No, you're wrong, and besides, you're funny-looking.

Where to begin…?

The recent election furor got me thinking about the American people a little bit, and started me wondering whether all people everywhere share the same faults as us. I’ve come to the conclusion that, no, only Americans are this backward, despite all of the advantages of money, leisure and power that we enjoy. One thing I know for certain, now: the American people have a fear of--nay, an outright hatred for--rational thought.

Go ahead, try this experiment if you don’t believe me: start a discussion with someone regarding some contentious point or other, then start using “sophisticated,” intelligent language to make your point, and (voila!) watch how quickly his or her temper doth flare. This is particularly true if you live in the South, which is populated by he-man woman-haters sinisterly clutching onto their cornbread values (I should know, I come from a long line of the aforementioned Neanderthals). There’s no quicker way to get branded a “know-it-all” or a liberal pinko commie than to communicate with anything other than grunts and farts (don’t get me wrong, grunts and farts are lovely, but even chimps and some carnies can rein in their animals instincts when the situation calls for it). It’s as if they believe that you’re trying to dupe them into agreeing with you because you’ve acted on anything other than stubborn passion for your beliefs.

Let me say again: intellectuals and in fact anyone exhibiting rational thought are feared and hated automatically in this country. Go ahead, prove me wrong, I DARE YOU. Let’s examine how some of my Republican friends reacted to the persona of Sarah Palin during the Vice Presidential “debates.” (Before you label me a “liberal,” I should go on record saying that I am in fact more libertarian than either liberal or conservative). It wasn’t uncommon for them to revel in how thoroughly Palin had kicked Joe Biden’s ass the previous night during the debates. If kicking Biden’s ass meant using emotionally-charged rhetoric to the exclusion of even a single reasoned, thoughtfully-presented argument, then they’re right. I’m not claiming that Biden’s arguments, or even the “facts” used to make them, were especially accurate, sound or compelling, but at least the Democratic camp put forward an effort to appear thoughtful.

“What in all Hell does this have to do with fitness?” you may be thinking. I find that most people approach their “training” inside the gym the same way they do their viewpoints outside of it: gut feeling, passion. Most gym-goers operate on whim, relying on their instincts, if you will, which consist of impressions about fitness that they’ve gathered from the media, fitness magazines (fed by ad revenue), infomercials, or fellow gym-goers. They do a thing, knowing only that it feels right for them at that moment, never stopping to consider whether they should do that thing, and if they should, then how they should about doing it. To prove this, observe gym members as they go about their “training,“ note the way most wander from machine to machine, or room to room, thinking about what to do next.

Now, should you try to show them the error of their ways, presenting the facts and using that cool, rational, no-nonsense manner of yours, prepare to be told to fuck off. Even worse than these folks are the ex-football players.

Because their coach--who, let’s face it, probably coached his athletes to lift the way that he was taught, which is to say imperfectly--taught them to train a certain way, they will swear by his methods as if they were the Gospel. Most coaches aren’t students of physics nor do they understand biomechanics as well as they should, and the majority only landed their jobs because they were once decent football players themselves, not consummate lifters, and they new someone who new someone who got them hired to that position in the first place. But, no, ex-football players are expert lifters--just ask them if you don‘t believe me. Or just have one of them tell you to fuck off.

Look, we have to do better, BE better. Let’s find reasons, good reasons, INFORMED reasons, for the way we behave as we do. Let’s adopt a pact of open, rational inquiry and develop a discerning gaze to be directed at everything that we find worthy of attention. And let’s not allow ourselves to become driven by fear. Open, rational inquiry is the antidote to fear, because it shows us the how and the why of our little universes, gives us the peace of mind that, pass or fail, we have made the best choices based on the information available to us at this time, and grants us a bit of distance from our problems so that we may then decide how best to avoid making the same or similar mistakes again.

-S.