Celebration of Strength and Beauty is Preferable to “Acceptance”
Most of the motivational writing, infographics and articles on success and failure are peppered with the kind of ideological morphine that is only popular because it placates the masses, most of whom are too weak minded and delusional to raise their eyes to the harsh light of truth.
But there are now dissident voices in the media. People are speaking out against absurdities such as the “fat acceptance movement” and other false ideologies which claim that self-esteem, attained through insincere compliments and censorship of criticism empowers individuals to achieve more. “Don’t judge me!” squeal the entitled devotees of the modern cult of victimhood. But we must judge! How can we assess the value of anything or anyone without passing judgement?
1. Assess the Value by Passing Judgement
Older generations may bemoan the emergence of the cyber weaklings of social justice but these are but the fresh buds of an old weed, the roots of which stretch into the Christian past of Western civilisation. This article is not intended as an attack on Christians; merely an honest attempt to identify the origin of the modern malaise. Why is it that anyone who celebrates pride, achievement, strength, beauty or industriousness must be labelled as ableist, sexist, fascist, bigot, fat-shamer etc?
The science fiction writer Issac Asimov who coined the term “robotics” is credited with predicting the rise of social media and online communities before the internet was even invented. He also identified the levelling tendency in Western culture which I am speaking of and which has grown to prominence through online media.
2. Don't Be Lazy
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” - Issac Asimov
Whence did this cult arise? From it emerges the assertion that all values are relative so that ugliness and beauty can no longer be distinguished, and strength is rendered equal to weakness, ignorance to genius and industriousness to laziness. For these unnatural assertions to gain prominence a culture must first be divorced from the natural human habit of discrimination; to pass judgement and assert the value of that which is good. This aversion to judgement can be traced back to the Bible, Matthew 7:1-5: “Judge not, lest ye be judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”
2. Enjoy the Scenery
The verse is often misunderstood, for elsewhere the Bible encourages Christians to pass judgement, albeit in accordance with Christian values which hold that pride is a sin and that “the meek shall inherit the earth.” True Christianity cannot be used to defend the abominable ideologies that plague Western pop culture and proclaim all people as great, all bodies as beautiful and ignorance as equal to wisdom.
An eternal truth recognised by the Catholic church as well as the pagan cultures of pre-Christian Europe, is that man is a wretched and weak thing between beast and God. Both paganism and Christianity offer a salvation from this wretchedness; the Christian believes man is at once wretched in his beastliness but also great for he was made in God’s image and may find salvation in God through Jesus Christ. The pagan also conceived of man as wretched but with the potential to be made great through action, through strength of will in defiance of his wretchedness; he is great because he may transform himself into something stronger, wiser, god-like.
3. Be Unique Personality
“The moment one conceives the meaning of human greatness is the moment when one understands the baseness, the triviality and the meanness of the material from which we have to mould it.”- Bill Hopkins
These words from Hopkins’ 1957 novel are today echoed by John Burke, an army vet turned fitness instructor. One of Burke’s numerous motivational videos went viral this week resulting in millions of views and a tirade of hatred. Nothing Burke said would have raised an eyebrow in Ancient Rome, in medieval Europe or even in America prior to WWII. He simply asserted that accepting people for “who they are” only empowers people to be lazy and prevents them from achieving. Whether you want to succeed in business, in education, in physical fitness or in any pursuit, you must first acknowledge your weakness and commit to overcoming it.
4. Spend Time in Nature
If you look at yourself and say “I am too fat. I want to be fitter!” then you are one step closer to achieving that goal. Diminishing the value of achievement prevents others from aspiring to achieve and therefore hurts them. The internet is awash with echo chambers frequented by those who wish to have their weaknesses validated by similarly afflicted individuals.
I’m not just talking about fitness, but all potential achievements. Telling someone that their assumed knowledge of a subject is equal to that of a learned scholar not only insults those who have completed higher education courses, it discourages would be PhD’s from ever attending University. The desire for equality has made people hate all things that are more than equal, and all people who raise themselves higher than they were through strength and determination. These achievements are seen as attacks on the moral foundations of our society and in a way that’s exactly what they are. Our society is sick and must be made strong again.
5. Make Our Society Strong
Popular culture celebrates criminality while depicting law enforcers as oppressors. The beautiful gothic and neo-classical architecture of European cities is evermore overshadowed by hideous glass towers and misshapen, asymmetrical public buildings. Art and music are increasingly primitive and abstract to the extent that no one in any previous stage of our history could bear to endure them for even a moment. Strong people are called arrogant while the weak are called brave. Teachers are instructed to promote self esteem rather than competition which means failing to distinguish between the best and the worst of students. It seems all traditional values are being deliberately subverted. The current climate of hatred for men like John Burke is the accumulative effect of all these distortions.
“Physiologically, everything ugly weakens and saddens man. It reminds him of decay, danger, impotence; it actually deprives him of strength. One can measure the effect of the ugly with a dynamometer. Wherever man is depressed at all, he senses the proximity of something "ugly." His feeling of power, his will to power, his courage, his pride — all fall with the ugly and rise with the beautiful.” Friedrich Nietzsche
If you want to motivate yourself then don’t look for compliments. Look with admiration on those who have already accomplished what you wish to achieve and with scorn on those who denounce achievement. Hate your weakness and love your strength. Celebrate beauty and strength in others so that these ideals will be exalted once more, and in their light, others shall be inspired to reach new heights.
