No, MSNBC, exercise is not far-right
Claims that exercising is tied to the far-right and white supremacy are illogical and harmful. This is especially the case when made in conjunction with attempts to glorify unhealthy lifestyles.
Last week, MSNBC caused a furor online after it reshared a 2022 op-ed about fitness from American University professor Cynthia Miller-Idriss along with the text “The far-right’s obsession with fitness is going digital.”
In the article, titled “Pandemic fitness trends have gone extreme — literally,” Miller-Idriss claims that “physical fitness has always been central to the far-right.”
She writes that “Hitler fixated on boxing and jujitsu, believing they could help him create an army of millions whose aggressive spirit and impeccably trained bodies… would do more for the German nation,” and that “in more modern times, far-right groups have launched mixed martial arts and boxing gyms in Ukraine, Canada, and France, among other places.”
Miller-Idriss believes “the realm of online fitness now provides a new and ever-expanding market for reaching and radicalizing young men; and it requires our targeted focus and resources to try and stop the cycle,” amid “the intersection of extremism and fitness” leaning into “a shared obsession with the male body, training, masculinity, testosterone, strength and competition.”
Other liberal media outlets have also tried to tie fitness to far-right ideology and white supremacy.
Time Magazine published an article titled “The White Supremacist Origins of Exercise in the U.S.” and Vice News ran a piece titled “Gym Bros More Likely to be Right-Wing Assholes, Science Confirms.”
These negative liberal media narratives about fitness come as the woke left pushes a body positivity agenda that argues for “the acceptance of all body shapes and sizes as a path toward emotional wellness and well-being.”
In their push for body positivity, woke leftists have embraced the unhealthy concepts of “fat acceptance” and “fat liberation,” decried so-called “thincentrism” and “thin epidemics,” criticized diets, and even shamed those who lose weight.
Progressive pop icon Lizzo has promoted obesity to her fans, telling People Magazine, “I know I’m fat. It doesn’t bother me. I like being fat, and I’m beautiful and I’m healthy.”
A quick search on TikTok results in numerous videos of individuals embracing their obesity, in the name of body positivity.
Claims that exercising is tied to the far-right and white supremacy are illogical and harmful. This is especially the case when made in conjunction with attempts to glorify unhealthy lifestyles and obesity.
Several martial arts, including Jujutsu, Judo, and Karate, come from Japan. Kung Fu comes from China, and there is visual evidence that Boxing dates all the way back to the ancient Sumer civilization (3000 BC).
The first recorded physician to prescribe moderate daily exercise was the Susruta of India. Exercise was also prescribed by doctors in Classical Greece.
Today, one of the world’s fittest countries is Uganda.
Suggesting that fitness is tied to the far-right and white supremacy is nothing more than a guilt by association fallacy. Hitler liking martial arts or far-right groups being into working out does not make fitness a bad thing.
Generations of diverse people from all over the world have partaken in and continue to partake in exercise, because the latter is essential to living a good life.
The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) notes that exercising helps manage and prevent diseases such as arthritis, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and eight types of cancer, including breast and colon cancer.
Exercise also helps reach or maintain healthy weight levels while reducing the risk of excessive weight gain, helps keeping keeping blood pressure under control, possibly improves or maintains cognitive function, can reduce the severity of pain as well as improve physical function while lowering the risk of falls and injuries from falls as one gets older.
On the other hand, a lack of exercise and obesity, which the woke left says should be embraced without shame, is associated with many poor health outcomes.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that physical inactivity can lead to heart disease, increase one’s chance of developing type 2 diabetes, and heighten the risk of developing cancer.
Physical inactivity can also lead to a loss in muscle strength and endurance, weaker bones, negative impacts on metabolism, a weakened immune system, poorer blood circulation, and hormonal imbalance.
Meanwhile, an analysis by scholars Dr. Roland Sturm and Dr. Kenneth B. Wells found that the health risks of obesity are worse than those of smoking and drinking.
Obese people suffer from a 67% increase in chronic conditions compared to non-obese people. By comparison, normal-weight daily smokers have a 25% increased rate, while drinkers have a 12% increased rate. Obese people also spend 77% more on medication, and have 36% more healthcare costs compared to non-obese people.
Obesity can also shorten one’s life by as much as 14 years.
Right now, people are not getting enough exercise. Adults should be clocking in at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week, but Statistics Canada says many Canadians are not meeting that target. Meanwhile, the CDC said less than 24% of Americans are meeting guidelines for aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities.
This needs to change. Everyone should be aiming to meet exercise targets. Stigmatizing fitness by labelling it as “far-right” does not and will not help increase levels of physical activity.
Exercise is a multigenerational and multi-ethnic ritual that has tremendous health benefits. Everyone, including MSNBC, should be embracing it rather than try to find silly ways to politicize it.