Month: August 2023

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The Boss Who Requires Workers To Have Six Pack Abs and The Kayfabe of “Success Bros”


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Car sales training company boss Andy Elliott says he will fire anyone without a six pack, as reported by the New York Post, and he was rightfully called out for his ridiculous standard. But this shows a larger trend of a specific type of very lean physique, being associated with wealth and success, especially among men, and is a part of a larger trend that seeks to blame individuals for their lack of economic success. We have seen this dynamic before: with villains in professional wrestling, and specifically those who I have previously termed Heel Populists. My Heel Populism article about MJF: https://www.prowrestlingmusings.com/post/unmasking-today-s-mjf-an-introduction-to-heel-populism

These strong men with superior-looking physiques blame and shame those on the bottom who don’t look like them as being undisciplined or morally defective, with their overweight or subpar physique being evidence of the lack of discipline that they posit has caused their woes. This to deflect from the true causes of their marks’ distress, the very system of economic oppression the villain represents. Fitness can be a powerful tool to build confidence and help you become who you are supposed to be, but do not let a narrow idea of fitness and an air of superiority get in the way of solidarity and solutions. 

RIP Terry Funk and Windham Rotunda aka Bray Wyatt. “And in a world surrounded in hate, greed and violence, a world where closure may never come. We all know a place that has hot and cold hope on tap. For better or for worse.” – Windham Rotunda aka Bray Wyatt – Source: https://twitter.com/windham6/status/1556394433825935363?s=46&t=x3E-r-OT2KgX3LK5oJokcA

(Sorry if my voice cracked a bit while reading the quote. I got a bit emotional.)  

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The Politics of Productivity Optimization, Dopamine Detoxing, & Habit Change: A Progressive/Leftist Critique of Huberman, Lembke etc.

Mental performance and productivity optimizing techniques, like those popularized by Dr. Andrew Huberman, and the concepts of dopamine fasting, dopamine detoxing, and dopamine “addiction,” partially popularized by Dr. Anna Lembke in her book Dopamine Nation, have taken social media by storm, but do they really work and can they be causing harm to marginalized communities by creating false ideas about serious political and social problems? Could the obsession with dopamine be tied to strict religious ideas or even eugenics? Alternative methods can be a breakthrough for mental health that can help people improve their lives and change their circumstances, but we have to know that they work, respect people’s unique life and cultural experiences, and get systemic change to work in conversation with them so the working class can benefit, and not create blame and shame.

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How Progressives & Leftists Can Win Over Groups Mainstream Democrats Have Failed

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Recent polls have shown Democrats’ support has significantly declined among young men, specifically 12th grade high schoolers, lower income, less educated, and even Black and Latino voters. This should come as no surprise, given how Democrats have failed in all areas of long-term cultural engagement, focus on issues that do not resonate with these groups, currently lack a positive vision, as opposed to simply defending against threats from the right, and especially have not engaged adequately in narratives of positive masculinity to counter the right’s claims to vulnerable men. I explain how the Democrats’ current focus on 3 main points: Republicans/Trump are a threat to democracy, Republicans/Trump are a threat to minority identity groups, and “everything is fine now, keep it that way,” have helped in the short-term with more educated voters but ignore or even repel these key groups.

Somewhat paradoxically to conventional political wisdom, I feel that further left and more progressive ideas and groups can achieve far better success in these demographic groups that typical liberal/Democratic politics have left behind. These ideas can address the long-standing issues with material conditions that conservatives and the far-right have pushed false narratives about the cause of and fake solutions in a way liberals simply cannot. And they can create long-term engagement and narratives that combine strength with inclusion to help those who feel abandoned create community and seek true solutions to the systemic causes of their tribulation. There are very real issues that they face which Democrats exclude for short-term political reasons, but need to be addressed by someone. Right now that someone is the right, but it doesn’t have to be. Even if Democrats cannot address them, left-wing groups outside the mainstream of Democratic politics can act in a similar fashion to conservative groups, such as the Tea Party and Trump’s early supporters.  that were not initially embraced by the GOP but later became a major part of its support and changed its policy direction.

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