Zeitgeist

If you haven't noticed, the Zietgiest of America, maybe the world, but certainly America, is fierceness, argumentativeness, and condescension to any viewpoint other than one's own. Believe me, this goes beyond politics. I have seen this often and so have you unless you live in a camper trailer in Alaska and survive off carrion with no contact with the outside world. Social media has made this all too clear, painfully clear, even for someone like me.

When I say even for someone like me, I mean that I am the most non-confrontational, non-argumentative person who ever lived. Really I am. If you don't believe it, meet me down on the river bank at the Greenwood Walking Trail and I will kick your a$$ if I can't convince you it's true.

But every now and then I can't help myself and I find myself disagreeing  with someone. Every time I have, I have immediately been attacked, called names, sometimes removed from groups, and otherwise vilified as a simpleton who thinks he knows everything. Let me tell you about the latest incident.

I saw an Instagram post on running. The post consisted of two drawings of opposite running styles. The problem with both of these supposed styles is that they were straw men positions. No one runs like either of them. That is why they used a drawings rather than pictures. But over the past few years, it has become fashionable for armchair run coaches to tell people to run with their foot landing directly under their body. This, it is reasoned, causes less stress on the joints, is more efficient, and everyone should do it. It all sounds very reasonable, good, logical. The problem is, no one runs like that and the reason is no one can run like that.

I have run for decades, competed for decades, and spectated for decades and have yet to see anyone land with their foot directly under their body. Once I ran with over 30,000 people in a single race so when I say I have seen thousands of people run, it is no exaggeration. Yet, when I pointed this out on the post, I was immediately assaulted with shouts of "You are wrong!" and was blasted with lots of personal attacks and name calling. People, personal attacks and name calling are NOT forms argumentation. But they happen so much in America today that people really think this is how arguments are conducted. It is not.

One of the nicer comments I received was that one person was impressed by my "confidence without intelligence." Never mind that I was and am right. Another person wrote a long diatribe saying that I "obviously know everything," and from looking at my "Insta photos" she knows that she is "more fit than you are." She went on to boast of her athletic accomplishments. I was tempted to boast of mine, but God reminded me that He did not gift me to boast, but to glorify Him and help other people. (My athletic giftedness is not in running but in swimming.)

By the way, the thread got long, and I was the only one that offered any evidence. I could not post it there, so I posted it on my wall and tagged some of my detractors. The evidence I posted was of a picture of Usain Bolt running, winning an Olympic sprint with his foot landing in front of his body. That is how runners run. But no one runs with their foot landing in front of their body and with the foot in front of the knee while doing an exaggerated heel strike like in that absurd drawing. That is the straw man part. People don't run like that. And you literally can't run with your foot landing directly under your center body mass. Try it. It does not work that way. Your knee would have to be straight for that to happen. It baffles me that people can get so caught up with an idea that reality disappears from view and anyone calling for a look at what really happens is called a DA.

Ah well, what does it matter. The world is not made for the average intellect much less the above average. I have never thought I was smart, but the longer I live the more I believe that there is a vast difference between me and most of humanity. Maybe I am a DA, but I am right about this running thing. Olympians, dogs, cats, horses, and children all run the same way. Just watch them. And anytime you tell people how to run, something is wrong. Children do it perfectly and no one tells them how, no one shows them how, no one has to. God made us to run, to experience it, to enjoy it, not to analyse the mechanics of it and create theories contrary to reality. Move on, there is nothing to be gained there.