Month: February 2021

Why “woke” is an insult: a conjecture

I am starting out with a conjecture about human nature (and yes, I believe there is such a thing; we are NOT blank slates; no animal is)

I believe that humans, by nature, are aspirational. We want to strive for improvement and success, even when there is no monetary benefit.

People want to improve their golf game..get better at playing cards, score higher in a game, run that 5K faster or place better, lift more weight; win an award at an art fair. We even “want” more likes on Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Of course, we like the work promotion and signs of success (e. g. a nicer looking car, better body, better tickets) are aspired to.

We even want a spouse or…kids that we can openly be proud of.

Also, in our dealings: we want the cook to fix our food well; we want our mechanics to do the repairs correctly; the doctors to cure us..the drivers and pilots to get us there safely.

We even want our sports teams to win the game.

So…I believe, we are instinctively drawn to success…to “winners” if you will (or those who appear to be winners).

Republicans seem to understand this.

Liberals and wokes on the other hand…..do not appear to.

Wokes are always going on about “privilege” “white” privilege”, “male privilege”, “able bodied” privilege, etc. When someone has success..well, if they’ve made “good choices”, there is an excuse for that:

Of course, when one makes “good choices”; it is relative to the available choices. I don’t deny that, say, being born rich is both an individual and a statistical advantage in many respects.

For example: if you come from a rich family, it might make sense to chase that dream of being an entrepreneur as there is family support (and perhaps a trust fund) to prop you up if you fail. If you come from a poor family, it might make sense to take the route of getting a secure job that pays well…thereby dooming you to be ..”comfortable at best”…because the safety net isn’t there if you fail.

And, of course, if the educational opportunities are limited to begin with..the probability of a comfortable lifestyle will probably be smaller and you might be unaware of all that IS available to you.

So I am all for opportunity work for the disadvantaged.

But the disparaging of success: that will always be unpopular and keep people at arm’s length, even if you espouse popular policies.

For example: yes the minimum wage IS a popular policy (as is COVID relief) but no one wants to earn the minimum wage…it is popular..FOR SOMEONE ELSE.

I know people have trouble with this article and the subsequent video…but…there is some truth here.

On the other hand

I admit that the pandemic has changed my thinking and feeling about things.

For one, it is a bit humbling to realize that I will be one of the last ones to get a vaccine…I am not old enough to be 1b, I am old enough to be at elevated risk, but I am blessed enough to work remotely.

So…that I can take.

Also, early on, I had envied those living in small towns, away from the (stupid in pandemic times) protests and from the early rapid spread. That was then.

And then I saw this old billboard:

Several white supremacist groups have roots near Harrison, Ark. Residents believe a yellow billboard in town is a reaction to a local effort to make the town more inclusive.

Needless to say, the yellow sign is ridiculously wrong.

But what about the lower one: the Welcome to Harrison…
in days of old, I thought about “hey, they are saying: low crime.”

Now: I wonder: “how many of them even wear a mask or practice social distancing.”…there is no way in the world I’d be attracted to this town, even without the upper yellow sign.

I really view the urban vs. rural divide differently now.

Am I really against “wokeness”? Or is it…

I admit that when I hear the adjective “woke”, I grit my teeth. I have something very specific in mind.

But…when I examined the issue further…what I am objecting to isn’t really a certain point of view but rather what I consider flawed thinking…that those on the right frequently engage in as well.

Onto some examples of what I am talking about:

  1. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez discussed her experiences when the Capitol was stormed by the morons. Yes, she was in an annex building which was connected to the Capitol by a tunnel. But some Republicans criticized her on the basis of inaccurate media reports of what she actually said.

I remarked that she was “a publicity hound” but “not a liar” and, while that comment got quite a few likes, I drew attacks too, including the all-too-predictable line:

“another male threatened by a smart woman.”

You see similar reactions on liberal twitter, faculty meetings, in UU churches, etc.

It appears to me that they think “if this person had the right attitude they would respond like this…”

And yes, conservatives act this way too. Didn’t like Bush? You must “hate America.” Don’t like this preacher? You must “love sin” (or Satan, or whatever.)

2. Some time ago, a sitting US Senator was speaking and someone came from the audience and interrupted them and took the microphone.

Rude, right? Well, to the woke, it mattered:

Was the interrupter a, gasp, WHITE MALE or a “WOMAN OF COLOR” and was the Senator a WHITE MALE or a WOMAN OF COLOR.

Why does it matter? “Privilege”, they say.

I say: nonsense…it was rude either way.

And yes, it happened in both manners (then Sen. Harris and Sen. Sanders)

But some Republicans also have a different standard: they were so upset at what they saw as insults from liberal politicians but told those offended by Trump’s insults to “get over it.”

3. Wokes often get upset when their advocacy based “scholarship” is called out (example: they are upset over criticism of the 1619 project)

But some conservatives happily run with crackpot ideas like creationism and “intelligent design” as it suits their social agenda.

I am not naive enough to think that anyone is perfectly objective and yes, some top of the line scholars are dreadful human beings.

But, well, I believe that one should try to be as agenda free as possible when pursuing the truth; there should be a difference between advocacy (what a lawyer does at a trial) and scholarship.

Summary: I have a distaste for these sorts of things; I actually want a more fair society that, when appropriate, includes multiple points of view.

I say “when appropriate” in that I don’t think that there is such a thing as, say “feminist engineering” (e. g. if the design is not done according to sound engineering principles, it will fail).

Matters sporting…

Let me point out that I am keenly aware of how ordinary my athletic abilities are. I’ll put it this way: when swim coaches saw me swim, they frequently asked if I had swam in high school. NO ONE asked me if I swam in college.

Or, one time, a New Balance shoe rep looked at me..and guessed my 10K run time within 1 minute and my bench press within 10 lbs…upon observation.

It is clear what I am: a gym bro who likes to do physical stuff but isn’t particularly good at it.

I’ll comment more later in this post. But I suppose that what this means is my videos are for me to look at and to determine what I should do next..and I got some valuable feedback from seeing them.

Today: rotator cuff and hip hikes before pull ups (still rested between sets)

5, 5, 10, 5, 5, 5, 5, then 6 singles then a set of 4: 50 reps total. the ones in the set of 10 were not high quality. Some chins..some standard.

bench press: 10 x 134 then (all “light touch and go..NO BOUNCE”)

3 x 184, 4 x 174, 4 x 174, 5 x 170

shoulder press: barbell: 3 sets of 10 x 92, 10 x 44 dumbbells

rows: 4 sets of 10 x 134

push ups: 40, 30, 10

headstand (went ok t0day)

very leisurely pace; took about 90 minutes.

My videos: I note two things: 1. Height looks MUCH better from behind ..the side angle is deceiving and 2. The set of 10: quality suffered in the second half; you can tell that by the bend in the elbow and how close my forearm got to the body. Note: it was 14 F outside…extra clothes were almost like light weights.

Set of 10: bad toward the end.

Set of 5: better quality.

Same quality (later set); but the height “looks” better.

Chins…not my best (note the disgust in my voice); I had rested a bit too much between sets.

35 to 40…getting tired..

Bottom line: cold weather, lots of clothes and too much body weight (200-205) makes these hard for me right now. 190 would feel better, as would warmer weather.

Sports Commentary

I’ve become something of a fan of Alan Thrall’s youtube channel. He is a gym owner and a coach who has had a modest amount of success in competition. He appears to be very down to earth and in tune with the fact that other people have different goals. So here are a couple of his videos;

  1. Why do people stop lifting?

I can just say what happened to me: I vary what I do per life circumstance. When i ran, I considered other activities supplemental. Then I got hurt running and so walked and swam. But I would injure myself in these activities…and I have not been to the pool in several years.

It now makes sense for me to get back to the pool but ..well..with vaccination I think I will return. And, as I age, well, if one activity gets more time and effort, the others either stop or get less. I have weight stuff and will probably stick with that until I am medically no longer able to lift. Same with walking.

And yes, I like the personal challenge though I am not setting PR’s in anything any longer.

And speaking of injuries:

Now, there is quite a bit of wisdom in what he says. That being said: I know that swimming improved when I changed my hand entry from “thumb first” to “pinky first”; it gave my shoulders more room to rotate.

But…as he points out…and increase in training (volume or intensity) that is too sudden is usually the main culprit. That point is pure gold.

Weather moving in..ugh…

Well, nice ice coating and the next week will suck, weather wise.

Weights:

pull ups: 10 singles, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 4 singles, 5, 5 (different grips; rotator cuff, hip hikes)

bench press: 10 x 134, 10 x 150

deadlift: low handle: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, high handle: 10 x 224

shoulder presses: barbell: 5 x 109, 5 x 109, 4 x 109, 10 x 92

dumbbell: 10 x 44

rows: 4 sets of 10 x 134

plank (2:30), head stand (ok)

First set of 5 with 109..almost went for 6.

Accepting your limitations and delusions

I won’t deny that, as a teenager, I just KNEW that I was going to be an NFL player someday.

Yes, that was me in 1974 after the Yokota High (my school) vs. Yo Hi game ..we won 34-14. But… I still remember their first touchdown. It was punt return and the returner was running toward me and a blocker got me with a body block. I got up just as the returner was running past me; I was off balance and basically awkwardly waved my arms at him as he ran past; I didn’t even slow him down.

No. Athletic. Ability.

A day or so ago, I saw this (note: the Vanderbilt coach is now the Penn State coach)

In this video they show…vertical jump (LOL), 40 yard dash (my best: 5.8..no kidding…and yes, first number is a 5). And they show the shuttle run.

I remember practicing the shuttle run for the service academy physical education test. You had to run back and forth between cones, and no matter how much I practiced and how hard I tried, I really, really, really sucked.

I made West Point and Annapolis (though West Point told me to get in shape before the summer) but flunked the Air Force Academy test. Mind you, I ran a 5:54 mile at the time.

But bursts of speed, quickness…no dice. And I was worst at changing directions quickly, which, if you think about it, is exactly what a football player needs to be able to do. If I flunked a service academy test…what in the world was I thinking in that I was going to be an athlete?

And it didn’t get better later; at Annapolis I flunked the obstacle course twice as a freshman..wait..3 times (passed it later..but only with a lot of practice). Flunked the obstacle course again in Pensacola …after practicing for it. (got it the second time). Mind you, I was running a sub 40 minute 10K at the time. I aced the pull ups, the XC run and the swim. But obstacles…agility while on the move…nope.

It literally frustrated me to tears.

So.. ..when I see it now..both when not-so-great NCAA players think they are going to the NFL..or when a student who can’t do math wants to be an engineer…I can sympathize…lend a kind word…and gently direct them toward their strengths.

Feb 2 Part 2: the state of politics as I see it.

Republicans They seem to have a “Trump wing” to deal with. Even someone with the Republican pedigree of Rep. Liz Cheney is not immune to it; she is paying a political price for her impeachment vote. Side note: note the lack of masks in the crowd; this is yet another reason we won’t be out of this anytime soon; too many idiots do not take COVID seriously.

People like Mitt Romeny and, yes, Mitch McConnell are trying to get some separation from the new wackos…though I am skeptical that Trump “tricked” McConnell into anything.

But, of course, we have our own problems.

For one, we Democrats …at least the liberals that I see, appear to value flash over substance.

And frankly, the wokes are out of touch with people. They seem to think that calling something “racist” or “sexist” will gain sway with the public at large. In fact, I think the public just views it as background noise from liberals.

Yglesias makes a good point here:

My suspicion is that this is a weird tic of campus politics that has followed graduates into the professional arena where they unconsciously started deploying it in less appropriate contexts. If you’re in a dorm at a fancy college and you can convince an administrator that something is racist, the administrator will probably put a stop to it. At the same time, “this is bad for poor people” just isn’t going to get you far as a campus argument. After all, these schools more or less openly auction off a number of admissions slots to wealthy donors (while, of course, practicing affirmative action to keep things diverse) so they can hardly take a hard line on class politics.

But electoral politics in a democracy isn’t like that. And to the extent that the US political system isn’t democratic, it’s mostly tilted in favor of over-representing white people with no college degree. So if you actually want to close racial gaps by raising the minimum wage, expanding union membership, expanding Medicaid, and reducing student debt, the last thing you want to do is to sell people on the idea that this is really all about race.

And wokes cannot help themselves: to them, *everything* in society is about “privilege”, race, gender, etc. And if you try to view things in simple terms as “helping people out” the wokes view you as a dinosaur.

Feb. 2 Part I: the workout portion.

About 1 year ago: I was perhaps 8 lb. lighter (194..different scale) and somewhat weaker. I was not thinking much about COVID..read about it.

Now: I’ll weigh later this week. For grins, I look this video during my last bench press set:

Pull ups: 10, 10, 10, then 4 sets of 5 (3 chin up style); ok..better than recent. Rotator cuff and hip hikes.

Bench press: 10 x 134, 3 x 184 (touch and go, no bounce), 3 sets of 5 x 165.

deadlifts: 3 sets of 10 x 134 easy (form lifts)

shoulder press: 3 x 109, 7 x 100, 10 x 92 barbell, 10 x 44 dumbbell

rows: 4 sets of 10 x 134

push ups: 40, 30, 10. Total time: 80 minutes from start to finish.