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1786_11 | further adapted. |
1786_12 | Methods
Commonly used research methods in election campaign communication research are:
content analysis
survey research
experimental analysis
network analysis
Survey research (e.g. interviews with campaign consultants or voters) and content analysis (e.g. of newspaper articles or campaign advertising) are the most widely used research methods in election campaign communication research. Apart from the four research methods, there are further, infrequently used methods in election campaign communication research, such as linguistic analysis, which focuses the wording, meaning and context of chosen words within, e.g., political speeches by campaign candidates. |
1786_13 | Election campaign communication can be examined using one single research method or a multitude of methods. A "multimethod study on the role of television during the European election campaign" in 1979 has been conducted by Jay Blumler, combining survey research of party-representatives and voters with a "content analysis of campaign reporting".
All research methods "start with the collection of data and finish with data analysis". In comparative research, either an emic or an etic approach can be applied. In an emic approach data collection measurements are developed culture-specifically, thus, e.g. creating a slightly adapted questionnaire for each considered country with regard to its systemic context. In contrast, an etic approach uses one universal instrument in all considered countries. |
1786_14 | Content analysis as research method
Content analysis is a "systematic analysis of selected written, spoken, or audiovisual text". It "is the most hallowed and most widely used method of political communication research".
Focusing on party-uncontrolled media coverage of election campaigns single news articles or reports (newspaper/television/online) function as unit of analysis. An example of a study on party-uncontrolled communication is Frank Esser's research on the usage of sound and image bites within political news culture in France, (Germany), Great Britain and the United States. |
1786_15 | A category that can be coded with regard to articles or broadcasts is the metaframe of politics (game frame vs. issue frame). The metaframe refers to whether an article frames politics in terms of a game or personality contest between political actors (game frame) or rather focuses the issue positions of a candidate or a party (issue frame). The contextual frame (episodic frame vs. thematic frame) is another category that can be analyzed when examining party-uncontrolled media coverage of election campaigns. An episodic frame refers to isolated reporting focusing on a specific event removed from its context, whereas thematic framing is present in news stories which position the event in a broader context or deal with its meanings for society. Within a content analysis the existence of journalistic interventionism can be detected. Applying certain editorial packaging techniques can e.g. lead to negative journalistic intervention, i.e. presenting a campaign candidate in a negative, |
1786_16 | anti-candidate way in the news. |
1786_17 | With regard to party-controlled communication, e.g., election commercials or websites can be examined using a content analysis. In 1994 Christina Holtz-Bacha, Lynda Lee Kaid, and Anne Johnston, e.g., conducted a comparative study about election campaign television advertising in the western democracies (Germany), France and United States making use of content analysis as research method. Possible aspects that can be analyzed with regard to party-controlled television advertisings are their dominant format (documentary, issue, issue presentation, etc.), their focus (positive/negative) and their emphasis, i.e. whether the spot presents an issue or tries to create and maintain an image. Other aspects that can be examined using a content analysis are the production aspects of a television commercial, referring to the setting (formal/informal; indoors/outdoors), the camera angle or the sound characteristics. Which components are focused within an analysis always depends on the research |
1786_18 | interest and the research question. |
1786_19 | Problems and challenges of content analysis
Manual coding in content analysis, conducted by human coders, is connected to high costs. High costs of manual coding arise partly due to the fact that coders must be trained to assure inter-coder reliability. Another challenge with regard to content analysis refers to the possible existence of multiple meanings of a message, i.e. of a given answer, and the coding of it.
Due to their changeability, the usage of online databases on election campaign communication (e.g. American National Election Study) as data source for content analysis can lead to further methodological problems concerning the traceability and the ability to replicate the study. Additionally, researchers critically have to consider the collection methods of the used data source. |
1786_20 | Survey as research method |
1786_21 | Survey research includes small-scale surveys, i.e. interviews using mostly open-ended structures, as well as large-scale surveys, which make use of standardized questionnaires. A survey can be conducted face-to-face, via telephone, or making use of computer-assisted services. To gain in-depth knowledge of campaign practices, interviews can e.g. be conducted with candidates or campaign committees who coordinate the party-controlled election campaign communication. The most far-reaching large-scale survey in comparative election campaign communication research is Gunda and Fritz Plasser's Global Consultancy Survey. The survey was conducted between 1998 and 2000 with 502 external political consultants from 43 countries including questions on their attitudes and their role definitions. The single interviews, consisting of 27 questions, were conducted face-to-face or via mail. The sampling reprised from membership lists of professional organizations, but also from using the snowball |
1786_22 | approach. A further in-depth survey was conducted by Plasser and Plasser with 24 American consultants about their experiences with regard to cultural barriers and challenges in international cooperations. |
1786_23 | Problems and challenges in survey research
Survey research always has to make sure to define an adequate sample of interview partners. Finding such an adequate sample may bear some challenges, especially in comparative election campaign communication research. If scholars are not familiar with the local election network in a country they can deal with the complex task of finding e.g. major professional national campaign consultants by using membership lists of professional organizations or a snowball-sampling-approach. Disadvantageous, if a sample is not carefully selected, results may be biased. Internet survey research, in particular, is problematic with regard to selecting a representative sample.
If a study does not document its exact research design and instruments, the results are not transparent, which can lead to misunderstandings and misinterpretations. Therefore, the procedural method should explicitly be stated in a study. |
1786_24 | Further challenges when using survey research refer to the statistical assessment and interpretation of answers to open-ended questions as well as the translation and phrasing of questionnaires. In standardized large-scale surveys the accuracy and veracity of answers cannot be assured, since the research relies on the interview partners' individual self-assessments of the questions and pre-formulated answers. |
1786_25 | Experimental analysis as research method
Experiments, conducted in laboratory settings, allow the testing of effects resulting from mere exposure to controlled stimuli. This research method is primarily used in psychological approaches to election campaign communication research. Experiments can, e.g., detect the effects election campaign commercials have on the electorate. By exposing subjects to particular election spots and varying specific details in the ad, the variables causing an effect can be revealed. |
1786_26 | June Woong Rhee, e.g., makes use of two kinds of experiments within in his study on framing effects in election campaign news coverage. To examine the influence of framing effects on voters' interpretation of campaigns, a broadcast-print experiment and a broadcast-only experiment were conducted. As pretest, the participants of the study had to write a letter about the 1992 U.S. presidential election campaign. Afterwards the participants were confronted with print and broadcast news stories about the 1991 Philadelphia mayoral election campaign, which were created using a strategy or an issue frame and simulating the actual coverage. Conditions, e.g., within the broadcast-print experiment were strategy frames in broadcast and print news, issue frames in broadcast and print news, or a mixture, i.e., either an issue frame in printed news and a strategy frame in broadcasts, or strategy-framed broadcast and issue-framed print news. The participants of the experiments were "asked to read or |
1786_27 | watch the news stories for five days in their homes". After the five days of exposure to the manipulated news, the participants met with the experimenter and, as a posttest, had to "write a letter about the Philadelphia mayoral campaign". To interpret the results a content analysis was conducted by Rhee. The study revealed that "both strategy-framed and issue-framed print news stories are effective in influencing campaign interpretation". |
1786_28 | Problems and challenges in experimental research
In election campaign communication research the obvious problem arising from laboratory experiments is to the artificial setting, which makes it difficult to apply results to situations in natural settings; this, e.g., refers to an intensive exposure to a campaign television advertising in an experimental setting in contrast to exposure to television advertising in a homey and distracting situation. Another challenge refers the sampling of experimental subjects. Mostly, college students function as participants in laboratory research, which may distort the results and limit their ability to be generalized. |
1786_29 | Network analysis as research method
Within network analysis the focus lies on the interactive aspects of communication, revealing, e.g., which information is communicated and who communicates with whom. The communicators, i.e. the electorates or politicians, are seen as "nodes in a network of interdependent relationships". Network analysis can be used to examine "the channels of communications within large political units like a state" or smaller units like personal networks. |
1786_30 | A network analysis of weblogs connected to campaigning in the German federal election 2005 was, e.g., conducted by Steffen Albrecht, Maren Lübcke and Rasco Hartig-Perschke. 317 campaign weblogs by politicians and non-political actors were examined along three dimensions of analysis: activity, interactivity, and connectedness. The sample was selected using search engines, existing pertinent lists and the snowball approach. Some of the aspects that were analyzed are the quantity of postings by the blog author, the quantity of feedback received from readers and "the connectedness of weblogs by means of blogroll links". The network analysis revealed the network structure of the blogosphere, showing that the interconnection of blogs was not that prevalent during the 2005 election campaign. Out of the 317 examined campaign weblogs the "majority of the blogs (187, 59%) had no blogroll links to other campaign blogs". Furthermore, party-oriented weblogs primarily link to weblogs of the same |
1786_31 | party. |
1786_32 | Challenges within election campaign communication research
In election campaign communication research, especially in comparative research, some difficulties are faced:
Consideration of country-specific contexts
Since campaign operations are influenced by context variables, it is necessary to know those system-inherent variables when conducting election campaign communication research. "For empirical research this knowledge is essential for forming hypotheses and making predictions about campaign styles". |
1786_33 | The systemic variables influencing modern campaigning are:
the election system (e.g. presidential vs. parliamentary system, majoritarian vs. coalitional system),
the structure of party competition (e.g. few-party vs. multi-party system)
the regulation of campaigns (e.g. access to television advertisements, campaign funding),
the national political culture (e.g. trust in politicians, turnout rates),
the national media system (e.g. television-centered vs. print-centered, public service vs. autonomous broadcast systems),
the current situation (e.g. current events, socio economic situation).
The context variables should especially be taken into account when choosing a most different systems-design, since they can be the possible causes of country-specific differences. |
1786_34 | Theoretical diversity
In comparative research, international research teams have to face "difficulties that arise from differences in academic cultures". There are several strategies to deal with difficulties arising from the theoretical diversity in international research teams. Three strategies of how to manage this theoretical diversity, postulated by David L. Swanson, are:
avoidance strategy
pretheoretical strategy
metatheoretical strategy |
1786_35 | The avoidance strategy is regarded as the simplest approach when dealing with theoretical diversity of comparative research. The cross-national research is conducted by a team from one country or one cultural background and thus avoiding complexity and theoretical alternatives. "Using a pretheoretical strategy means that the international team of researchers agrees upon common research questions and the methods to be employed". "Studies are undertaken without a strict theoretical framework until results are ready to be interpreted". When the subject of study is approached in a metatheoretical way by an international research team a variety of theoretical backgrounds is used to analyze the data. |
1786_36 | Linguistic challenges
Spatial comparative research on election campaigning does not only face linguistic challenges within an international research team but also with regard to analyzing news reports and campaign advertising from different countries or phrasing and translating questionnaires. To deal with linguistic diversity, a translation-oriented approach can be chosen. When conducting surveys linguistic equivalence of a questionnaire can be achieved by translating the original questionnaire into the language of the considered country and, additionally, translating it back into the original language. This translation procedure can be repeated until both questionnaire versions are equivalent. To achieve linguistic equivalence by translating questionnaires the specific connotations of used words need to be known by the researchers, because words can have different connotations in different cultural backgrounds. |
1786_37 | Compilation approach |
1786_38 | Comparisons of election campaign communication can either be conducted by one team looking at different countries (leading to theoretical diversity) or by scholars compiling case studies and drawing conclusions from them. Drawing conclusions from a compilation of case studies can lead to methodological problems. Country experts provide single report about the election campaign communication in different countries, eventually following guidelines designed by the editors. The methodological problem refers to the lack of a unified data set, i.e. the research within the countries does not use equivalent methods and measurements especially designed for the sample of countries (either using a more etic or emic approach to achieve equivalence). To deal with methodological problems rising from a compilation approach, several aspects have to be considered: creation of chapter homogeneity by following a guideline, awareness for the logic of comparative research, and creation of a systematized |
1786_39 | synthesis when drawing conclusions. Nevertheless, the validity of cross-national conclusions remains comprised, since no aggregate data set, derived from identical research conduction, exists. Nevertheless, the compilation approach can provide an insight into communication differences in election campaigns around the globe. Swanson and Mancini published such a compilation in 1996 to compare election campaign styles of eleven countries. |
1786_40 | Functional equivalence
In spatial comparative election campaign communication research, "comparability and the maintenance of equivalence can be seen as the major problems". Research objects are not always equivalent, since they are integrated into different culture-specific contexts (e.g. in "social, political, economic, legal, and media contexts"). To conduct comparative research, the regarded objects, e.g. newspaper reports on election campaigning, have to be at least equivalent in their functionality. |
1786_41 | Functional equivalence of the research objects should be tested on different levels of analysis, i.e. on the level of the construct (construct equivalence), on the item level (item equivalence) and on the level of the method (method equivalence). Item equivalence, e.g., refers to equally verbalizing items in a survey, i.e. exact culture-specific wording in questionnaires. To avoid item bias questionnaires need to be pretested, e.g. by using a translation procedure to deal with linguistic diversity. Construct equivalence does exist, if the object of investigation is equivalently embedded into the higher system level in all countries. Method equivalence summarizes three further levels of equivalence: sample equivalence, instrument equivalence, and administration equivalence. If the units of analysis or interview partners, e.g. campaign consultants, are equivalently selected in every considered country, sample equivalence exists. One aspect of instrument equivalence, e.g., refers to |
1786_42 | whether participants in an online survey are familiar with using computers and filling in online questionnaires. Administration equivalence, e.g., refers to attitudes of interviewers, not varying culture-specifically in a survey, which would lead to culture-specific statements. |
1786_43 | If functional equivalence is not guaranteed cultural bias can occur leading to misinterpretation of results. Cultural bias results if country-specific variables are not considered in the analysis. When, e.g., comparing the length of news articles about election campaigns in different countries, they need to be standardized with the mean article length in each country.
In sum, the concept of functional equivalence implies realizing that applying identical research instruments in different countries does not necessarily lead to measuring exactly the same phenomenon, due to culture-specific differences.
See also
Comparative politics
Notes
References
Further reading
Graber, D. A. (2004). Methodological Developments in Political Communication Research. In L. L. Kaid (Ed.), Handbook of political communication research (pp. 45–67). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. |
1786_44 | Wirth, W., & Kolb, S. (2004). Designs and methods of comparative political communication research. In F. Esser, & B. Pfetsch (Eds.), Comparing political communication: theories, cases and challenges (pp. 87–114). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Psephology |
1787_0 | The Norwegian rocket incident, also known as the Black Brant scare, occurred on January 25, 1995 when a team of Norwegian and American scientists launched a Black Brant XII four-stage sounding rocket from the Andøya Rocket Range off the northwestern coast of Norway. The rocket carried scientific equipment to study the aurora borealis over Svalbard, and flew on a high northbound trajectory, which included an air corridor that stretches from Minuteman III nuclear missile silos in North Dakota all the way to Moscow, the capital city of Russia. The rocket eventually reached an altitude of , resembling a US Navy submarine-launched Trident missile. Russian nuclear forces were put on high alert as a result, fearing a high-altitude nuclear attack that could blind Russian radar, and the "nuclear briefcase" (the Cheget) was brought to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who then had to decide whether to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike against the United States. Russian observers determined that |
1787_1 | there was no nuclear attack. No retaliation was ordered. |
1787_2 | Background
The Norwegian rocket incident was a few minutes of post-Cold War nuclear tension that took place nearly four years after the end of the Cold War. While not as well known an incident as the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 (nor the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident, which was still classified), the 1995 incident is considered to be one of the most severe. The 1995 incident occurred at a time where many Russians, especially in the military, were still very suspicious of the United States and NATO. In contrast, the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 had a much longer build-up. |
1787_3 | Detection
As the Black Brant XII rocket gained altitude, it was detected by the Olenegorsk early-warning radar station in Murmansk Oblast. To the radar operators, the rocket appeared similar in speed and flight pattern to a US Navy submarine-launched Trident missile, leading the Russian military to initially misinterpret the rocket's trajectory as representing the precursor to a possible attack by missiles from submarines.
EMP rocket scenario
One possibility was that the rocket had been a solitary missile with a radar-blocking electromagnetic pulse (EMP) payload launched from a Trident missile at sea in order to blind Russian radars in the first stage of a surprise attack. In this scenario, gamma rays from a high-altitude nuclear detonation would create a very high-intensity electromagnetic pulse that would confuse radars and incapacitate electronic equipment. After that, according to the scenario, the real attack would start. |
1787_4 | Post-staging
After stage separation, the rocket launch appeared on radar similar to Multiple Reentry vehicles (MRVs); the Russian control center did not immediately realize that the Norwegian scientific rocket was headed out to sea, rather than toward Russia. Tracking the trajectory took 8 of the 10 minutes allotted to the process of deciding whether to launch a nuclear response to an impending attack; a submarine-launched Trident missile from the Barents Sea would be able to reach mainland Russia in 10 minutes.
Response
This event resulted in a full alert being passed up through the military chain of command all the way to President Boris Yeltsin, who was notified and the "nuclear briefcase" (known in Russia as Cheget) used to authorize nuclear launch was automatically activated. Yeltsin activated his "nuclear keys" for the first time. No warning was issued to the Russian populace of any incident; it was reported in the news a week afterward. |
1787_5 | As a result of the alert, Russian submarine commanders were ordered to go into a state of combat readiness and prepare for nuclear retaliation.
Soon thereafter, Russian observers were able to determine that the rocket was heading away from Russian airspace and was not a threat. The rocket fell to earth as planned, near Spitsbergen, 24 minutes after launch.
The Norwegian rocket incident was the first and thus far only known incident where any nuclear-weapons state had its nuclear briefcase activated and prepared for launching an attack.
Prior notification
The Norwegian and American scientists had notified thirty countries, including Russia, of their intention to launch a high-altitude scientific experiment aboard a rocket; however, the information was not passed on to the radar technicians. Following the incident, notification and disclosure protocols were re-evaluated and redesigned.
See also
Able Archer 83
References |
1787_6 | Further reading
Forden, Geoffrey. "Reducing a Common Danger." Policy Analysis Paper (CATO #399, 2001) online
External links
A Close Call, the Norwegian Rocket Incident
False Alarms on the Nuclear Front
This Day in History description of the event
Military of Russia
1995 in Russia
1995 in Norway
Military nuclear accidents and incidents
Norway–Russia relations
January 1995 events in Europe |
1788_0 | Samuele "Sam" Dalla Bona (born 6 February 1981) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Career
Chelsea
By the time he was 17 years old, he was captain of the under 18 national side, and was signed by Premier League club Chelsea in October 1998. Dalla Bona's move to London saw the Italian Football Federation amend the legislation regarding the sale of their young players.
The young midfielder was brought into the youth and reserve team squads at Chelsea first, gaining a reputation for prolific goalscoring with 16 reserve team goals, winning the club golden boot in 1998–99. In the same season, he was voted Chelsea's young player of the year. |
1788_1 | He made his senior team debut for the club against Feyenoord in the Champions League a year later in November 1999. The following season, 2000-01, Dalla Bona got an extended run in the side, making 32 appearances in that season and scoring 2 goals. He was boosted further by the departure of older midfielders Dennis Wise and Gustavo Poyet in 2001 and some impressive performances. In his final season at Chelsea, 2001-02, he contributed 4 more goals in the Premier League, including an injury time winner against Ipswich Town and the third in a 4-0 thrashing of Liverpool. He also played during some of the matches in Chelsea's 2001–02 FA Cup run; the team were eventual runners-up to Arsenal, though Dalla Bona did not play in the final.
However, Dalla Bona turned down a contract extension, citing his desire to return to Italy, and was placed on the transfer list. Consequently, Dalla Bona fell out of favour and was forced to train with the reserves by Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri. |
1788_2 | A.C. Milan
Dalla Bona had decided to move back to his home nation of Italy. Numerous clubs were interested in the player, including his home town club Venezia who had a £5 million offer accepted but Dalla Bona decided his future lay elsewhere and turned down the opportunity.
He moved to A.C. Milan for around £1 million in July 2002, having played 73 games for Chelsea in all competitions and scored 6 goals. Dalla Bona made his Serie A debut on 6 October 2002 as Milan defeated Torino 6–0. During his first season at Milan, he received Champions League and Coppa Italia winners medals along with the rest of the squad. |
1788_3 | Facing competition from a star-studded A.C. Milan midfield containing the likes of Gennaro Gattuso, Clarence Seedorf and Andrea Pirlo, Dalla Bona's opportunities at the club were limited and he spent various seasons on loan at different clubs in Italy, the first of which was a year-long loan at Bologna. The following season he was loaned to Lecce having made just a handful of appearances for Milan and in 2005 he was loaned to Sampdoria for a season. |
1788_4 | Napoli
At the end of the championship he returned to A.C. Milan but after a few weeks he transferred to Napoli then in the Italian Serie B league, on free transfer, despite still having a year left in his contract. Dalla Bona had a positive start at Napoli, with the club performing well in Serie B. His contributions to the team included a particularly stunning goal, a left footed volley from outside the box against Treviso. However, as Napoli made their return to Serie A, Dalla Bona was again regularly left out of the starting line, with Napoli signing new players.
On 4 February 2009, Dalla Bona announced that he had left Napoli and was hoping to train with West Ham United to secure a permanent contract under former Chelsea teammate Gianfranco Zola. Dalla Bona announced he had rejected an offer from Serie B side Triestina because of this. He ultimately failed to secure a contact with West Ham and after another unsuccessful training spell with Fulham, he returned to Napoli. |
1788_5 | On 7 August 2009, Iraklis signed Dalla Bona on loan from Napoli for a season. However, he failed to adjust in the team, mainly due to lack of fitness and his contract was terminated in December 2009, after making just three appearances (all as a substitute) in competitive matches. On 1 February 2010 he was signed by third division side Verona.
On 31 August 2010, he was loaned to Atalanta. However, Dalla Bona failed again to adjust to the team, and by the end of the season managed just a single appearance, in the Coppa Italia.
Mantova
On 31 August 2011, the final day of the summer transfer window, Dalla Bona signed a one-year contract for Mantova F.C.
Honours
A.C. Milan
Coppa Italia: 2002–03
UEFA Champions League: 2002–03
References
External links
National Team stats at FIGC official site |
1788_6 | 1981 births
Living people
People from San Donà di Piave
Association football midfielders
Italian footballers
Italy under-21 international footballers
Italy youth international footballers
Italian expatriate footballers
Chelsea F.C. players
A.C. Milan players
Bologna F.C. 1909 players
U.S. Lecce players
U.C. Sampdoria players
S.S.C. Napoli players
Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. players
Hellas Verona F.C. players
Atalanta B.C. players
Mosta F.C. players
Mantova 1911 players
Premier League players
Serie A players
Serie B players
Serie C players
Super League Greece players
Expatriate footballers in England
Expatriate footballers in Greece
Italian expatriate sportspeople in Greece
Italian expatriate sportspeople in England
UEFA Champions League winning players |
1789_0 | Pathos (, ; plural: pathea or pathê; , for "suffering" or "experience" or "something that one undergoes," or "something that happens to one". In medicine it refers to a "failing," "illness", or "complaint". In Stoicism it refers to "complaints of the soul". In its adjectival form: pathetic from ) appeals to the emotions of the audience and elicits feelings that already reside in them. Pathos is a communication technique used most often in rhetoric (in which it is considered one of the three modes of persuasion, alongside ethos and logos), as well as in literature, film and other narrative art. |
1789_1 | Emotional appeal can be accomplished in many ways, such as the following:
by a metaphor or storytelling, commonly known as a hook;
by passion in the delivery of the speech or writing, as determined by the audience;
by personal anecdote.
Pathos tends to use "loaded" words that will get some sort of reaction. Examples could include "victim," in a number of different contexts. In certain situations, pathos may be described as a "guilt trip" based on the speaker trying to make someone in the audience or the entire audience feel guilty about something. An example would be "Well, you don't have to visit me, but I just really miss you and haven't seen you in so long."
Philosophy |
1789_2 | In Stoicism pathos refers to "complaints of the soul". Succumbing to pathos is an internal event (i.e., in one's soul) that consists in an erroneous response to impressions external to it. This view of pathos, and the accompanying view that all pathos is to be extirpated (in order to achieve the state of apatheia), are related by Stoics to a specific picture of the nature of the soul, of psychological functioning, and of human action. A key feature of that picture is that succumbing to pathos is an error of reason - an intellectual mistake.
Epicureanism interpreted and placed pathos in much more colloquial means and situations, placing it in pleasure, and studying it in almost every facet in regards to pleasure, analyzing emotional specificity that an individual may feel or may need to undergo to appreciate said pathos.
Rhetoric |
1789_3 | Aristotle’s text on pathos
In Rhetoric, Aristotle identifies three artistic modes of persuasion, one of which is "awakening emotion (pathos) in the audience so as to induce them to make the judgment desired." In the first chapter, he includes the way in which "men change their opinion in regard to their judgment. As such, emotions have specific causes and effects" (Book 2.1.2–3). Aristotle identifies pathos as one of the three essential modes of proof by his statement that "to understand the emotions—that is, to name them and describe them, to know their causes and the way in which they are excited (1356a24–1356a25). Aristotle posits that, alongside pathos, the speaker must also deploy good ethos in order to establish credibility (Book 2.1.5–9). |
1789_4 | Aristotle details what individual emotions are useful to a speaker (Book 2.2.27). In doing so, Aristotle focused on whom, toward whom, and why, stating that "[i]t is not enough to know one or even two of these points; unless we know all three, we shall be unable to arouse anger in anyone. The same is true of the other emotions." He also arranges the emotions with one another so that they may counteract one another. For example, one would pair sadness with happiness (Book 2.1.9). |
1789_5 | With this understanding, Aristotle argues for the rhetor to understand the entire situation of goals and audiences to decide which specific emotion the speaker would exhibit or call upon in order to persuade the audience. Aristotle's theory of pathos has three main foci: the frame of mind the audience is in, the variation of emotion between people, and the influence the rhetor has on the emotions of the audience. Aristotle classifies the third of this trio as the ultimate goal of pathos. Similarly, Aristotle outlines the individual importance of persuasive emotions, as well as the combined effectiveness of these emotions on the audience. Antoine Braet did a re-examination of Aristotle's text and in this he examined the speaker's goal of the effect on the audience. Braet explains there are three perspectives of every emotion that a speaker is trying to arouse from the audience: the audience's condition, who the audience is feeling these emotions for, and the motive. Moreover, Aristotle |
1789_6 | pointedly discusses pleasure and pain in relation to the reactions these two emotions cause in an audience member. According to Aristotle, emotions vary from person to person. Therefore, he stresses the importance of understanding specific social situations in order to successfully utilize pathos as a mode of persuasion. |
1789_7 | Aristotle identifies the introduction and the conclusion as the two most important places for an emotional appeal in any persuasive argument. |
1789_8 | Alternative views on pathos
Scholars have discussed the different interpretations of Aristotle's views of rhetoric and his philosophy. Some believe that Aristotle may not have even been the inventor of his famous persuasion methods. In the second chapter of Rhetoric, Aristotle's view on pathos changes from the use in discourse to the understanding of emotions and their effects. William Fortenbaugh pointed out that for the Sophist Gorgias, "Being overcome with emotion is analogous to rape." Aristotle opposed this view and created a systematic approach to pathos. Fortenbaugh argues that Aristotle's systematic approach to emotional appeals "depends upon correctly understanding the nature of individual emotions, upon knowing the conditions favorable to, the objects of, and the grounds for individual emotions". |
1789_9 | Modern philosophers were typically more skeptical of the use of emotions in communication, with political theorists such as John Locke hoping to extract emotion from reasoned communication entirely. George Campbell presents another view unlike the common systematic approach of Aristotle. Campbell explored whether appeals to emotion or passions would be "an unfair method of persuasion," identifying seven circumstances to judge emotions: probability, plausibility, importance, proximity in time, connection of place, relations to the persons concerned, and interest in the consequences. |
1789_10 | The 84 BC Rhetorica ad Herennium book of an unknown author theorizes that the conclusion is the most important place in a persuasive argument to consider emotions such as mercy or hatred, depending on the nature of the persuasion. The "appeal to pity", as it is classified in Rhetorica ad Herennium, is a means to conclude by reiterating the major premise of the work and tying while incorporating an emotional sentiment. The author suggests ways in which to appeal to the pity of the audience: "We shall stir pity in our hearers by recalling vicissitudes of future; by comparing the prosperity we once enjoyed with our present adversity; by entreating those whose pity we seek to win, and by submitting ourselves to their mercy." Additionally, the text impresses the importance of invoking kindness, humanity and sympathy upon the hearer. Finally, the author suggests that the appeal to pity be brief for "nothing dries more quickly than a tear."
Pathos before Aristotle |
1789_11 | The concept of emotional appeal existed in rhetoric long before Aristotle's Rhetoric. George A. Kennedy, a well-respected, modern-day scholar, identifies the appeal to emotions in the newly formed democratic court system before 400 BC in his book, The Art of Persuasion in Greece. Gorgias, a Sophist who preceded Aristotle, was interested in the orator's emotional appeal as well. Gorgias believed the orator was able to capture and lead the audience in any direction they pleased through the use of emotional appeal. In the Encomium of Helen, Gorgias states that a soul can feel a particular sentiment on account of words such as sorrow and pity. Certain words act as "bringers-on of pleasure and takers-off of pain. Furthermore, Gorgias equates emotional persuasion to the sensation of being overtaken by a drug: "[f]or just as different drug draw off different humors from the body, and some put an end to disease and other to life, so too of discourses: some give pain, others delight, others |
1789_12 | terrify, others rouse the hearers to courage, and yet others by a certain vile persuasion drug and trick to soul." |
1789_13 | Plato also discussed emotional appeal in rhetoric. Plato preceded Aristotle and therefore laid the groundwork, as did other Sophists, for Aristotle to theorize the concept of pathos. In his dialogue Gorgias, Plato discusses pleasure versus pain in the realm of pathos though in a (probably fictional) conversation between Gorgias and Socrates. The dialogue between several ancient rhetors that Plato created centers around the value of rhetoric, and the men incorporate aspects of pathos in their responses. Gorgias discredits pathos and instead promotes the use of ethos in persuasion. In another of Plato's texts, Phaedrus, his discussion of emotions is more pointed; however, he still does not outline exactly how emotions manipulate an audience. Plato discusses the danger of emotions in oratory. He argues that emotional appeal in rhetoric should be used as the means to an end and not the point of the discussion. |
1789_14 | Contemporary pathos
George Campbell, a contributor to the Scottish Enlightenment, was one of the first rhetoricians to incorporate scientific evidence into his theory of emotional appeal. Campbell relied heavily on a book written by physician David Hartley, entitled Observations on Man. The book synthesized emotions and neurology and introduced the concept that action is a result of impression. Hartley determined that emotions drive people to react to appeals based on circumstance but also passions made up of cognitive impulses. Campbell argues that belief and persuasion depend heavily on the force of an emotional appeal. Furthermore, Campbell introduced the importance of the audience's imagination and will on emotional persuasion that is equally as important as basic understanding of an argument. Campbell, by drawing on the theories of rhetoricians before him, drew up a contemporary view of pathos that incorporates the psychological aspect of emotional appeal. |
1789_15 | Pathos in politics
Pathos has its hand in politics as well, primarily in speech and how to persuade the audience. Mshvenieradze states that "Pathos is directly linked with an audience. Audience is a collective subject of speakers on which an orator tries to impact by own argumentation." Similarly to how Aristotle discusses how to effectively utilize pathos in rhetoric, the way in which one appeals to the reader is similar in appealing to an audience of voters. In the case of politics and politicians, it is primarily more in argumentative writing and speaking. In Book II of Aristotle's writing's in Rhetoric, in essence knowing people's emotions helps to enable one to act with words versus writing alone, to earn another's credibility and faith.
As Aristotle's teachings expanded, many other groups of thinkers would go on to adopt different variations of political usage with the elements of pathos involved, which includes groups such as the Epicureans and Stoics. |
1789_16 | Pathos in advertising |
1789_17 | The contemporary landscape for advertising is highly competitive due to the sheer amount of marketing done by companies. Pathos has become a popular tool to draw consumers in as it targets their emotional side. Studies show that emotion influences people's information processing and decision-making, making pathos a perfect tool for persuading consumers to buy goods and services. In this digital age, "designers must go beyond aesthetics and industrial feasibility to integrate the aspect of 'emotional awareness'". Companies today contain current culture references in their advertisement and oftentimes strive to make the audience feel involved. In other words, it is not enough to have a pleasant looking advertisement; corporations may have to use additional design methods to persuade and gain consumers to buy their products. For example, this type of advertising is exemplified in large food brands such as Presidents Choice's "Eat Together" campaign (2017), and Coca-Cola's |
1789_18 | "Open-happiness" campaign (2009). One of the most well known examples of pathos in advertising is the SPCA commercials with pictures of stray dogs with sad music. |
1789_19 | Pathos in research
Pathos can also be also used in credited medical journals, research and other academic pieces of writing. The goal is to appeal to the readers' emotion while maintaining the necessary requirements of the medical discourse community. Authors may do so, by using certain vocabulary to elicit an emotional response from the audience. “God-terms” are often used as a rhetorical technique. It is imperative that authors still preserve the standard of writing within the medical community by focusing on factual and scientific information without use of personal opinion.
See also
Appeal to emotion
Bread and circuses
Catharsis
Dukkha
Ethos
Logos
Pathetic fallacy
Pathology
Rhetoric
Sensibility
Sentimental novel
For more reading or examples:
https://literarydevices.net/pathos/
https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-pathos.html
References
External links
Rhetoric
Emotion
Writing
Stoicism
Epicureanism
Aristotelianism |
1790_0 | The WCW Power Plant was a professional wrestling school in Atlanta, Georgia, owned and operated by World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
The school was founded by wrestler Jody Hamilton, who opened the training center in 1989 in Lovejoy, Georgia. In 1991, it became the official school of WCW and relocated to Jonesboro, Georgia. By 1995, the school became known as the WCW Power Plant and relocated again, this time to Atlanta where Turner Broadcasting (the parent company of WCW) was headquartered. The school closed in March 2001 when WCW's assets were sold to the World Wrestling Federation (now known as WWE). |
1790_1 | While the school had several successful trainees—including Bill Goldberg, Kevin Nash and Diamond Dallas Page—it was not a highly regarded training center in the wrestling industry. Wrestler Bret Hart, who was injured by Goldberg during a match, characterized the training at the Power Plant as dangerous to your opponent. Journalist Dave Meltzer wrote in 1999 that the school was "a total flop" because of their training emphasis on physical appearance over personality. In 2001, wrestler Molly Holly told Live Audio Wrestling, "the Power Plant focused on push-ups, running, sit-ups, squats, and people yelling at you." Other trainees, including William Regal and Bob Sapp, had positive experiences at the Power Plant.
Operations |
1790_2 | Jody Hamilton's school
The predecessor to the WCW Power Plant was a wrestling school founded in 1989 in Lovejoy, Georgia by former wrestler Jody Hamilton. It became the official development school of World Championship Wrestling in 1991 and was relocated to Jonesboro, Georgia. Hamilton was employed by WCW until the company's dissolution in 2001. There was no tuition for the school. Hamilton would only train wrestlers who had a large physique or had already been trained in the fundamentals of working a match. Hamilton told Jeff Gelski of the St. Joseph News-Press in 1991 that he asked applicants just three questions to determine if they were worth training; their size, their age and their previous wrestling experience. |
1790_3 | Kevin Nash, who trained under Hamilton, described the training facility as "half of a quonset hut where the other side of the building was carpet remnants". Nash has said that Hamilton's age limited the maneuvers he could teach, so much of his training focused on ring psychology. Early students of Hamilton include Nash, Jim Steele and Bryant Anderson. In 1991, Hamilton trained wrestler Mike Winner, who would later join the training staff of WCW Power Plant. Mike Graham began training students at Hamilton's school by 1992. He stayed on as a trainer when the school became the WCW Power Plant and worked there until its closure in 2001. Two early students of Graham were Marcus Bagwell and Van Hammer. |
1790_4 | WCW sent Hamilton and former wrestler Blackjack Mulligan to scout talent at promotions around the United States. In 1993, the pair went to scout Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) wrestlers and hold tryouts at the Tampa Sportatorium in Tampa, Florida for developmental contacts with WCW.
In 1993, WCW put on matches for small audiences at the Crystal Chandelier, a country western bar in Kennesaw, Georgia. The events gave students at Hamilton's school the opportunity to get in-ring experience before appearing on WCW television. |
1790_5 | The school relocated near Atlanta, Georgia in 1994. That year, Hamilton told Mark Binelli of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he received hundreds of phone calls a week from aspiring wrestler. Hamilton explained his screening process, telling Binelli, "I really don't look at résumés a whole hell of a lot, except for size and experience. We get photos, we get videotapes. If I like them, they'll come in for a tryout." The interview was unique in that Hamilton partially broke kayfabe to explain the cooperative nature of professional wrestling maneuvers.
WCW Power Plant |
1790_6 | The Power Plant was in operation as early as 1995. That year, WCW began charging students $2,500 in tuition. Prior to 1995, WCW covered the cost of training for wrestlers they wanted to develop. A segment for the television show Good Morning America on ABC was filmed from the Power Plant on June 18, 1995. WCW filed for the service mark for "Power Plant" on March 21, 1996. Paul Orndorff began managing the Power Plant in February 1998. |
1790_7 | WCW formed a development deal in 1995 with the United States Wrestling Association (USWA), which was based in Memphis, Tennessee. Power Plant trainees, including Ron Reis, were sent to Memphis to get in-ring and television experience, as the USWA had a 36 station syndication deal. Reis and fellow trainee Bobby Walker were also allowed to work a match together for the small Georgia based promotion Peach State Wrestling on September 15, 1995. WCW occasionally ran house shows in small Georgia towns to give Power Plant trainees in-ring experience, the first being held in Canton on April 27, 1996 in front of 125 people. |
1790_8 | Before his death in 1999, Tony Rumble was in negotiations to make his promotion, NWA New England, an official developmental territory of the WCW. The following year, WCW signed a developmental deal with Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA), which was an independent wrestling promotion based in Cincinnati, Ohio run by Les Thatcher. The deal allowed Power Plant trainees to get in-ring experience at HWA events before appearing for WCW. WCW signed another development deal with NWA Wildside, which an independent promotion based in Cornelia, Georgia owned by Bill Behrens. The deal officially began on November 18, 2000 at a show in Cornelia that featured Power Plant trainees Sam Greco, Bob Sapp and Robbie Rage. |
1790_9 | WCW briefly assigned some Power Plant trainees (including Sonny Siaki and Kid Romeo) to NWA Nashville in 2000. After a month in Nashville, WCW recalled their trainees to the Power Plant for an evaluation by Keiji Muto, who was scouting talent on behalf of New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Dusty Rhodes' promotion Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling (TCW), which was founded in 2000 and based in Marietta, Georgia, used a number of former WCW wrestlers and Power Plant trainees at their early events. Ray Lloyd, who trained at the Power Plant and was known best as Glacier in WCW, was the first TCW Heavyweight Champion. |
1790_10 | Power Plant trainees would often appear on WCW programming as jobbers. They would sometimes feature prominently on the c-show WCW Saturday Night, as was the case with Chuck Palumbo in 2000. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, trainees were required to work security at WCW Monday Nitro events and train at the Power Plant five days a week. They could sometimes be seen on-camera during Bill Goldberg's entrances. |
1790_11 | The Power Plant was not only used by WCW to train new talent, but it also gave management the ability to bring veteran wrestlers in to rehab while contracts were negotiated. Wrestlers who regularly appeared on WCW programming could go to the Power Plant to test new maneuvers and use the training equipment. The Power Plant was also where wrestlers could go to run through matches they had scheduled for television or pay-per-view. When WCW brought in celebrities to wrestle, they were often sent to the Power Plant for training, as was the case with National Basketball Association players Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman. WCW used the Power Plant to develop their cruiserweight division in 1999.
In late 2000, Figure Four Weekly reported that the contracts of Chuck Palumbo, Allan Funk, Elix Skipper, Reno and Johnny the Bull were effectively voided and they were put back on development deals. WCW also sought to recoup Power Plant tuition from the wrestlers. |
1790_12 | The Power Plant was advertised on WCW Monday Nitro. Once a month open tryouts were held for applicants aged 18 to 29. If the applicants made it through the three day try-out phase they would earn an invitation to join the school at a cost of $3,000 for six months training. Male applicants had to be at least tall and in weight. |
1790_13 | While researching professional wrestling for a BBC documentary, journalist Louis Theroux visited the Power Plant. He volunteered to take part in some training in an effort to show respect for the business, but when he asked DeWayne Bruce questions about kayfabe, he was forced to do a strenuous exercise routine. At one stage, Bruce encouraged the other trainees to call him a cockroach while Theroux was struggling to regain his breath. Theroux was later shown vomiting on camera. Theroux later recalled, "Yes. I vomited while interviewing some wrestlers at the WCW Power Plant training academy. They had pressured me into a workout that I was patently unequipped to handle. I had had a greasy breakfast and pushed myself to the point of 'blowing chunks' — that's the term they used. And what was funny was Sarge, the head wrestler who was shouting at me, and who had been totally unimpressed by my physical efforts, was equally disappointed in my puking. He seemed to think it was too watery. He |
1790_14 | kept saying: 'That ain't nothing, blow chunks'." |
1790_15 | Racial discrimination lawsuit
As part of a racial discrimination lawsuit filed in 2000 against WCW by wrestler Ricky Reeves, former Power Plant trainer Pez Whatley gave a deposition in which he claimed African American trainees had less opportunities within the company as compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Whatley recalled telling African American trainees upon entering the Power Plant that they would have to put in twice the effort as Caucasian trainees to get ahead. According to Whatley, J. J. Dillon prevented the careers of African American trainees from advancing within the company. WCW production staffer Moses Williams also claimed to observe bias against African American trainees. |
1790_16 | Power Plant founder Jody Hamilton's alleged racist conduct was cited in the lawsuit as part of the institutional barriers African Americans faced at WCW. Hamilton's former assistant Brenda Smith, retired wrestler Thunderbolt Patterson, trainee Tony Carr and Whatley supplied depositions in which they claim Hamilton held bias against African Americans. Hamilton denied the accusations and claimed that Smith held racist bias against caucasians. Hamilton wrote in his autobiography, Assassin: The Man Behind the Mask, that Smith "thought that every black person in the world should have the same attitude, especially towards white people."
Former WCW referee Randy Anderson supplied a deposition in which he alleged Power Plant manager Paul Orndorff "hated" African Americans. Anderson, Carr and Sonny Ono (who had a separate racial discrimination lawsuit against WCW) said Orndorff used racial slurs to describe African American wrestlers. |
1790_17 | Former Turner Broadcasting human resources manager Timothy Goodly identified a lack of diversity among WCW wrestlers and brought it to the attention of company president Eric Bischoff, who Goodly said assured him would be addressed by bringing in more minority trainees to the Power Plant. Goodly did not believe that any effort was subsequently made by Bischoff or WCW management to bring in more diverse trainees.
Wrestler Harrison Norris, who trained at the Power Plant and wrestled in WCW as Hardbody Harrison, also sued the company for racial discrimination. He alleged he paid the tuition and graduated from the Power Plant, but was not offered a long-term contract with WCW. Instead he was occasionally used as a jobber and worked on the ring crew, the latter Norris said he was not compensated for. |
1790_18 | Use in storyline
One of the first instances of the WCW Power Plant being mentioned in a wrestling storyline (known as kayfabe) was by wrestler New Jack, who cut a promo in 1995 during an Extreme Championship Wrestling event in which he claimed The Gangstas were not allowed to train at the WCW Power Plant because they were seen as dangerous by other wrestlers.
On the May 27, 1996 episode of WCW Monday Nitro, Eric Bischoff mentioned on commentary that "Hardwork" Bobby Walker was a trainee from the Power Plant. Walker beat Brad Armstrong in four minutes and twenty-six seconds.
During the October 13, 1997 episode of WCW Monday Nitro, Diamond Dallas Page cut a promo from the Power Plant.
As part of his gimick at the time, wrestler Lodi would appear in the crowd of WCW events holding signs. On the March 2, 1998 episode of WCW Monday Nitro, Lodi can be seen with a sign that reads, "U Want 2 Wrestle? 404-351-4959". The number was for the WCW Power Plant. |
1790_19 | On the February 5, 2000 episode of WCW WorldWide, announcer Bobby Heenan left the studio desk to go search for the Power Plant. After asking unidentified members of the production staff for help, Heenan says, "I need a lot of tight close ups of me. It's not important for me to interview or even see anyone from the Power Plant. But get all the shots of me." Heenan is ultimately unsuccessful in his search as the camera operator locks him within a chain link barricade in the studio warehouse. As he's signing off, announcer Tony Schiavone quips, "What a dummy."
Natural Born Thrillers |
1790_20 | The stable Natural Born Thrillers, which was made up of Power Plant alumni, was created in 2000 and were the kayfabe enforcers of Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff. During a segment on the September 6, 2000 episode of WCW Thunder, the Natural Born Thrillers returned to the Power Plant in a limousine. They preceded to accost trainer Mike Graham and trainee Danny Faquir, culminating in the group beating Graham in one of the training rings. The Natural Born Thrillers then move towards their former trainer Paul Orndorff's office assaulting a trainee along the way. They make entry to the office and huddle around Orndorff, who is standing behind his desk as the group approaches. After a brief argument, Orndorff charges towards them and a melee ensues that spills out of the office where security is alerted, who break up the scuffle. |
1790_21 | At Fall Brawl on September 17, 2000, the Natural Born Thrillers faced the Filthy Animals in an elimination tag team match. Paul Orndorff entered the match as a surprise tag partner of the Filthy Animals. While attempting to piledrive Mark Jindrak, Orndorff fell awkwardly and was immobile in the center of the ring. After conferring with referee Charles Robinson, Orndorff was pinned by Sean O'Haire. Neither team won since Robinson stopped the match on account of Orndorff legitimately suffering a neck injury. He would not wrestle another match until March 5, 2017 when he appeared at the Canadian Wrestling's Elite eighth anniversary show as a tag team partner of Omar Amir and Danny Duggan.
On the September 22, 2000 episode of WCW WorldWide, the Natural Born Thrillers (Reno, Chuck Palumbo and Mike Sanders with Sean O'Haire) defeated a team billed as Power Plant trainees (Steve Sharpe, Robbin Rage and Kevin Northcutt). |
1790_22 | Training style and legacy
To succeed at the Power Plant, a trainee was required to display an abundance of strength and stamina rather than basic wrestling skills. Trainee Craig Pittman, who previously served in the United States Marine Corps, likened the Power Plant to a military boot camp. Trainees reported to the Power Plant at 9am and began the day with a half-hour of warm-up exercises consisting of squats, push ups and sit ups. They would then get in the ring for three hours of bumps, break for lunch and return for three more hours of bumps, practice matches and test promos. |
1790_23 | In the May 17, 1999 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer wrote, "The Power Plant, for all its hype, has been a total flop. How many stars have come out of the Power Plant? The Giant, who didn't become a star because he was taught to be a skillful performer or a good interview, and Bill Goldberg. They both had an incredible can't miss physical look and, for their respective sizes, exceptional athletic ability which overcame the fact that neither were anything close to complete packages when they were put out in front of the public. [...] Is the answer to find some young tall guys with some genetics and a little athletic ability, gas them to the gills, and push them to the moon? The Power Plant is filled with guys like that, almost all of whom are exposed as stiffs in their rare appearances on WCW Saturday Night." Meltzer put his views more bluntly in the September 30, 1999 edition, writing, "The Power Plant in its current form has clearly been a failure." |
1790_24 | Pro Wrestling Torch columnist Bruce Mitchell was critical of the Power Plant in 1999, writing, "Dump the management of the Power Plant since it’s great at putting out muscleheads who never get over. As a publicity magnet, the Plant has been great, but for making new stars it’s been a failure. Again, check the numbers, in money and new stars, and you’ll get the point." Bryan Alvarez of Figure Four Weekly wrote in 2001 that the Power Plant was "hardly renowned for turning out world-class workers". |
1790_25 | Wrestling manager Jim Cornette published a blog on his website in 2015, which read in part, "The Power Plant was another school notorious for their 'conditioning' drills where guys would do calisthenics until they puked and take lots of bumps, and they even had a trainer that had a 'drill sergeant' gimmick, an underneath wrestler named Dewayne Bruce [...] The Power Plant was also known for turning out very few actual star wrestlers who stood the test of time and ever worked anywhere but WCW."
WCW Power Plant founder Jody Hamilton wrote in his autobiography, Assassin: The Man Behind the Mask, "The Power Plant was one of the highlights of my career. I lived for that school." According to Hamilton, WCW management often ignored his input when it came to Power Plant trainees. |
1790_26 | Bret Hart, who was forced to retire when a stiff kick from Power Plant graduate Bill Goldberg tore a muscle in his neck and gave him post-concussion syndrome, blamed the end of his career on the Power Plant training regime, saying "I don't think it was a priority to protect your opponent."
Kaz Hayashi, who wrestled in WCW from 1997 to 2001, has a finishing move known as the Power Plant (a modified over-the-shoulder back-to-belly piledriver), which is named after the training facility. |
1790_27 | After WWF (now WWE) purchased certain WCW assets in 2001, the Power Plant was shuttered. Former lead trainer DeWayne Bruce opened a wrestling school known as the Super Power Plant in Jasper, Georgia, which was operated in conjunction with James Adams' Superior Wrestling promotion. Some of the WCW Power Plant trainers, including Jody Hamilton and Paul Orndorff, joined the WWA4 Pro Wrestling School staff in Atlanta following the WWF purchase. Bruce joined the training staff of WWA4 after his school closed. WWA4 is still in operation today. |
1790_28 | Trainee experiences
Frustrated by the lack of bookings he was receiving as a manager in WCW, Diamond Dallas Page — who was 35 years old at the time — decided to train to become a wrestler at the Power Plant. According to Page, both Dusty Rhodes and Eric Bischoff initially advised against it, but Power Plant manager Jody Hamilton encouraged him to pursue wrestling. Page told Wade Keller of the Pro Wrestling Torch in 2011, "I lived at the Power Plant. I was constantly practicing my wrestling because they would not put me on the road. If you don't play guitar all the time, you don't get any good. If you don't get to wrestle all the time, you never get any good." |
1790_29 | When asked about his Power Plant training, wrestler Shark Boy told Bryan Alvarez of Figure Four Radio in 2005, "It was tough [...] that was my job, nine to five Monday through Friday was to get up and go in there and get screamed at and take a lot of bumps and run around a lot [...] It was tough, though, though—but [...] I was probably [...] in the best shape of my life. You had to be just to survive there."
Bob Sapp, who is best known as a kickboxer and mixed martial artist, trained to be a wrestler at the Power Plant shortly before WCW folded. During an interview with Bryan Alvarez of Figure Four Radio, Sapp said WCW provided him with a rental car and hotel room complimentary for 90 days during his training. Sapp reflected positively on his time at the Power Plant, saying, "I'm in there with Sam Greco, Tank Abbott and other professional wrestlers [...] It was great, they were wonderful men and leaders to look up to." |
1790_30 | Wrestler Elix Skipper claimed that Power Plant trainees were seen as threats to veteran WCW wrestlers, who feared new talent would take their airtime and eventually cause them to lose their job. On the Power Plant itself, Skipper told IYH Wrestling in 2005, "I don't know what you guys heard about a tryout, but it's three days of hell [...] The training school—it was designed to break you down. You couldn't pass the first day unless you were physically in shape and then the second two days was [sic] just mentally, because your body already broke down after the first day [...] you have to physically keep pushing yourself to make it. [...] that's Buddy Lee Parker, that's the way he pushed us and years later he explained why [the trainers] did what they did [...] to weed out the people who loved it and didn't love it and to this day I still love wrestling." |
1790_31 | On his training experience at the Power Plant, Mark Jindrak told Neal Pruitt on the April 8, 2018 episode of the podcast Secrets of WCW Monday Nitro, "We did five hundred squats per day. We had Sarge [DeWayne Bruce]. Sarge drilled us every single day. No breaks, eight-to-four, but we were all athletes. We could handle it. We were hungry, we were all hungry. [...] So, the experience was good. I had a great time, I have memories. People want to say that we were green, we weren’t ready. Well, we were. We were green. We probably weren’t ready. I don’t feel like I really started learning how to work until I got to the system in the WWE."
Wrestler Shane Helms, who was briefly assigned to the Power Plant, claimed trainers told more senior trainees to be rough with new try-outs. Wrestler William Regal, who trained at the Power Plant in 1999, praised the school in his autobiography, Walking a Golden Mile. |
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