because it will eventually get better. Be safe and well, this Thanksgiving! With respect to you all!
David K. Montoya
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