Jeff Kinney

Feature Story
Jesse Ventura
Goes Off the Grid
with New Book, Talk Show
by Melissa Fales
It’s hard to pin down a definitive description of
Jesse Ventura. During his pro-wrestling days, he
was known as “The Body” and played the part of a
brazen bad guy. Towards the end of his wrestling
career, Ventura began an acting career, appearing
in such films as Predator, The Running Man, Major
League II and Batman & Robin. From 1999 to 2003,
residents of Minnesota addressed him as “Governor”
and embraced him as a political reformer. In the
newly released second edition of his book, American
Conspiracies, Ventura continues his outspoken
criticism of the United States government that has
earned him a diverse collection of additional labels
ranging from paranoid zealot to hero, depending
on who you ask. Even Ventura himself doesn’t have
a conclusive answer. “Personally, I consider myself
multi-faceted, very much like my career,” he says.
Ventura was raised in a family with a strong duty
to country. “Everyone in my family served in the
military,” he says, including his mother, a nurse in
North Africa during World War II. They talked politics
at the dinner table, where a young Ventura listened
incredulously as his father told him in no uncertain
terms that everything he was being taught in school
about the Vietnam War was a lie. “He said the reason
the U.S. was in Vietnam was because someone was
making big money off of the war,” Ventura recalls. “And
lo and behold, my dad was right. He passed away in
1991, but I like to say he gets smarter every day. My
father, with his six bronze battle stars from World War
II, opposed the Vietnam War way before the hippies
ever did.”
According to Ventura, his father was so vocal
about what he saw as the failings of the American
government, not
despite his deep-seated
patriotism, but because
of it. “Our forefathers
knew that in order for
this great experiment
we call the United
States to succeed, the
citizens would have
to remain vigilant,” he
says. “We’ve dropped
the ball. Today, if
you question the
government, you’re
considered unpatriotic.
But really, it’s the opposite. You’re a patriot if you do
question the government. That’s the only way it works.
We’ve lost sight of that. We’ve become a bunch of
lemmings.”
Although he vehemently opposed the war, Ventura’s
father didn’t stand in the way of both of his sons
entering the military. Ventura joined the U.S. Navy
right out of high school and became a “frogman,”
completing two tours in Southeast Asia.
Returning to American soil, he enrolled at a
community college, earning a 4.0 GPA his first quarter.
A natural athlete, Ventura had gridiron aspirations,
but ended up on stage instead, including a production
of Aristophanes’ The Birds. When he discovered the
world of pro-wrestling, Ventura was hooked. “I loved
how it combined my athleticism and my theatrical
background,” he says. “I like to refer to pro-wrestling
as ballet with violence. Yes, it’s choreographed, but so
was everything Nureyev did.”
8 StoryMonstersInk.com | NOVEMBER 2015 | Story Monsters Ink