Pandemic fitness trends have gone extreme — literally

That is the title of the MSNBC Op Ed wherein physical fitness and training in martial arts and boxing is now a haven for white supremacists and far right domestic terrorists.

Physical fitness has always been central to the far right. In “Mein Kampf,” Hitler fixated on boxing and jujitsu, believing they could help him create an army of millions whose aggressive spirit and impeccably trained bodies, combined with “fanatical love of the fatherland,” would do more for the German nation than any “mediocre” tactical weapons training.

So now the body positive folks have something else to grab on to. By being fat, they are really fighting far right extremism. Being at a healthy weight is a tool of white supremacist oppression, and by golly, were they right!

In more modern times, far-right groups have launched mixed martial arts and boxing gyms in Ukraine, Canada and France, among other places, focused on training far-right nationalists in violent hand-to-hand combat and street-fighting techniques. It’s caught the attention of intelligence authorities, especially in Europe, where various reports have noted the role of combat sports and MMA in radicalizing and promoting far-right violence. A series of collaborative efforts between governments, national sports associations, and local gyms in places such as Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom have introduced intervention and prevention programs.

They say the US is behind in this trend, but it's going to catch up! I mean ... domestic terrorists are the biggest threat, so you better think twice before signing your kid up for karate lessons. Next thing you know, he'll be shaving his head and learning how to goose step.

The intersection of extremism and fitness leans into a shared obsession with the male body, training, masculinity, testosterone, strength and competition. Physical fitness training, especially in combat sports, appeals to the far right for many reasons: fighters are trained to accept significant physical pain, to be “warriors,” and to embrace messaging around solidarity, heroism, and brotherhood.

Funny, but I haven't been trained about accepting significant physical pain. Although getting into physical shape and training to compete at any sport will lend to a certain toughness if you're any kind of serious. You learn how to handle physical discomfort, even pain.

It’s critical that leaders, including parents, physical trainers, gym owners, coaches and others in the fitness world understand how online grooming and recruitment can intersect with spaces that we generally think of as promoting health and well-being.

It certainly is rich to hear the left get all worried about grooming when they wholly embrace allowing certain selected groups to groom youth into their preferred ideologies and ways of thought. It does say they are capable of recognizing grooming, that it exists, even if they seem blind to their own obsession with pressing it on the youth of others in their preferred causes.

However, there you have it. I train in the martial arts now. I must be a domestic terrorist because I picked up one of the few fitness activities that was up and running and active throughout the entire pandemic to keep myself from becoming a lazy land whale, and if you did the same, then how dare you, you right wing extremist?

Who ever is writing that crap lives in a bowl of white rice.

originally posted by: musicismagic
Who ever is writing that crap lives in a bowl of white rice.

Or a steaming pile of sh!t.

The ignorant (re: idiots) have to poke back at Putin as they are allegedly dispersing his martial arts books to students in Russia .
That is there lame (re: idiotic) way to counter.

When are folks gonna learn ?
"Mama always said , stupid is as stupid does"
Forrest Gump
(Grandma had a sayin like that as well , Don't know if I can post it here , though)

In All my years of the gym abs doing CrossFit I have never had anyone come up to me and say:

“ Hey we are having a get together at the local bar for our local white nationalist Neo-Nazi party? Are you interested in attending?”

As I was doing a bunch of burpees

a reply to: ketsuko

Wow. lol
My teen daughter who has trained in Krav Maga (Israeli self defense) and is a black belt...it incorporates a lot of boxing/kickboxing........is a domestic terrorist now? lol She could take one down for sure....but WTF.

The left is insane. Literally insane.

Well, considering how fat American society is, I guess the White Supremacists are outnumbered by the regular "fat" folks by 10 to 1. So I guess we're ok.

a reply to: ketsuko

Well, I for myself will order a millstone sized pizza at my Turkish takeout now, to fight right wing terrorism.

a reply to: shaemac

Isn't krav maga, among the most effective techniques to incapacitate an opponent?

Fight back, Get fat, fight white supremacist rat.

That's a whole new level of fat-shaming...

a reply to: ketsuko

I guess the lovely African American lady that owns the boxing gym I used to go to is also a white supremacist. Heck, at least 50% or better of the classes they taught there were full of every kind of fat person you could think of; race or gender did not matter at all; people just wanted to get healthier. About the closest thing to white supremacy, you could say that one of my personal trainers was from Argentina and could have had german ancestry if you want to believe that particular line of reasoning.

a reply to: ketsuko

Only and idiot will come out with such a view, but what can you expect to get from the same MSM that is pushing for racial inequality, gender specific, racist theories in school and praise BLM terrorist group and mandated laws to suppress freedom of speech.

Those that control the media control the mind

Yep, weak minds will absorb this trash coming from MSNBC and believe is true.

BTW, I am a gym and excersise entusiast, most of the people that are in the gym in my area and doing all kind of exercises to stay in shape, happen to be, yep, you know Black Americans, I guess they are all white supremicist in disguise.

a reply to: ketsuko

They are discouraging fitness. I’m still thinking about why but it probably has something to do with them making money and us dying early.

“Fitness Industry Council Outraged over Saskatchewan Government's Fitness Tax“

"This makes no sense," says Sara Hodson, President of the Fitness Industry Council of Canada, "This comes at a time where we are trying to get people back to the gym, to improve the health of Canadians, and to increase our physical activity levels. The Saskatchewan government is putting into place a deterrent."

www.newswire.ca...

originally posted by: Terpene
a reply to: shaemac

Isn't krav maga, among the most effective techniques to incapacitate an opponent?

Fight back, Get fat, fight white supremacist rat.

haha that is what they want....us to be lazy and unable to fight back.

I'll just leave this right here...
TheRedneck

First they came for the radicalized Middle Eastern extremists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Middle Eastern extremist.

Then they came for the radicalized right wing extremists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a right wing extremist.

Then they came for the radicalized left wing extremists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a left wing extremist.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

a reply to: Hypntick

I know. I train with people from all backgrounds and ethnicities where I am at now. We're a strange group of white supremacists unless you're talking about that strange brand that occurs from "acting white" instead of actually being white.

a reply to: NorthOfStuff

That is counter productive.

Problem: We're spending too much on health care because of people in poor physical condition.

Solution: Let's levy a cost prohibitive tax on the ones trying to do what they can to stay in good condition!

Pure genius!

I gotta know - Why do the people who do this get elected?