“I don’t see women saying: ‘I’m in good health. Watch me drop down and do some push-ups.’ ”- R. Scott Kretchmar, a professor of exercise and sports science at Penn State, in The New York Times.
Today's NYT says push-ups are the best exercise you can do - a point I've stressed (in various ways) for some time. TIME magazine has already proclaimed Yoga as useless to fitness.* But women don't listen to me because I'm "mean" when I try to stop them from making fools of themselves. Whatever.
*BTW, all normal** men know this. "Drop down and give me twenty" is a cliche' in male circles.
**Non-NewAge
I had a profound moment a while back when i was watching all of these white American new agers & whoever saying the prayers & doing the martial arts & weird yoga stuff of other cultures & realized that these are all traditions that evolved with those people & that they are like ritual magic for those groups & WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WHITE PEOPLE DO THAT? Anyhow, they're doomed man. Americans are doomed. It's crazy that crazy people like you & me & Lupo are on the avant garde of recreating real America while the main-stream is destroying itself. It's just weird.
ReplyDeleteYea but it's so punk rock I don't see how other people miss it:
ReplyDeleteThere's this great story about the Patti Smith Group, and how she used to close her show by displaying this huge American flag. But they were in England (during the Clash period) and were warned that if they displayed the flag there might be a riot.
The band (having already previously endured an unprovoked riot on the road) wanted to be cautious, but something patriotic snapped in Patti, and she started screaming at her guys, "What's the matter with you!?! Don't you love America!?!" So the flag went up - and there was a riot - and people say something changed, forever, about Patti Smith that day. She got married, had a kid, and, having finally "found herself", settled down for a long while. She's an old post-hippie-type but she "got" it.
There's something about being able to say "I love my country" - not like these lying assholes say they "love the troops" - but really love the country that's immensely gratifying to me now. I got it when I was in Europe, during Abu Ghraib, and saw how little the rest of the world understood us - and enjoyed our pain - and, especially, when I got back to discover how little Americans understand about the mind-set of the world. How all this home-grown anti-Americanism plays into the hands of those already anti-American assholes. Fuck that.
Contributing to our own demoralization is stupid in a war. I'm proud of this president for drawing a clear line in the sand that says "We're over here - you've got to choose sides." Doesn't matter if anybody joins us or not because, now, I know which side I'm on and they can kiss my ass - just as they want us to, one day, kiss theirs. Ain't gonna happen. Not on my watch.
As far as the mainstream destroying itself, it's just the idiots on the coasts. They like sound of their own bullshit too much to matter. Most Americans still know what's up. The all-powerful media (which is like the All-Powerful Oz) can't fool most of the people and that's saying a lot. We'll be alright. The fight for the heart and soul of this country has begun - again - and I have no doubt how it'll turn out:
America #1.
you are kidding, right?
ReplyDeleteNope - quite serious actually. And, considering everything we see Americans falling victim to today, you should try to be a bit more skeptical and less defensive: Too many people seem to be confused enough about the issue to think this thing (that they claim is merely an exercise) is such a part of their identity that they have to defend it. That, alone, should tell you something. People don't have to "defend" running, for instance.
ReplyDeleteI'd suggest you read more TMR posts on yoga, and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, to get some background on the cultish thinking behind this movement.
Thanks for writing.