Canvas shoes, before I respond to anything else, what level of bitchiness are all the above displaying?
Sweetie, I’ve answered all of your questions in about every way I can think of to make it clear what my, and other people’s annoyance was with **the OP subject matter. **I’m not sure how else to explain it so that you’ll get it. You either can’t, or don’t want to see the very simple gripe folks have with it. And I’m sure other people would like to hear(read) something else besides only what I have to say about it and your replies to me.
So you only have a gripe when a fit woman asks “what’s your excuse?” but it’s OK for everyone else? That sounds like some sort of sexism.
Now who’s projecting? I meant exactly what I said in the post directly above this one, taking over a thread with only two people posting is rude, and our two sets of posts have definitely hit that boundary and then some. If you’d like to continue the debate, feel free to IM me.
Pretty much this for me. I don’t think she thought it that far through. I don’t think it was a brilliant attention-seeking ploy. I think she just took a somewhat known meme, ran with it, and didn’t realize the wrong way it could be taken. At the end of the day, it’s a big case of Who Gives a Fuck to me.
She has a self confessed eating disorder. To me, that makes a mockery of all her claims that she’s just worried about other people’s health.
Whatever… the less you say, the more people listen.
And you see, that right there, is a reasonable response. From my perspective you’re neither advocating a strong position on fitness one way or the other, you’re simply being realistic and reasonable.
Your views Lynn are middle of the bell curve. That said, Erin Stern’s pretty hot.
She used a meme that’s common throughout the fitness community for all sorts of similar images - people with missing limbs, elderly folks, mentally-disabled folks, etc. The backlash here is one of demographics.
When most people encounter the meme, they’re not in the same group as the subject. We’re not as old, not missing any limbs, etc. I suspect this image would go over just as poorly in the average retirement community, with similar rationalizations for why this person’s results aren’t typical. And truthfully, for most groups using the expression, expectations are much lower.
Kang, a 30-something mother of three, is part of a larger demographic with higher expectations (from others and from themselves), so the picture hit close to home on a pretty common sore point. Overall, I’d say it’s a pretty small percentage of 30-something moms, but the internet makes small percentages much more vocal.
Look, I acknowledge you weren’t speaking to me directly when you wrote this post but I gotta tell you, reading your posts is driving me nuts because time after time after time, you’re basing all your premises on the flawed assumption that EVERYBODY who reads your stuff agrees with you - therefore you can’t be wrong.
At best you’re using thousands and thousands of words to pontificate on your personal opinions. At best.
At worst, you’re continuously confusing matters of opinion with examples of fact. And extrapolating your further opinions on that flawed debating technique. Before you write another little mini epic on how I (and the rest of us) supposedly feel on this subject, start remembering you’re only speaking for yourself - and that’s where your opinions start, and that’s where they end. You certainly don’t speak for me.
That’s a very insightful post, I hadn’t considered that particular angle.
I think a lot of the reaction to this kind of thing is a bit like the person sitting in a park trying to quietly read a book.
After the 20th moron walks up and remarks: “Reading a book huh?” the reaction of “YES! I AM. INDEED. READING A FUCKING BOOK!!!” may seem a bit overboard to the person on the end of the barrage but the person just trying to get on with their afternoon has heard it all before and is tired of being told the obvious.
In the interests of fairness I conducted a Google search on the following 4 words…
maria kang eating disorder
The third highest ranking was Maria’s Facebook personal page, in which she states she HAD at one time, an eating disorder. Given that this isn’t uncommon amongst young women in the Western World, I for one, am more than happy to applaud her in overcoming that particular affliction. And it certainly doesn’t invalidate any of her claims, in my view.
I once observed an impressively fit female dancer pick up her tips without using her hands. Until Ms Kang demonstrates this, I have to ask her, “What’s your excuse?”
I feel like I did know the answer before I asked the question.
I don’t know whom to credit with originating the phrase, “Tyranny of Mediocrity”, but I feel it applies well to the detractor’s of Kang and her simplistic but (I believe) not mean spirited message.
I’m on a strict “when I feel like it” fitness plan, meaning my gym hours are very random. Every single time I go the trainers/gym owners are there working out.
I don’t know, I’m trying to come up with a reason why it’s OK for everyone else to make a picture saying “what’s your excuse” like this…
http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/6848066_700b.jpg
…but Kang’s “bitchy” because she did.
Look around, a lot of people think you are overreacting.
No thanks, I’m happy to call it game, set and match right here.
Oh, I don’t disagree with your analysis. Other than my “who cares?” angle, I was commenting on how I don’t necessarily think Kang was purposefully trying to stir up controversy with the ad. It may very well have just been good intentioned in her mind and not completely thought-out.
I understand where the outrage is coming from, but I personally think it’s dumb. If I’m interested in fitness and improving my body and body image, then that ad can be a little bit of inspiration to me. If I don’t care about looking or trying to look like Ms. Kang,
I ignore it and move on with my life. That ad is not targeted to me, and it’s not a big “fuck you” to people with different priorities.
You’re probably not watching them all that closely, but I suspect they aren’t doing full workouts. A buddy of mine is a personal trainer and he fits a set in here and there between clients. The only planned, continuous exercise he gets is running in the mrning before his appointments start.
The job can be as advantageous as mentioned though. One gf of mine was an instructor at Ballys back in the 90s, and leading classes meant she was doing various aerobic regimens 4 45-minute hours a day; she was fit as hell.
She owns and runs two elder care nursing homes.
She has explained over and over again that to help keep fit, while at the park with her kids, she runs around playing with them instead of sitting on the bench playing with her iphone like the other moms.
She does not watch tv and other time-wasting activities, which frees up time for her to exercise.
If all the haters had spent every moment of time they spent watching tv, playing video games, posting 627,364 times on message boards, etc. running on the treadmill instead … how different would you look and feel right this minute? And if you can’t get on a treadmill, if you hand been doing upper body exercises or whatever you CAN do?