The Beginning or The End

Voting for politicians that tell you what you want to hear has all but destroyed civilization- giving in to outrage in the hope of avoiding trouble has all but destroyed freedom and looking for the “easy” road to success in bodybuilding has all but destroyed the actually great potential value of weight-training. Which perpetuates the politicians, pleases the perpetrators of outrages, and pads the pockets of a pack of predators in the field of bodybuilding.

And now I am going to set all of this to rights, right?

Sorry, I’m afraid not. In my carefully considered opinion, I don’t think things can be set to rights; I think we are very near the end of civilization- or the beginning of a new, never-ending, dark age. Some few people are aware of the problems, and even see the obvious solutions; but far too many other people have been led much too far down the primrose path of false promises. Which, quite frankly, to me, is quite amusing- I think most people deserve just what they are getting, and are about to get; and believe me, they will get it- in the neck.

For me, as an individual, my time is almost gone- and I do not regret its passing; a hundred years from now, no living person will remember me, and few, if any, living people will even be aware that I ever existed- a thousand years from now, it is highly unlikely that there will be many, if any, living people to remember anything, least of all the name of an obscure individual in the then distant past, or the fact that such a concept as “freedom: ever existed. Which, in a way, is unfortunate- since it just might be that I represent the last example of an actually “free” man remaining on this planet. There are, or course, millions of people who call themselves “free” simply because they have chosen to shirk their responsibilities- little realizing, or caring, that this freedom has been purchased by the tightening of the bonds of others. But having accepted and met my responsibilities as best I can- and no man can do more- I can be, and am, free in an actual sense. Freedom must be purchased, and I have paid my dues-freedom must be fought for and defended, and I will carry the scars of my battles to my grave-freedom must be sacrificed in return for security, and I have refused to pay that price.

The six decades during which I have lived have been, in many ways, perhaps the most interesting period in history- this being true primarily because transportation had advanced to a point where it was possible for me to roam the worked without spending most of my lift “en route” but not to the pint where the interesting features of the world had been destroyed by the influx of tourists. But that era is all but finished, another ten or fifteen years- at the outside, twenty- will finish both my life and any few remaining opportunities for real freedom; so I will have lived during a fortunate period in the history of mankind.

The above being true, as it is, do you then think that I really care what happens afterwards- or that I am much worried about what happens during my few remaining years. My parents are long dead, most of my real friends are either dead or so near death that their passing will surprise neither themselves nor me, the big herds of elephants are gone from the Africa that I once knew. “Big Brother” is coming- and has already arrived in many places- and, quite frankly, my days of wishful thinking are far behind me.

But, if that is also true (as it is), then why do I bother with attempts to get a few points of simple logic across to a very small group of people- who, for the most part, have been so brainwashed by commercial interests that they don’t even want to hear the truth- and why do I care what such people think anyway? Many readers, of course, will readily answer that question to their own satisfaction with no slightest hesitation, “in an effort  to serve my own commercial interests.”

Hogwash. During the last year alone I have turned down three filming propositions that would have earned me more money than I can possibly make from my interests in the weight-training field during the entire remainder of my life. “Then,” some readers may think, “I am already so wealthy that I don’t care about money- and am, perhaps, only interested in amusing myself?” Hogwash, again. Think what you like, believe what you will, the simple truth of the matter is that I enjoy work- people like me have recently been diagnosed as “workaholics,” as good a label I suppose, as any, and a far more polite one than some that have been hurled at me.

During the last thirty years, most of the worthwhile characteristics of civilization, no small part of the Earth itself, and practically all of the benefits of progressive exercise have been so perverted that almost nothing of value remains; the problems are known, but are ignored- the answers are available, but are denied-primarily, it seems, because far too many people are interested only in avoiding controversy or are unwilling to face up to difficult solutions.

In the fields of greatest importance to most people, politics, sociology, and the environmental sciences, I can do nothing to help anybody, not even myself, and I am fully convinced that the people who might be able to do something in these areas, won’t, in fact, do anything of any slightest value to anybody, not even themselves- instead, they will hesitate, procrastinate, pass the buck, form committees, investigate, occasionally release ambiguous reports of absolutely no value, stall, lie, shirk their responsibilities, and blame others for their own mistakes. At this stage in the history of mankind, if you even hope for anything different from politicians or the people in charge of the scientific community, then you are a fool, purely and simply.

The wolves of politics and science cannot be avoided- eventually they will pull us all down, and themselves with us; but dodging in and out around the feet of the wolves are the jackals of commercial interest- and you can avoid the. But, human nature being what it is, most people won’t avoid the- instead, most people will continue to look for “easy” solutions, thus making themselves easy prey for the jackals.

My sphere of possible influence is thus limited in several ways; by the very nature of my present work, I am limited to a possible audience of people interested in weight-training, actually a very small part of humanity- secondly, because I hold out no hope of “easy” solutions to difficult problems, many weight trainees will turn away from my words in search of some “secret to instant, effortless success’- and thirdly, many trainees who realize that no “easy” solutions exist may still be left in doubt because they fail to understand the actually simple physical laws that I have been writing about for the last two years in Iron Man. My potential audience is thus limited to some few thousand weight-trainees who do at least understand the basic physics involved- and I is for these few that my articles are intended; if I attempt to write articles of interest to even the average trainee, then my selection of subjects would be limited in the extreme- limited to hogwash, the same hogwash that has been printed a thousand times, the type of hogwash of no value to anybody, hogwash that generally isn’t even true.

So if you are interested in hogwash, then read somebody else’s articles- my articles are intended for men, men who want to hear the truth and are not afraid to hear the truth and are not afraid to face up hard solutions to their problems, and if you think my articles are hogwash, then put your money where your mouth is. I have been known to make wagers for money, and I will back any of my statements with my cash, or my life. I used to think tat most people were unjustifiably biased against bodybuilders as a class- but I now realize that the actual state of affairs in bodybuilding circles today is far worse, than most people even suspect; which is a cryin’ shame., because progressive weight-training could be, and SHOULD be, of very great value to almost everybody, and might be if it were not for the antics and outrages of many of the very people who should be doing everything in their power to promote weight-training.

“And now I will change all of that, right?”

Wrong. The very most I can even hope to do is to try to reach a tiny minority of humanity- and even if I can reach them, the most I can then hope to do is to direct their thinking into a logical direction.