To all the people that somehow found time to protest the election of Donald Turmp the last few days:
(particularly college students)
I think you really need to start lifting. You would see that excessive walking is counter to your goal of gains. You would value every spare minute you were not in the gym to practice the art of active rest. Plus, the rest of us trying to get to and from the gym, would not have to worry so much about which streets you are blocking.
Ok, for those of you that feel protesting transcends the basic human need to lift heavy things, here is an analogy coupled with some facts for you to mull over:
The election is a lot like a weightlifting competition. The results and the winner are based on numbers. Sometimes, you go to a competition with the number one total on the startlist, far ahead of anyone else, its pretty much assured that there is no way you can't win. Then, shit happens. Hey, you blow out your elbow, or maybe you didn't cut weight properly. Or, maybe, there was just someone who, gasp, actually lifted better than you on that day.
The point is, we hold weightlifting competitions to see who will actually win, because the startlist isn't always a 100% indicator of who will place how.
So, think of it this way, the polls almost all showed Hillary Clinton ahead. Some said it would be 90+% assured that she would beat Donald Trump. Well, just like the startlist, the polls are not a perfect indicator of an election. That's why we actually go out and vote to see who will win. Just like how we go out and lift on the platform versus scoring people on their best entry total. And, all those celebrity endorsements and SNL skits showing Clinton as the sure win-- those are a lot like youtube videos. How many youtube weightlifting champions have you seen that never quite compete or put the same lifts together on the competition platform?
Now, the facts show that Trump won the electoral votes by a wide margin, and no one has showed evidence of voter fraud. Actually, some articles show that Clinton won less votes than Barack Obama's past election.
In a weightlifting competition, sometimes athletes lose competitions because a lift was turned down by a referee. Its ok to protest a bad call by a referee if you have cause. And, if you really did press-out or elbow touch, or whatever illeagal move in weightlifting, then it only makes you lose credibility to protest a fair call by a referee. Protesting a fair call is just going to alienate you from the refereees and make it even harder to deal with them in the future.
In other words, protesting a "fairly" won election by Donald Trump is silly. It comes off as a tantrum. And, calling all his supporters sexist-homophobe-racists is only going to alienate yourself in the long run.
(particularly college students)
I think you really need to start lifting. You would see that excessive walking is counter to your goal of gains. You would value every spare minute you were not in the gym to practice the art of active rest. Plus, the rest of us trying to get to and from the gym, would not have to worry so much about which streets you are blocking.
Ok, for those of you that feel protesting transcends the basic human need to lift heavy things, here is an analogy coupled with some facts for you to mull over:
The election is a lot like a weightlifting competition. The results and the winner are based on numbers. Sometimes, you go to a competition with the number one total on the startlist, far ahead of anyone else, its pretty much assured that there is no way you can't win. Then, shit happens. Hey, you blow out your elbow, or maybe you didn't cut weight properly. Or, maybe, there was just someone who, gasp, actually lifted better than you on that day.
The point is, we hold weightlifting competitions to see who will actually win, because the startlist isn't always a 100% indicator of who will place how.
So, think of it this way, the polls almost all showed Hillary Clinton ahead. Some said it would be 90+% assured that she would beat Donald Trump. Well, just like the startlist, the polls are not a perfect indicator of an election. That's why we actually go out and vote to see who will win. Just like how we go out and lift on the platform versus scoring people on their best entry total. And, all those celebrity endorsements and SNL skits showing Clinton as the sure win-- those are a lot like youtube videos. How many youtube weightlifting champions have you seen that never quite compete or put the same lifts together on the competition platform?
Now, the facts show that Trump won the electoral votes by a wide margin, and no one has showed evidence of voter fraud. Actually, some articles show that Clinton won less votes than Barack Obama's past election.
In a weightlifting competition, sometimes athletes lose competitions because a lift was turned down by a referee. Its ok to protest a bad call by a referee if you have cause. And, if you really did press-out or elbow touch, or whatever illeagal move in weightlifting, then it only makes you lose credibility to protest a fair call by a referee. Protesting a fair call is just going to alienate you from the refereees and make it even harder to deal with them in the future.
In other words, protesting a "fairly" won election by Donald Trump is silly. It comes off as a tantrum. And, calling all his supporters sexist-homophobe-racists is only going to alienate yourself in the long run.
Think about it-more than half of the people who voted , voted for either a 3rd party or Donald Trump. The total votes for Clinton and Trump differed by 0.4%-- that's practically a statistical tie. You know how we have tiebreakers in weightlifting- like lot number and bodyweight- well, think of the electoral college as the tie breaker.
Again, for easy numbers purposes, if half the country voted for Trump and half voted for Clinton, then that means roughly half the people you know voted for Trump. Are you telling me half the people you know are sexist-homophobe-racists? Really? You know by voicing such opinions of half the voters in the country, you may inadvertently cost yourself friends (maybe even job promotions).
Again, for easy numbers purposes, if half the country voted for Trump and half voted for Clinton, then that means roughly half the people you know voted for Trump. Are you telling me half the people you know are sexist-homophobe-racists? Really? You know by voicing such opinions of half the voters in the country, you may inadvertently cost yourself friends (maybe even job promotions).
Secondly, do you really think that there are no sexist-homophobe-racists who voted for Clinton? Extremism- far left or far right- always results in some group to be hated. Maybe some far left people hate a different religion than some far right people. Finally, if you're 100% sure that all your friends only voted for one candidate, then you need to get out more and meet people with different opinions, races, religions, gender, etc...
You know a really good place to meet a diverse group of people -- the gym. Weightlifting has the most diverse medalists of just about any Olympic sport.
So, next time your college offers a cry-in, or playdoh therapy session to "cope" with the election results, please try squatting double bodyweight for a few reps instead. Or, do what I used to do - workout till my legs were too sore to walk, then study till my eyes were bloodshot. [ None of the colleges I went to could give two f's about whether I was happy or sad when George Bush or Barack Obama won their terms (I don't remember anyone protesting either of them). Nope, my tests and projects were going to be due the day after election day regardless. Then again, engineering school has been likened to masochism by some.]
Finally, there is a huge mental side to lifting. Often, lifters have to block out negative external influences. They have to believe they can lift the weight, and block out the naysayers and lifters trying to psyche them out. Well, I just got an email from an environmental conservationist group saying something ridculous like, " we know you woke-up feeling alone and afraid [the day after the election]". That type of negative garbage prevents forward movement. Maybe, instead of assuming the sexist-gay-racist apocalypse has come, try actually reading all of Trump's 100 day plan for yourself. Try looking-up who Trump has assigned to his transition team -- HINT: it includes a woman, a gay man, and a black man.
Save your end of the world protests for when an actual foul has been committed--you know, protest referee calls when the call is actually bad. You are wasting so much time that could be dedicated to lifting and studying, and you are also making it hard for the rest of us to get to the gym.
Peace and love,
Gwen
You know a really good place to meet a diverse group of people -- the gym. Weightlifting has the most diverse medalists of just about any Olympic sport.
So, next time your college offers a cry-in, or playdoh therapy session to "cope" with the election results, please try squatting double bodyweight for a few reps instead. Or, do what I used to do - workout till my legs were too sore to walk, then study till my eyes were bloodshot. [ None of the colleges I went to could give two f's about whether I was happy or sad when George Bush or Barack Obama won their terms (I don't remember anyone protesting either of them). Nope, my tests and projects were going to be due the day after election day regardless. Then again, engineering school has been likened to masochism by some.]
Finally, there is a huge mental side to lifting. Often, lifters have to block out negative external influences. They have to believe they can lift the weight, and block out the naysayers and lifters trying to psyche them out. Well, I just got an email from an environmental conservationist group saying something ridculous like, " we know you woke-up feeling alone and afraid [the day after the election]". That type of negative garbage prevents forward movement. Maybe, instead of assuming the sexist-gay-racist apocalypse has come, try actually reading all of Trump's 100 day plan for yourself. Try looking-up who Trump has assigned to his transition team -- HINT: it includes a woman, a gay man, and a black man.
Save your end of the world protests for when an actual foul has been committed--you know, protest referee calls when the call is actually bad. You are wasting so much time that could be dedicated to lifting and studying, and you are also making it hard for the rest of us to get to the gym.
Peace and love,
Gwen
2 comments:
This is a perfect analogy, and we'll stated.
Thanks SCC. =)
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