Very true I use AAS and its well known that I don’t train hard at all but am still making great gains. Good job with the amazing amount of ignorance in your OP.takes pretty good skill.
[quote]CMdad wrote:
The fact that you can joke about this, Stu, is exactly what makes you NOT a douche. The douches define their lives by this pastime and use it as a reason to look down on others who don’t have the same level of development as them. But, I agree that they would be douches regardless and that their douchiness would simply manifest itself in another way if they didn’t have the weights.[/quote]
No offense, but this mindset really irks me.
Truth is, it isn’t your business what anyone else “defines their life by” and there is no way on Earth for you to know what anyone else “defines their life by” without knowing them on a personal level like a very close friend.
I just only see this mindset from people who themselves feel a little self conscious about the gains they have made.
If someone sees me after I leave the gym in a tank top everyday, they can assume all sorts of nonsense about me.
It just seems to be a growing mindset lately for people to look at someone and use whatever signal they can to put that person in a box for safe keeping lest their world view be shattered.
Reality is, it takes a great deal of effort and making it a priority to really make big gains in building muscle.
That doesn’t mean this is all a person defines themselves by…and you wouldn’t know one way or the other watching them walk by or by looking at an avatar alone or from one or two brief encounters.
1 Like
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]CMdad wrote:
The fact that you can joke about this, Stu, is exactly what makes you NOT a douche. The douches define their lives by this pastime and use it as a reason to look down on others who don’t have the same level of development as them. But, I agree that they would be douches regardless and that their douchiness would simply manifest itself in another way if they didn’t have the weights.[/quote]
No offense, but this mindset really irks me.
Truth is, it isn’t your business what anyone else “defines their life by” and there is no way on Earth for you to know what anyone else “defines their life by” without knowing them on a personal level like a very close friend.
I just only see this mindset from people who themselves feel a little self conscious about the gains they have made.
If someone sees me after I leave the gym in a tank top everyday, they can assume all sorts of nonsense about me.
It just seems to be a growing mindset lately for people to look at someone and use whatever signal they can to put that person in a box for safe keeping lest their world view be shattered.
Reality is, it takes a great deal of effort and making it a priority to really make big gains in building muscle.
That doesn’t mean this is all a person defines themselves by…and you wouldn’t know one way or the other watching them walk by or by looking at an avatar alone or from one or two brief encounters.[/quote]
Agreed…
Many of us, myself included Put a lot of effort and time in this “past time” and it certainly defines part of me…all of me? Absolutely not but alot of me for sure. I take this seriously, I love it, I want to be better at the iron game.
I have said before weight training has made me a better more confident person, a friendlier more helpful person as well. I am not ashamed to have weight lifting (or whatever) define part of my persona because I am proud of it. Now some people may look at me and consider me a meathead douche, but if they got the time to know me the only douche there would be is the one labeling me.
[quote]MattyXL wrote:
Agreed…
Many of us, myself included Put a lot of effort and time in this “past time” and it certainly defines part of me…all of me? Absolutely not but alot of me for sure. I take this seriously, I love it, I want to be better at the iron game.
I have said before weight training has made me a better more confident person, a friendlier more helpful person as well. I am not ashamed to have weight lifting (or whatever) define part of my persona because I am proud of it. Now some people may look at me and consider me a meathead douche, but if they got the time to know me the only douche there would be is the one labeling me.[/quote]
Weightlifting is a big part of my life. I like how it makes me feel and I am amazed at the changes the human body can go through.
No one is going to see my community service in the gym or when I am walking around.
No one is going to know my life goals in the gym or when I am walking around.
I also am not ashamed to show what I worked for.
If some douche were to look at that and think this is all I define my life by, they would be dead wrong.
The new trend is to label everyone you see and to play pop-psychologist based on avatars and clothing.
[quote]StrengthDawg wrote:
[quote]jasmincar wrote:
What strikes me is how some people put dumb picture of themselves flexing their muscles, with user names such as �??�?�«Built�??�?�» or �??�?�«Big papa pump�??�?�» or whatever.
I see tons of people take steroids and get steroid-buff. You don’t even have to train that hard. After this usually they think they are the shit and act like they are really something.[/quote]
Maybe these people playing are actually these hyooge steroid monsters you spoke of because of all the spare time they have, cause they don’t have to train hard and they get pics of skinny fat teens to use as their avitars so that they fit in better with the gamer crowd?
jus sayin… lol [/quote]
You have the greatest avatar i’ve ever seen in my life.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
The new trend is to label everyone you see and to play pop-psychologist based on avatars and clothing.[/quote]
It’s kind of hard not to when “selfies” are accompanied with angst laden, desperate statements like, “I do it because I can”, “I never let anyone tell me I couldn’t do it,” or anything else implying people are modern day Spartan warriors who overcame all odds because they go to a gym and eat enough for a small family.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]orion wrote:
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]jasmincar wrote:
Yesterday I was playing an online video game on my computer where you have a profile picture, or avatar, where you choose what to put. What strikes me is how some people put dumb picture of themselves flexing their muscles, with user names such as �??�??�??�?�«Built�??�??�??�?�» or �??�??�??�?�«Big papa pump�??�??�??�?�» or whatever.
Where are we now as a society where some people feel the need to define themselves and put themselves forward with the fact that they go to the gym, take steroids and after some time get muscular? I see tons of people take steroids and get steroid-buff. You don’t even have to train that hard. After this usually they think they are the shit and act like they are really something.
Like most people here I like to lift weight, I like to feel good and get stronger, but do these people realize how defining yourself with this is lame?
[/quote]
What should they define themselves by?[/quote]
Bank account.
Lay count.
Penis size.
You cant just veer of and try to live up to your own standards…
You are to put your shoulder to the wheel and internalize values that serve your betters. [/quote]
What if I post a pic flexing next to my bank?[/quote]
Everyone would lose interest.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
It just seems to be a growing mindset lately for people to look at someone and use whatever signal they can to put that person in a box for safe keeping lest their world view be shattered.[/quote]
That, in and of itself, is fairly normal human behavior.
The fact that it’s more prevalent seems to be the bigger issue, a symptom of general unease and insecurity that’s been growing over the past few decades. As people lose their feeling of control over the world around them, they try to control their inner world by adjusting their perceptions and shielding themselves from getting hurt.
Considering that the average person is not successful (by definition), one of the easiest ways to deal with things is to simply adapt to the group norm, which validates itself by saying “the group and the things that define the group is good (in this case, lack of success)” and people who are successful are “outsiders” that must be shunned. And so you get this shunning of success in all its forms. This isn’t the fault of any member of the group, but an adaptive self-preservation mechanism of the group itself – you have to look at the group as its own entity.
So you really have two big things going on… a need to deal with the lack of control over the outside world… and that the group sizes have gotten much much larger with the development of online communities.
If you have a group of three people, and two are successful, they usually bring the third one up, in order to maintain the group norm. If you have a successful person and two are unsuccessful, they’ll try to hold them back, in order to maintain the group norm. What used to happen was either the successful person changed the norm, or they just left and found another group.
But now these groups have gotten so large, and they rarely exist in the physical space any more – and most physical interactions are really just a branch off of the real, virtual interaction; it doesn’t matter what you actually did with your friends, as long as it looked good on Facebook/Instagram/whatever.
And since these groups are so large and exert such a powerful force on the individuals, and almost nobody wants to ostracise themselves from that group, you get a lot of contradictory appearing behavior nowadays. E.g., it’s acceptable to talk about your potential for success and the work that you’re doing toward it, but not acceptable to actually be successful.
I don’t know where I was going with that.
1 Like
← You can’t tell by my avatar, but I volunteer to help disabled veterans.
Now that I had to point that out I’m going to cop a resentment, start using drugs, leave my family and die in a ditch.
Because when people don’t know everything about me based on a singe picture I have to show them how truly destructive it is to assume anything ever.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]orion wrote:
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]jasmincar wrote:
Yesterday I was playing an online video game on my computer where you have a profile picture, or avatar, where you choose what to put. What strikes me is how some people put dumb picture of themselves flexing their muscles, with user names such as �??�??�?�«Built�??�??�?�» or �??�??�?�«Big papa pump�??�??�?�» or whatever.
Where are we now as a society where some people feel the need to define themselves and put themselves forward with the fact that they go to the gym, take steroids and after some time get muscular? I see tons of people take steroids and get steroid-buff. You don’t even have to train that hard. After this usually they think they are the shit and act like they are really something.
Like most people here I like to lift weight, I like to feel good and get stronger, but do these people realize how defining yourself with this is lame?
[/quote]
What should they define themselves by?[/quote]
Bank account.
Lay count.
Penis size.
You cant just veer of and try to live up to your own standards…
You are to put your shoulder to the wheel and internalize values that serve your betters. [/quote]
What if I post a pic flexing next to my bank?[/quote]
If you would lean against an Aston Martin…
Do it!
Look at the reactions they get.
[quote]Gettnitdone wrote:
Look at the reactions they get.
Oh my god, human beings are going to, without knowing someone yet, form an impression of them based solely on their appearance. They should be lashed for such abnormal behavior!
Umm, excuse me, I mean normal human behavior molded by classical conditioning by stereotypical behaviors and attitudes and track records. Anyone who has a problem with people making judgments of people because they have big muscles… or because they made their avatar a photo of him/herself flexing accompanied by some douchebag saying… or have half or more of their body covered with tattoos… or is exceptionally tall or short… or looks different in any shape or form, should come to terms with how the world works.
I do it, prejudge based on looks. That is, prejudge and form a preconceived impression subconsciously, automatically, without other thoughts proving otherwise before I get to know them. Being I am a sensitive person, when the person starts speaking and I get to know them, the prejudged impression pretty much disappears and it doesn’t even return to my mind. Other, less sensitive, callous people are not like that. They form an impression of someone, and that’s it.
[quote]LoRez wrote:
[quote]Professor X wrote:
It just seems to be a growing mindset lately for people to look at someone and use whatever signal they can to put that person in a box for safe keeping lest their world view be shattered.[/quote]
That, in and of itself, is fairly normal human behavior.
The fact that it’s more prevalent seems to be the bigger issue, a symptom of general unease and insecurity that’s been growing over the past few decades. As people lose their feeling of control over the world around them, they try to control their inner world by adjusting their perceptions and shielding themselves from getting hurt.
Considering that the average person is not successful (by definition), one of the easiest ways to deal with things is to simply adapt to the group norm, which validates itself by saying “the group and the things that define the group is good (in this case, lack of success)” and people who are successful are “outsiders” that must be shunned. And so you get this shunning of success in all its forms. This isn’t the fault of any member of the group, but an adaptive self-preservation mechanism of the group itself – you have to look at the group as its own entity.
So you really have two big things going on… a need to deal with the lack of control over the outside world… and that the group sizes have gotten much much larger with the development of online communities.
If you have a group of three people, and two are successful, they usually bring the third one up, in order to maintain the group norm. If you have a successful person and two are unsuccessful, they’ll try to hold them back, in order to maintain the group norm. What used to happen was either the successful person changed the norm, or they just left and found another group.
But now these groups have gotten so large, and they rarely exist in the physical space any more – and most physical interactions are really just a branch off of the real, virtual interaction; it doesn’t matter what you actually did with your friends, as long as it looked good on Facebook/Instagram/whatever.
And since these groups are so large and exert such a powerful force on the individuals, and almost nobody wants to ostracise themselves from that group, you get a lot of contradictory appearing behavior nowadays. E.g., it’s acceptable to talk about your potential for success and the work that you’re doing toward it, but not acceptable to actually be successful.
I don’t know where I was going with that.[/quote]
Do you really believe the average person is not successful? Most people I see are just doing their jobs, trying to raise families, and leading normal lives.
I think it’s fair to say there are far more desperate people out there than in a long time.
[quote]BrickHead wrote:
[quote]Professor X wrote:
The new trend is to label everyone you see and to play pop-psychologist based on avatars and clothing.[/quote]
It’s kind of hard not to when “selfies” are accompanied with angst laden, desperate statements like, “I do it because I can”, “I never let anyone tell me I couldn’t do it,” or anything else implying people are modern day Spartan warriors who overcame all odds because they go to a gym and eat enough for a small family. [/quote]
How do you know that is all they are referring to?
I mean, seriously, I don’t know about you, but to make good progress above average requires you to approach training like you would a fight…only with yourself. If you aren’t “going to war”…you probably look like you don’t.
It just seems like you enjoy basing what you really believe is all there is to a person…on one picture you see.
That seems blind as hell, bro.
Most of the people that look at big strong dudes and think “douche-bag” are the same people that would be more impressed because you sat down and watched every episode of The Sopranos in a marathon session than that you put genuinely hard work into making yourself into something better. Even if the guy only has big guns from doing curls and bench non-stop, at least he had to work to get there and peoplle should be allowed to take pride in hard work.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking pride in your hobby, I mean what’s the difference between putting a pic up of yourself buffed up vs a pic of your restored 69 Camaro or something that you worked hard on. It’s just something that person is proud of and put a lot of work into. Plus in my experience even as a relatively small guy compared to many on here, people think you’re insane or a douche for throwing a bunch of weight on a bar and moving it around until they find out they need some f’ing furniture moved or something, then you’re their best pal. Just my 2 cents.
[quote]ThePitbull86 wrote:
It’s just something that person is proud of and put a lot of work into. Plus in my experience even as a relatively small guy compared to many on here, people think you’re insane or a douche for throwing a bunch of weight on a bar and moving it around until they find out they need some f’ing furniture moved or something, then you’re their best pal. Just my 2 cents.[/quote]
It’s more the fact that the stereotypical muscle-heads look down on you for being smaller than them, or think themselves awesome for being big.
That’s what gets people riled up. Not the fact that they’re big. It’s the elitist attitude, and no one likes elitist attitudes.
[quote]magick wrote:
[quote]ThePitbull86 wrote:
It’s just something that person is proud of and put a lot of work into. Plus in my experience even as a relatively small guy compared to many on here, people think you’re insane or a douche for throwing a bunch of weight on a bar and moving it around until they find out they need some f’ing furniture moved or something, then you’re their best pal. Just my 2 cents.[/quote]
It’s more the fact that the stereotypical muscle-heads look down on you for being smaller than them, or think themselves awesome for being big.
That’s what gets people riled up. Not the fact that they’re big. It’s the elitist attitude, and no one likes elitist attitudes.[/quote]
True, and I understand that. You get that across many different hobbies and types of people, but not everyone is like that and posting an avi of yourself doesn’t necessarily mean you’re that kind of guy. Plus it seems like jacked dudes are looked down on in the reverse role too. You go out in the general public and show them guys that look like bodybuilders or powerlifters or whatever and ask what they think their iq is and they’d tell you they’re morons when in fact we all know that’s generally not the case
[quote]magick wrote:
It’s more the fact that the stereotypical muscle-heads look down on you for being smaller than them, or think themselves awesome for being big.
That’s what gets people riled up. Not the fact that they’re big. It’s the elitist attitude, and no one likes elitist attitudes.[/quote]
Question 1:
How do you know they are looking down on someone just because they are smaller?
Question 2:
What’s wrong for thinking you did something awesome by building yourself up more than most people can or will?
I see the word “elitist” thrown around quite a bit…and it seems to now stand for anyone who stands out and is proud of it.
Crabs in a bucket.
[quote]Gettnitdone wrote:
Look at the reactions they get.
What a fucking joke. I’d off myself if I had to live like this. Telling the waitor can I have this without this and bulllshit. Sounds like a fucking Jennifer. Life is sooooo fucking short. If your going out to eat…fucking eat!
Truly sad
[quote]crowdhater wrote:
I’d off myself if I had to live like this.
[/quote]
Damn. Just how awesome is that glass house you live in?