"Physical Fitness" as a right-wing dog-whistle

Yeah, right. Tell me another story

Like many leftist screeds, there is a kernel of near-truth buried in the essay.

(Far right extremists) championed (physical fitness) as a tool to help fight (survive) the “coming race war” and the street battles that will precede it. Recruits are encouraged to link individual moral virtues such as willpower, decisiveness and courage, with desired collective traits such as virility and manliness.

The article is worth deconstructing if only for the purpose of entertainment.

Essays are like tents. Tents are held up by tent-poles that are not visible from the outside. Let's speculate about the tent-poles (assumptions) the author used to hold up her essay.

She is angry about physical disparities between men and women

She singles out MALE physical fitness.

She is anti-Second Amendment

Her argument only makes sense in a universe where firearms and other weapons do not exist.

A 78-year-old woman in a wheelchair who carries and is proficient with a handgun can beat Mike Tyson.

She is married to the idea that "WORDS" are the only thing that matters

There is an old saying, "Every problem looks like a nail when your only tool is a hammer.

Give the devil her due. Looking at her bio, she is undoubtedly brilliant with words. She is brilliant at using them to manipulate people around her and to advance herself. 

She is using them to "imagine" and advance a world where every problem is a nail. She either turns it into a nail or she disparages the people who can use screwdrivers and welders and other tools.

She is an elitist who is protecting her turf

Like the Pharaohs of Ancient Eygpt, modern elitists want a moat around their status. The Pharaohs did it by claiming to be gods. The modern elitists do it by kicking away all of the ladders that lead to the tree-house.

The most robust ladder to becoming elite is intelligent practice and the best way to inculcate that is through physical fitness training.

A humble example

Pelé, my oldest son was anxious about 7th grade phys-ed because they benchmarked the number of push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups at the start of the year. His classmates had been needling him about his spaghetti-thin arms.

Mid-summer, Pelé asked me "What can I do so I can do more push-ups?"

"Well, Pelé, how many push-ups CAN you do?"

"I dunno"

"Let's find out."

It turned out he could do five...barely...with rotten form. He was sway-backed and shaky.

"Here is the plan" I told him. "First thing in the morning you will do two push-ups. Then you will brush your teeth and then do two more. Then after you get dressed for the day you will do two more. That will be three sets of half your maximum."

"You will do the same thing at lunch time and dinner time and just before you go to bed."

Of course I got an argument. "What good will that do? I mean, two push-ups just isn't going to cut it."

He wanted words. He wanted guarantees. I could not give him any.

"Practice leads to perfection. There is no way to prove it with words. You have to run with the plan and your body will tell you if it is working."

Mid-week we did another max-rep test and we adjusted the number of push-ups per set to half the max. Pelé cut me out of the process once he understood the process: Test for max-reps twice a week. Adjust the number of reps-per-set. He was VERY self-conscious about his weak arms and chest.

Later, Pelé told me that the gym teacher told him he could stop cranking out push-ups as he hit twenty. Pelee did another ten to rub the other kids' noses in the fact before he quit.

It was a glorious day for Pelé.

The point of sharing the story is that physical fitness is the single most concrete way to demonstrate (to children) that intelligent practice is the ONLY way to rapidly improve. You cannot "think" yourself into perfection. You cannot "talk" your way into perfection (unless you are an antiquated, Leftist spewing words). Practice is the only way.

 

A tip of the hat to 70sTarheel