Swolehate: One of the Last Accepted forms of Prejudice

Now, normally I like to keep my posts positive, motivational, and upbeat…but I saw this picture and it really struck a chord with me and I’m going to go ahead and speak about it. Some people might not like what I have to say, if so maybe you should re-evaluate why you feel the need to be such a hater when you see people successfully being fit, but I digress… and we don’t really care about negative people’s opinions anyway. One of the beautiful things about exercise is the mental effects, the tendency to relax, be happier, and not be so affected by negativity.

Anyway, what I’m going on about is a picture that was posted on the Spartan Race facebook page, of a fit couple with six pack abs. They’re in the gym, lifting their shirts up and showing their abs…and the comments on the picture were pure hate! I understand that not everyone has the same opinions on what is attractive and what isn’t, but why is it acceptable for people to voice their undesirable opinions (loudly and proudly I might add, the most ignorant people tend to have the loudest voices/opinions) about fit people and publicly circlejerk about it? Those physiques aren't even that excessive in size and both are attractive; this hate is ridiculous, and the attacks on their occupations and mental state are deplorable.

My problem/amusement isn’t necessarily with the comments themselves, but the fact that there were so many of them, from people who probably never worked out a day in their life. And it was accepted, and allowed to stay up…yet (and yep, sorry, but I’m taking there) if that were a picture of a fat person, or person of a certain race getting slandered…people would be jumping all over those who made the comment, shaming them into keeping their hateful bullshit to themselves. (Proof of that is in the second picture that I posted, of a very pretty but overweight girl who submitted herself to the Most Beautiful Teen facebook page…nothing but support) If anyone were to be talking crap about her weight or anything like that they would get slammed, called shallow, mean, every name in the book for talking about her. Yet it’s okay for people to bash on two people who clearly put in a lot of hard work to get their bodies where they are? What kind of sense does that make? For the record, before this gets twisted into something it’s not, I don’t condone hating/negative comments on ANYONE, regardless of how they look. I do notice, however, that swolehate is real and it’s widely accepted.

For reference, here is the photos I am referring to:

Enlarge them to read the comments.

 

 

 I know how hard it is to get (and stay) as fit as the two lovely people in this photograph. It’s a 24 hour a day commitment to good healthy habits, and it takes a lot of determination and willpower. Yet for some reason when people see extremely in shape people, they feel like it’s alright to say hateful, rude, or just plain stupid things about them. The first thing that comes to mind is: insecurity. I guess it must suck for a lot of people to see what they don’t have. Still not a good reason for it to be publicly acceptable to rag on people who are fit.

Comments like the guy “must be on steroids” and the girl “took it too far and isn’t my cup of tea”….LMFAO! Do you really think she trained that hard, ate clean, and slept well just to be somebody’s “cup of tea"? Comments like that show a gross lack of knowledge on what being fit is actually about, how amazing it is to care for your body like a well-oiled machine. How great it feels mentally and physically.

Maybe people feel like it’s okay to publicly hate of fit people because they realize, deep down, that fit people are enjoying the benefits of a lot of hard work. Maybe they tried getting fit and failed somewhere along the way. Maybe seeing someone shredded brings back painful memories of not sticking with their regimen, or becoming out of shape. It’s the crabs in a bucket mentality…Many of these commenters are just trying to rationalize to themselves why they keep saying “screw it” and not working out and bettering themselves…Or why they continue to constantly eat like shit instead of eating clean…why they can’t find an hour out of their day to go to the gym but they can find a way to squeeze 2 hours of TV in (gotta catch that latest episode…right? Right?!)

I think the main reason why the fit/swolehate is so widely accepted is because unfortunately, being obese and out of shape is becoming the norm in America. We are embracing mediocrity. Well not all of us are just going to sit around and take it.

I get it, people get jealous. But jealousy is no excuse for widely accepted hate. Everyone has the right to their opinion…well guess what? I have the right to call you out for the insecure, jealous, possibly out of shape asshole that you are if you swolehate in front of me.

Stop the Swolehate!