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WanderingEng  ·  2152 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Twenty-First Century Victorians

I wasn't prepared for how much this article would piss me off.

    Marathon running has become the ultimate signifier: competitors can post photos on social media to prove to everyone that they have tortured their bodies in a highly virtuous — and not at all kinky — fashion.

Oh fuck off. Nobody is running a marathon as virtue signaling. Nobody who hasn't run a marathon understands what it's like, and anyone who has run one knows it's intensely personal. Talk to runners for a few minutes and you'll find there's a question nobody asks: what was your time?

That section links to this piece of shit:

    One might feel less excited about completing a 5K race, for instance, if their Facebook friends were simultaneously posting photos from a marathon finish line.

Look, if you're feeling ashamed at not doing as much, that's on you. It isn't their fault. Any runners know loves talking to other runners about runs. Someone taking for a 50 mile run comes to my Tuesday group run, and she couldn't be more welcoming. Does she make me less likely to do my own thing? Heck no.

    We should care about health, food, and education. But instead of seeing them as ways to prop up class dominance, we should improve them for everyone.

How about "instead of seeing them as things that prop up class dominance, we should see them as things to encourage all to strive for." The whole piece feels like "I feel bad for not doing as much, and it's your fault. You should do less so I feel better about doing less."