Yesterday The Washington Post told us that blizzards are racist and today we learn from Time magazine that exercise is racist. At this rate, The New York Times is going to proclaim kitchen sinks racist by tomorrow. When liberals say everything is racist, they ain’t kidding.
Here’s a big screaming headline on Time:
Time interviewed a “historian” named Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, who wrote a book about the history of exercising in America. Since a dry subject like that isn’t likely to sell books, she spiced it up with some racism nonsense.
“How did U.S. exercise trends go from reinforcing white supremacy to celebrating Richard Simmons?” Time asked.
How indeed?
One of the things I set out to do in this book is to look at the change in how we think about our bodies and what’s considered attractive. Until the 1920s or so, to be what would be considered today fat or bigger, was actually desirable and actually signified affluence—which is like the polar opposite of today, when so much of the obesity epidemic discourse is connected to socio-economic inequality and to be fat is often to be seen as to be poor.
“Poor” means non-white, so you can probably see where this is going:
It was super interesting reading the reflections of fitness enthusiasts in the early 20th century. They said we should get rid of corsets, corsets are an assault on women’s form, and that women should be lifting weights and gaining strength. At first, you feel like this is so progressive.
Then you keep reading, and they’re saying white women should start building up their strength because we need more white babies. They’re writing during an incredible amount of immigration, soon after enslaved people have been emancipated. This is totally part of a white supremacy project. So that was a real “holy crap” moment as a historian, where deep archival research really reveals the contradictions of this moment.
I think you now realize why I put “historian” in quotes, for this woman. Who are “they” who said women needed to have more white babies? What white supremacy project is she talking about? This is not how you cite historical research or even make a coherent point.
Sadly, this is all the information Petrzela would provide about the racist origins of exercising. If you want more details, you’ll have to buy her book. Or not.
The thing is, I can see some validity in this argument. Known white supremacist Joe Biden is always challenging people to push-up contests and threatening to take them behind the gym. There must be some connection there.
While it seems dumb that exercise is racist, it’s best to err on the side of caution. All professional black athletes should stop training because of the white supremacist origins of working out. Additionally, white athletes should stop in a show of solidarity with their teammates of color. It takes everyone to end racism.
