It's about functionality. Nothing more, nothing less.
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musings
By Neil Anderson
Originally posted on FamilyShare.com
A lot of people are saying that "strong is the new skinny."
Here is my shortlist on why this phrase can be harmful to your health:
1. It assumes skinny is beautiful
It's not. Beautiful is beautiful. Strong is just another kind of beautiful. So is skinny. Implying that beauty has anything to do with being skinny or strong shows a profound misunderstanding of what beautiful is. Beauty is a condition which transcends physical definition. It is truly in the eye of the beholder.
2. It assumes beauty has something to do with physical appearance
What a broken notion. What a terrible message. I can't think of a better way to poison a mind (Especially a young one.)
3. It undermines the content of its own message
"Strong is the new skinny" has taken an unrealistic body image and has tried to replace it with another, equally unrealistic one.
4. It doesn't promote HEALTH at all
Are the promoters of it unaware that folks will do equally unhealthy and terrible things to themselves (drugs, surgery, never ending preoccupation) in the pursuit of strength, as they do to become skinny?
5. The pursuit of strength is a black hole
It has no end. How strong do I need to be before I am the "NEW SKINNY?" Is there a "too strong?" Is there a "not strong enough?"
I'm leery of who gets to decide what "strong" is. Seriously. Who classifies someone else as strong? Is there a committee? Is there a government agency voted upon by the people? Where is the vetting done? Who finances this?
It presumes to rank people. Are stronger people more beautiful than those who are less strong?
6. Strength is an incomplete pursuit
Strength alone doesn't address one's cardiovascular health, flexibility, or stamina. These are as different from one's strength as they are from each other. Each contributes to overall health. Focusing on any ONE of these to the exclusion of others undermines overall health.
7. Being strong speaks nothing of one's ability to move (walk, run, jump, throw, ride, swim).
You can't just assume that all good bench pressers are good swimmers. They aren't. So, how does being "strong" override the need to get outside and move around, learn new skills or develop abilities?
8. Strength when used in this phrase has NO actual purpose
Think about it, skinny for skinny's sake never had any real purpose to begin with. It has always been a broken pursuit. It didn't make people more loved, more accomplished, or more worthy. It never made people better spouses, mothers, employers, employees, patriots, statesmen, caregivers, thinkers, humanitarians ... etc. Skinny was always just skinny. And so now we are to replace this condition with "STRONG?" For what purpose?
Strong is NOT the new skinny. Saying it IS just kicks around the glass of a message that was completely broken to begin with.
I never believed in that whole (read in a whiny voice) "Humans only use 10% of our brains" thing.
It's is pure silliness. The following vid (below) from discovery does a pretty good job of explaining why.
More reasons I don't believe this:
- The alleged originators of this theory put it forward in the 1890s. Are we really giving credence to a theory "discovered" during a time when bloodletting was still a thing? Before antibiotics? Before vaccinations?
- Dale Carnegie (the guy who made this theory famous) was a self-help salesman. Seems to me like he had a dog in this hunt.
- If I'm only using 10% of my brain why did it get so tired after chemistry tests? My muscles don't get that tired after using 10% of them. My skin doesn't burn after being exposed to only 10% sunshine.
- If I know anything about the human body it's this: if you don't use it, you LOSE it.
- How is it that no other part of my body only uses 10% of it's capacity? I don't use only 10% of my eyeballs. I don't use only 10% of my bones. If I do only use 10% then I generally become very ill (see reason #4).
- It's insulting to me to imagine that the entire population of earth, every human that has ever lived, has only ever used 10% of his/her brain function (Jesus? Mohammed? Tesla? Hawking?)
- If someone ever did figure out how to use their entire brain, how is it that they still never became intelligent enough to teach the rest of us to tap into the other 90% of our own?