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The Fit Perception
The Fit Perception
Childhood Politics
Reflecting on the days when significant historical documents like the U.S. Constitution and the Gettysburg Address were part of my family's fabric, I share how these experiences have molded my views on government and patriotism. From participating in the Constitution Pageant with our family friend Scott Bradley to commemorating pivotal dates like September 11th and September 17th, these moments have deeply influenced my perspective on America's past and its future. Join me as I reminisce about these impactful events and their role in shaping a politically engaged upbringing.
Next up, we rewind to the playful days of childhood games and the admiration for a peer's athletic skill, seamlessly transitioning into a thoughtful discussion on the divine inspiration behind the creation of the Constitution. While celebrating the brilliance and philosophical depth of the founding documents, I also acknowledge the inherent challenges and flaws that come with freedom. This segment is a heartfelt reflection on the evolving landscape of governance and the need to adapt and learn from historical precedents.
Finally, we tackle some of the most pressing issues of our time, from the role of money in politics to the complexities of police accountability. We debate controversial topics like the NFL's political correctness and the impact of social media on public behavior. As we reimagine the presidency and explore innovative ideas for government restructuring, we underscore the importance of earning self-respect through hard work and facing discomfort head-on. This episode is a thought-provoking blend of personal anecdotes, historical reflections, and robust debates designed to challenge your conventional wisdom and inspire personal growth.
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Oh, what's up friends, welcome back to another episode of the Fit Perception Podcast. I'm your boy T, so this is being recorded on Tuesday, september 17th, and for those of you that don't know what that means, that means happy birthday to the Constitution. There's a lot of patriotic things that happened in the last couple of weeks. Um, I mean historical events. Uh, september 11th, obviously major, major, uh impactful event in the history of the United States. Um, also September 17th, the birthday of the constitution of the United States. Um, so I guess my mind, you know, those are also been ever like. Since the last episode, there's been a presidential debate, there's been, um, an assassination attempt, a second assassination attempt, so a lot of assassination attempt, a second assassination attempt.
Speaker 1:So a lot of things in the political realm have been happening, and so I guess my mind has just been kind of caught up with things of a political nature and contemplating government and history and the impact of government on nations and peoples and how it has a lasting. The things that we decide to do today have a lasting impact on the generations ahead of us. So, you know, heavy thoughts, all good, but I just want to talk about like, okay, so growing up. A lot of people don't know this about me because they only know me from social media, right? So if you just looked at my social media, you would go oh, this is a gym douchebag who is very full of himself and that's fine. You can have whatever thoughts you want about me, but that's what you would get from my social media. But the social media is a business tool for me. Now, yes, I'm in fitness, but when I was growing up, fitness was secondary to education and, specifically, history and politics.
Speaker 1:So I grew up in a household where we discussed politics. I grew up in a household, from when we were very little, that discussed the Constitution, that discussed the amendments, that discussed the history of the United States, that talked about major events that had happened. So I was very versed in things of a political nature from a very young age. I mean and when I say that I mean I grew up memorizing the Constitution, I grew up memorizing the amendments, the Bill of Rights. I grew up memorizing the Gettysburg Address, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, like I had those memorized we, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare anyway. So like I have those things still in my brain. You know, young people are very, very impacted by what happens in their youth and I still remember those things.
Speaker 1:I still remember the, the discussions about the constitution, about the United States, about history. Like I still remember those um and and so every time that there's a major event it brings up those memories and I'm very thoughtful on the events that have happened and it makes me very sad. Like I've talked to a few people where I've been like hey, do you know what today is? And they're like no, I was like it's September 17th and they're like OK, cool. I'm like do you know what happened on september 17th? Like is it ringing a bell? And I've not had one person tell me oh, yeah, yeah, that was the, the signing of the constitution of the united states, which is kind of a massive deal, kind of a huge deal. It changed the way that governments worked across the world. It changed the complete trajectory of the entire world, because the United States was born and now it's a superpower and it's a kind of the leader of the world.
Speaker 1:And it had to do with the signing, number one, of the declaration of independence, but number two, the signing of the constitution, um, and I remember so, growing up I was like, obviously, in a, in a family that was very religious and very um into politics and into government and into history, into politics and into government and into history. And we had a friend who his name was Scott Bradley he's one of the smartest people I've ever known and he and his family put together what they called the constitutional. What was it? It was the oh, I can't even remember the name oh, the, the, the constitution pageant, that's what it was called, the constitution pageant, and it happened every September 17th or like the weekend of um, and and they put on it was this massive, massive production, and my whole family was involved because we had taken government classes from the Bradleys and they were the ones that were hosting it. So everybody that was involved with their classes got to be involved in the production. And y'all, when I tell you like it was a huge deal, it was so big we would go to a well, let me rewind, so it would start.
Speaker 1:Practices for the constitutional pageant would start in, I want to say like May, where we would treat it like a theater production, so like we would go to rehearsals and we would learn our lines and we would learn our staging and we would learn all of those stage performance things. Like it was a legitimate show, uh, and like my dad was involved, he was Thomas pain. My sisters were involved, they were, they were, uh, the wives of, you know, the um founding fathers. Uh, my brother was a soldier, I was a drummer boy. Uh, like it was a legitimate pageant and they would put it together like, uh, surrounding the events of the constitution, constitutional convention in 1787. And they would put together these scenes of like debates, like, if you've ever seen Hamilton, the musical Hamilton, very much like those debates we would set up on benches and all of that. And then we would have like musical numbers, very patriotical musical numbers, you know, battle hymn of the Republic and and, uh, uh for glory and all of these, these patriotic numbers, and we would put them to scenes, uh, surrounding the revolutionary war and surrounding the um, the constitutional Convention.
Speaker 1:And it had such a massive impact. I still remember the lines from those, like I still remember Thomas Paine's these are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, um, but he that stands it now, you know, and, and it's, and it's just such a patriotic, oh, it's such a good feeling to remember those things, um, anyway. So, uh, you know, and you have, you have, um, give me liberty or give me death, by Patrick Henry and all of these massively patriotic moments put onto the show, and as a child, it had a huge impact on me, um, and and later in life I realized like, oh, that is not normal for people to have what I have and to understand the history of this country in the way that I understand it. And were there problems with the history of this country in the way that I understand it? And were there problems with the history of this country? Absolutely, but more than the problems, there were solutions to bigger problems and it paved the way for incredible things to happen. And are there still problems? Yes, there are still major, major, massive problems.
Speaker 1:But I remember those days, um, and I remember those things, and it and it made me ponder and be like man. How am I going to replicate that? Because it changed my life, it literally 100% changed my life. Um, those, those speeches, um, you know, uh, they, they changed the course of my thought process and how do I replicate that with my own family? How do I put that? Because those things don't exist anymore. In fact, if you're too patriotic, it's not good anymore, which is insane, but that's the world we live in. Not good anymore, which is insane, but that's the world we lived in, live in. So you know, I'm I'm pondering how I can get those same impactful moments and and thoughts and feelings in my own family in regards to the constitution and patriotism. Now, so a little side thing that I just remembered.
Speaker 1:I haven't thought about this in years, but during the patriotic pageant, the constitution pageant, we would, as kids like, so they would hold it in. It was called the Kent Concert Hall. I don't know if it's called that anymore, but it was on the campus of Utah State University and it was a massive, massive, massive theater, thousands of seats, um, in this concert hall, and it would be packed like it would sell out, um, and it would go through the weekend. So it would have a Friday showing and a Saturday showing, possibly Thursday too. There might have been a Thursday, friday, saturday situation, anyway. So we would, you know, be in the hallways and we'd be backstage, but during the performance there wasn't a lot of scenes with children in it. And, granted, at this time I'm like seven, maybe eight, so young, six, maybe, maybe, I don't remember, but uh, it was no, I had to have been. No, I had to have been like eight, nine, 10. Yeah Cause, yeah, it happened during seven. Uh, september 11th too, um, anyway, so young, you know, seven to ten, somewhere around there.
Speaker 1:And uh, we would, as kids, during the show that we like the scenes we weren't in, we'd go to the top of the, the concert hall, out in the, the lobby area, and we would play games, and we would, we would play the, the top. The top game was sharks and minnows, and if you don't know what that is, I'm sad that you didn't have a childhood, but it was a version of like tag, where one person would be the shark and everybody would line up on one side of the room and then we would all try to get to the other side of the room and in the concert hall it was a long lobby, it was a massive, massive lobby, and so the the shark would, you know, tag one person and then that person would have to be a shark and they would have to tag the rest of the people, and so you'd be running, running, running for you know 20 minutes maybe, sometimes back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. And and there was one kid, his name was Michael Bradley, and so he was the son of Scott who was the host of this pageant, and he was unbelievably athletic, like crazy athlete, and he was a few years older than me um, probably six years, maybe seven years older than me and, uh, I was just like in awe of this guy, cause I mean, like he would run, but he could like jump over people and he could flip off of the wall and he could do cool tumbling tricks and he was like a ninja in my eyes. That's where I was just like, oh my gosh, I want to be like Michael Bradley. And, um, I re, I remember he would always win sharks and minnows. Um, he was faster than everybody, he could jump higher than people, he could, um, you know, uh, juke people and he could he weave and he could. Anyway, he was just unbelievably athletic and fast forward, like 10 years, and he and I worked together at a tumbling gym, um, coaching the tumbling team together.
Speaker 1:I was like, oh my gosh, full circle moment. Um, where you know we would tumble together as a team and I was. I told him all the time I was like dude I. I have to tell you like growing up, you were my idol, like I had, like you were my dude, that I wanted to be exactly like he's. Like, well, don't be exactly like me. And I was like, well, yeah, no, because you broke it. I watched him break his neck. It was crazy. He did a double gainer off of a double mini tramp and broke his neck. I was there, it was insane, it was so scary. Anyway, that was a piece of information I forgot about, but anyway.
Speaker 1:So I was just thinking about my childhood and thinking about like wow, there's so much that has impacted and the ideals behind it and the, the work and the, the blood and the sweat, um, and the sacrifices that went into creating this country, cause all we know now is what we have and we're very lackadaisical in our patriotism and you know, people just focus on, like, the racist aspect and the, the um, the hate that's in this country and the capitalism and the? Um, you know, the military, industrial complexes and and all the bad things in this country. And it makes me so sad because when you look back at where we've come from, it's like, oh my gosh, like there's no other country in the world like this that has overtaken a superpower, created a completely different government, like when we when we, you know, fought the, the British army we could have very easily just said, hey, george Washington, be our King. And people were down for it. People were so down for it.
Speaker 1:Um, we could have just had another kingdom, you know, just a Great Britain part two, and and when you go back into history and you read about the amount of study and and philosophy that went into creating the Constitution, you know you have people like like James Madison and you have people like Thomas Jefferson that come in, that are very well versed in the forms of government that have existed since the beginning of time and kind of picking and choosing the best parts from each government, saying, okay, well, obviously we can't just have one person in charge. So we'll have a guy who's in charge of the military and is the executive leader, that kind of makes the choices, but he needs to be able to be put in check by another branch of government that represents the people, and then we need to have another branch of government that can check both of those and they're overseeing the laws of the land and it is absolutely brilliant the way the country was put together, like absolutely brilliant. And and if you deny that, you just don't know enough about government, uh, and that's okay, that's totally fine. But anybody that's like, oh, there's problems, yes, there is, but back then this was the greatest idea that had ever existed when it comes to government. Other countries had tried and absolutely failed, and you know, I'm a very religious person. So I think it was inspired by God the way that this country was put together, and if that offends people, that's fine, but that's my opinion. If that offends people, that's fine, but that's my opinion. I truly believe that it was put together by God to create what we have today. Anyway, so that long story short.
Speaker 1:I've just been thinking about the country and and the government and I came to the realization that, no matter how inspired it was and no matter how good it was, it was destined. This sounds so unpatriotic and I'm so sorry, but it it's destined to fail because it provided what we call freedom. Right, and anywhere there's freedom, there is room for really, really bad people to do whatever they want, and there's a lot of how do I say this without just sounding like a psycho? It, it provided bad people to be able to do good, to do bad things, which is kind of what freedom is, you know, you have the freedom to do bad and you have the freedom to do good, and and the bad people we hopefully put in jail or we put them in charge of the country, um, and and uh. So I think that we're we're at a point now in this country where, uh, if we want to continue to be a superpower, if we want to continue to be a leader on the global stage, we have to go back to original documents and update them.
Speaker 1:And I'm a huge fan and proponent of the Constitution, but I think it's crazy to think that it doesn't need to be updated. And I mean it has been updated via amendments, meaning, like you know, the 19th amendment gave the women the right to vote, and and a lot of other amendments, the 13th amendment, the freedom of the slaves, and you know. So the amendments are good and the the constitution is good, but I'm talking like the actual structure of the government, maybe not the documents so much, and and the documents are kind of what obviously set up the government, so maybe they do need to be adjusted. I don't know, but the actual structural government is destined to fail because it's putting too much freedom in the hands of leaders. Now, I'm a huge, huge proponent of freedom of the people and freedom of all of the citizens, but I think that when it comes to freedom of government personnel, there needs to be less freedom for them. And that might sound bad, that might sound un-American, but the people that need to be put in check are the people in power, not the people that are citizens. And so I've been thinking about, like, oh how, if it was up to me, what would be the best form of government, and I honestly, truly believe this. This is going to be a devil's advocate sometime.
Speaker 1:I genuinely believe that the most effective and efficient and best form of government as far as getting things done and keeping things in check is a dictatorship. I think that a king is the absolute best version of a government. If the king is good, right. Obviously. If it's a bad king, that doesn't work, because we know how that goes down. But just from a realistic, logical perspective, having a king is the most effective and efficient form of government. You don't have to answer to anybody, you don't have to go through hoops and ladders. When you say something, it's done, boom, we move on. Very effective, very efficient. But you say something, it's done, boom, we move on. Very effective, very efficient. But you have to have a good person. That is the key to having a successful dictatorship. And it's never worked because by time, you know, and the way that human nature is, kings get too powerful.
Speaker 1:Um, so I was like how do, how do we restructure the us government to be more modern and more effective? Um, and I'll, I'll get into that with the devil's advocate a little bit more, but, uh, I think that the the number one thing is it can't have anything to do with money. I don't think that the men and the women that set up this country and set up the whole structure of the United States government did it without any thought of money. They did it with the thought of I don't want to be told what to do, I don't want to be told what not to do, I don't want to be told that I have to be subservient to a foreign dictator just because they quote unquote own this land. You know, there wasn't really a thought for money. There was just a thought for freedom, and I think that that once politics and I would I actually need to go back and review when politics became a business as far as like, when you were in office, you got paid. Um, I need to go back and review that I I remember taking a presidential class in um college.
Speaker 1:Uh, it was literally called president, um, and uh, I can't remember when it went down that the public officials got to be paid for their time. Um, it was early on. It was early on. Like you, you got a stipend, but most of the the government people had multiple businesses and plantations and, um, you know, they were involved in a lot of different things and then they ran the country on the side. But the second, that money became the overall factor is the second that our government was doomed.
Speaker 1:And so I think that to truly restructure the government, you have to take money out of it. You cannot have, um, you know, people able to make hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars by being a, a government um holder or what are they called? Like just politicians, I guess, but uh, a government agent, a government service member, whatever, they can't make money, because then it becomes okay. Well, how much money can I make? How much more can I make? What can I do in my position to make more money? And then all hope of making the right choice is gone, because you can't think clearly when you're focused on oh, I can make another hundred thousand if I vote this way or if I give this person this much political room. So I don't know.
Speaker 1:I just like all these thoughts y'all. I'm sorry I've been going on for like 30 minutes of just thoughts by tea, but I mean it is important. It's important stuff to be involved in, and I am the first person to say I don't like being involved in politics. I don't talk about it very often. I think this might be only the second or third time I've even brought it up on this podcast, but it is very, very important if we want to continue to live the cushy life that we do, because we do have a very cushy life here in the United States.
Speaker 1:It's unbelievably easy in the United States and you go oh no, there's racism and there's not. Obviously you've never been to another country, because that is a very ignorant thing to say that, that we are the most racist or we're the most homophobic or we're the most anti-feminist or whatever. This is the most ignorant bullsh of all time, because there's other countries where you're still segregated, going to the bathroom meaning like there are, you. Don't go into that part of town if you're a certain skin color and we will kill you if you're gay. You know. Those are countries that really deal with problems. The United States is pretty freaking good, um, not perfect, but way better than most places, um, anyway. So, speaking of okay, so Speaking of racism, something happened in Miami with an NFL player named Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 1:Now, tyreek Hill is a superstar athlete in the NFL, very fast, very powerful athlete, very famous athlete, very wealthy athlete, and he's a star on the Miami Dolphins. So he got pulled over by the police for speeding. He was going like 105 or something like that in his McLaren. Okay, cool, you're speeding to the NFL stadium, you have a really fast car Awesome, I've sped in fast cars. I totally understand. But he gets pulled over and if you've seen this, you know that the whole situation was kind of effed up when he gets pulled over, the police try to get him to roll down his window and he won't roll down his window and then another officer gets involved and he gets really aggressive and they pull him out of the car and smash him on the ground. And you know everything's caught on camera because cameras are everywhere now. Um and uh, so it was just a bad situation from the start.
Speaker 1:You know, both parties are to blame and Tyreek Hill, you know, came out with a, with a at a press conference and was like, oh, these officers need to lose their job, they need to be fired and all this other stuff. And and uh, you know they are suspended, they're on a, on on leave, these officers are. And I was just like people were like oh, it's racist. Well, first of all, no, it's not. It definitely has nothing to do with racism, because there wasn't any white on black, anything. The officers were like Cuban or Mexican or Spanish or whatever. So you can't claim racism because that's an ignorant statement and it's like okay.
Speaker 1:So, on the one hand, the officers were way too aggressive and very at fault and they need to definitely be reprimanded and face some sort of consequence, but also the fact that Tyreek Hill has the ego and the audacity to think that he's above doing what normal everyday person should do in that situation roll down the window and cooperate, because, hey, dude, you were breaking the law, right, you were going a hundred miles an hour. And the fact that you would think that you're above the law because you get paid millions of dollars to catch a football, play a game, is crazy and it's wrong. And, as Tyreek Hill, he's been kind of babied his whole life who? As Tyreek Hill, he's been kind of babied his whole life, right, being this superstar athlete being told that, oh my gosh, you're the greatest, holy crap, like Tyreek this and Tyreek that. And yes, it's hard to deal with being in the public eye and growing up super famous. I totally understand that. But all that put to the side, it doesn't make you special Meaning, it doesn't make you above the law. It doesn't make you above doing the right thing, right, like, if you break the law, I don't care if you're a homeless person or if you're the president of the United States. If you break the law, you break the law. There's consequences, right, yeah, cause that's what the laws are for is to kind of have some sort of equality.
Speaker 1:And so, like when he's coming out and saying like oh, these, these police officers need to fricking be fired, do they, though? Do they, though, be fired? Do they, though. Do they, though? Because their job is way harder than yours, bubba? Their job isn't to wear diamond studded chains and run really fast across turf and catch a football and be famous. That's not their job. No, no, their job is to deal with the worst things of humanity Rape and murder and human trafficking and abuse. And that's what they get to face, bud, you get to catch a football. So your jobs are way different. One of them's really important and the other one's bullshit. Right At the end of the day, your job literally doesn't matter. Their job matters a lot. So for them to be fired is idiotic.
Speaker 1:How do you know that they didn't just come from a place getting shot at? Oh, yeah, you don't. You don't know that. Maybe they came from a place where they saw somebody beat the fuck out of someone else. Yeah, that's not easy to deal with, mentally Not easy to deal with.
Speaker 1:And then they pull over some self-righteous prick going 100 miles an hour who thinks he's too good to roll his window down to talk to him. Hey, man, yeah, I'd beat the crap out of you too, Cause you're you're a loser. Like it's so dumb that people were getting so upset. Oh, I can't believe they did do this. Hey, man, do it again. Knock some sense into him. He's a loser, he's an idiot.
Speaker 1:I just it drives me crazy when people think that they're above the law because they have money. It's like what, dude, what do you do? You pee and poop? Oh, like everyone else. Cool, so you're not above anything? Now go back and play football, little boy. Go back and play whatever, run really fast and catch a ball, cause in 30 years, no one's going to care, nobody will care. You'll just be a name and that's it. Anyway, I did not mean to get as fired up about that, but um, it I just. Obviously you guys know this If you've listened to the show before. Hypocrisy just drives me crazy. Um, and uh, oh, oh, oh, oh, this Okay, fam, are you ready? Okay, politics, yes, baby. Uh, oh, oh, oh, oh, this Okay, fam, are you ready? Okay, politics, yes, baby.
Speaker 1:And and political correctness Nonsense, yes, so, um, uh, when was it? 2020, 2021, 22 happened during COVID, I want to say um, during the whole BLM movement, stuff and the people becoming obsessed with political correctness. The NFL I remember this. I thought it was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard. The NFL came together and said that the Washington Redskins was racist and they took the image. If you don't know what the Washington Redskins is, that's fine. They are a NFL team with their logo was a Native American, the profile of a Native American man, and they were called the Redskins, which, okay, it sounds super racist. I get that. Change the name, great, um, but what people didn't realize when they were calling for a change of the name because it's so racist and we can't support a racist football team? What they didn't realize is and this is, I stand by this most political correct nonsense, is that what they didn't realize is that that Native American tribe I want to say it was a Blackfeet nation, maybe. Native American tribe, I want to say there was a Blackfeet nation, um, um, maybe, yeah, yeah, the Blackfeet, uh, indian tribe or Native American tribe or whatever. Uh got money from that. They got a stipend, they got money for the use of that logo.
Speaker 1:There's an actual chief. I think his name was like Chief White Calf or something like that Two shot white. I don't remember what it was. I know White Calf was in there, but it's a way longer name anyway. So it was his photo, his profile that the football team was using and when they stopped using that and became the Washington commanders, the Native American tribes stopped getting money, stopped being funded.
Speaker 1:So all these people that were like that's a blasphemy, that's a shame, so disrespectful to this nation, okay, so now it's disrespectful, but now they don't have money, so you took part of their livelihood away. What's worse? Which one is worse? The people that were like, oh, we support the Native Americans. We can't stand for this football team. Okay, so are you going to go give them money? Are you going to go support them? No, oh, okay, then shut up, because what you did was way worse. You took money away from them, you scumbag.
Speaker 1:And so the chief whose likeness was being used has come back and said hey, please use it again. In essence, please be racist. Which is crazy, dude, which is insane. The people, out of the goodness of their hearts, were so ready to defend the honor of the Native Americans to the point of taking money away from them. Yes, but all because of racism. And now the chief is like hey, dude, we thought it was great. It was really good for our tribe. We got more money. It was an honor for my grandfather chief so-and-so to have his likeness up there. We thought it was fantastic, and all you a-holes, self-righteous pricks came through and were like, oh no, we can't have that, it's racist, without even talking to the people that you were claiming it was racist about. Racist, without even talking to the people that you were claiming it was racist about.
Speaker 1:So that made my entire week. I was like what dude? Full circle, full circle. And I've talked about this before. When you go to such far extremes on on either side, on the left or the right, it always comes back around. Always, if you get too politically correct, you start screwing over the people that you're trying to protect, which is wild. And then it comes back around and it kind of evens things out. But I was like wow, and I called it, I totally called it. I don't remember what episode it was way back in the beginning, like in the single digits probably, where this happened and I talked about it and I was like watch, I guarantee, I guarantee this will come back up as a topic to discuss, to go back to the way things were, because the Native Americans will get pissed off. Eh, you boys a profit, it's all good. Profit Anyway. Eh, your boy's a prophet it's all good, mmm, prophet, anyway.
Speaker 1:What else is happening? Way too much. That's what? Way too much. How can a president, former president, he's been impeached, he's been tried two assassination attempts. It's bonkers the world, the political landscape is insane right now and I don't want to talk about it anymore.
Speaker 1:Um, what else has been going on? What else have I been thinking about? Um, um, well, I've been thinking about, obviously, social media and how it's a detriment, because I had a conversation, a very solemn, somber conversation, with a client the other day about the disgusting effects of social media, especially on women. But just social media effects period across the board, and how detrimental it is and how bad it is. And we talk about this all the time, you know, to nauseam. But I had a thought the other day, um, of why I think that social media is so detrimental to, to the way that you deal with discomfort, because, as you know, I'm a massive proponent of being uncomfortable and making yourself uncomfortable and living in the discomfort and learning how to deal with being uncomfortable, because I think it's the only way to get stronger and I think it's the only way for you to develop and progress and become more resilient and more open-minded and more thoughtful is to deal with discomfort and to honestly put yourself into uncomfortable situations, and I was thinking about it.
Speaker 1:And when you are on social media, you get to choose very quickly whether or not to look at things that make you happy or to look at things that make you sad and upset, and usually we get to skip over the bad very quickly If we would like to. You know, if something comes up we don't like, boom it's gone. I just swipe past it, I just scroll up, boom it disappeared. You know also, you don't have to deal with the consequence of reaction, where if I react to something poor, like if I see something I don't like and I react to it and I comment a mean comment or I, you know, repost it, trashing it or whatever I don't have to really deal with the repercussions. Somebody might get mad at me Okay cool, I can block them, you know.
Speaker 1:But I get to be angry with no consequence and I think that that translate into real life very poorly, where if I, if I come in contact with somebody that I don't like or I don't agree with and I lash out, they're probably going to lash out too, and if I don't know how to deal with that, I'm just going to shut down, I'm going to have like it won't go well, my brain's going to stop working and I'm just going to get more and more angry because I don't know how to deal with confrontation. I don't know how to deal with with the uncomfortable conversations. And that is a crucial, crucial skill in living a good life is dealing with opposite opinions and things that we don't like. And on social media it's very quick, bam, I'm over it. Like you just get to move on if you don't like something, or you get to be really aggressive with no consequence. And when you are in the real world, you have to deal with really difficult things quite a bit and things that you don't like and things that that hurt, and there is no sense of anonymity like there is on social media. On social media, I'm just some random person that saw something that I didn't like, made a nasty comment and left, and that person has no idea who I am. That person that that entity has no clue who I am, what I do, what I think. All they saw was this nasty comment and I was out, and nothing they do is going to really affect me. No level of retaliation is really going to have that big of an impact on me, which isn't good. It is not good to have that big of an impact on me, you know, and which isn't good, it is not good to not have consequences Like I say this.
Speaker 1:I say this story all the time and it's very bad. It sounds way worse than I actually mean it to, but I tell her all the time I was like I wish that that people that commented nasty things I wish someone would punch them in the face. And it sounds so bad. And I'm not condoning violence, don't be stupid and think I'm condoning violence. But if you get hit in the face for saying something rude, guess what? You're probably going to think a lot harder before you say something rude again. Guess what? You're probably going to think a lot harder before you say something rude again. You know, like, like, for instance, like I'll. I'll give you a personal example Um, like I posted something a while ago, um, that I knew would be politically divisive.
Speaker 1:I knew it would cause reaction and I didn't post it for that reason. I posted it because I actually believed in it. And this guy who I don't know I have no idea who this person is was from New York and after I posted that he went out of his way to send me paragraphs of messages on how he couldn't believe that I would be so stupid and how how sad it was that I was just another dumb um fitness instructor that thinks that, uh, it's okay for me to have a political opinion when it's so ignorant, and that he hopes that that my, my career gets destroyed and that I'm not able to pay my bills anymore. Like it was wild. You all like it was crazy. I was like, oh my goodness, who the freak and? And it didn. Crazy. I was like, oh my goodness, who the freak and? And it didn't.
Speaker 1:Like, I have a very thick skin. It's very hard for me to get offended. I don't remember the last time I was offended, um, but I was just blown away. I was like, oh my goodness, how do you have so much anger and hate in your heart for someone you don't know? Like, this guy has no idea who I am. He thinks he does. Um, obviously, otherwise he wouldn't talk about it. But um, I was like you know what? Like, if we were in person and he said that and I got to punch him in the face, he wouldn't be as aggressive. I guarantee he wouldn't be as aggressive ever again, ever again.
Speaker 1:You know, and and and people are like, oh, that's not good, that's violent. I was like, yeah, so were his words, his words, were he he doesn't want me to provide for my family? Yeah, hey, man, I'll fight you right here. I will fight you for my respect and my reputation right here, and it, it. You know that sounds so bad, like I understand how bad that sounds. I get it that that oh T, we don't want violence. I don't want violence either.
Speaker 1:But violence isn't just physical Violence is. Violence is. You can say very violent things and the way to curb that is consequences. And most of the time with words, there are no consequences. You just go back and forth and say more and more violent crap and nothing happens.
Speaker 1:But if it's met with physical violence, the violent words stop and and I again, I understand how it sounds, I understand how bad it seems to say, oh, violence to this. I'm not condoning violence, but I am condoning consequences. There needs to be consequences, um, and with social media, there aren't any. That's why I think it's dangerous and that's why I think people get very, very uh, depressed and very arrogant and very um, full of themselves, which isn't very good, because you'll always be humbled by life and when you haven't been able to deal with that, it's not good. It's not good. You become a very, very shallow and sad person.
Speaker 1:Um, but anyway, guys, I've been rambling for like almost an hour. I don't know how I do this. This is crazy. I I get on here and I have nothing to talk about and then I just talk for an hour. It's insane, dude. It's so wild to me. Every time, every single time I get on, I'm like this is going to be a 10 minute podcast's going to literally be 10 minutes. And then I look at the clock I'm like, oh wow, it is 48 minutes right now. Insane, I literally don't know how you keep listening to your boy. Glad you do, glad you do all five of you.
Speaker 1:But anyway, let's, let's stop the rambling and let's get into the Devil's Advocate. All right, y'all, this is the Devil's Advocate, and if you don't know what that is, the Devil's Advocate is the part of the show where I take an event, a thought, a theory, an idea and I debate it from two different sides in the hopes that in the to understand that both sides of you have value and that it is absolutely critical to the progress of the human race to be okay with having different points of view. Um, so your devil's advocate today kind of goes along with what we've been talking about as far as politics go, because, because, happy birthday to the constitution, um, and that is so. We're going to get much more narrow, um, much more narrow, uh, as far as, like, the structure of the government, because it's very easy to say, oh yeah, the government needs to be restructured, but, okay, how? Um, and so this is one piece we I mean, we could go for another three hours talking about how to restructure the government. Won't do that to you, cause it boring.
Speaker 1:But, um, one thing that I've been thinking about, and I've heard it talked about multiple times by, um, you know, professionals and, and theorists and and political science, uh, professors and philosophers, um, people much more professional than myself we and, and why, I guess, have one president of the United States or multiple presidents of the United States at the same time, meaning, for example, is it more effective and better to just have one president or three presidents?
Speaker 1:And that's kind of what we'll be debating, uh, and why? So I? I think that obviously I've told you that I think that the constitution and the setup of the government is inspired. I think that it is um brilliant. I think that it solved a lot of issues when the country was first founded and I think that those ideals should continue in the way that that we only have one executive executive, um, and I think, I think that that having one president is the most effective and efficient. Like I told you, um, I think that having one person in charge is the most efficient. Now, you have to have a good person for that to work, but we're assuming that this person is good. Okay, it's a big assumption, but we are assuming that the one president is good and fair and focused on freedom and equality and all those things.
Speaker 1:And I do think that having one executive is the best because you have two other branches that have multiple people in them already, right, you have your executive branch with your president and your vice president, your executive branch with your president and your vice president, and then you have your judicial branch with all the Supreme courts, and then you have your congressional and sent your Congress and your Senate that have multiple people. You know your senators from your States and your Congressman from your States who are supposed to represent you and represent your interests and you vote them into office, you know. And so if you have more than one president, it's going to get really, really messy in dealing with the other branches of government, because you know it's a lot easier to say I believe this, bang versus versus, okay, I believe this, what do you believe, and what do you believe to the other two presidents, for example? We're just talking about one versus three, just for the sake of argument. And if you have one, things get done very quickly. It's very decisive, which is very important when you are running the military of the country, is very important when you are running the military of the country. You don't have time to jump through everybody's opinions going into, say, a war. You have to have that executive power of immediate decisiveness because there's split-second decisions that need to be made and if you have multiple presidents, that's not going to work. You have to deal with everybody's opinions, which you know.
Speaker 1:Having multiple opinions is a good thing because it allows for more open thoughts and discussions and dialogue and more equal representation, but as far as being efficient and effective as a world leader, you need one person in charge, with other people to check him for sure, him or her to check them. You know, and that's why you have those other two branches of government, you have your Supreme court and you have your Congress and Senate, that that check the president and and can veto things and all all those wonderful checks and balances, but the the one person right usually has one way of thinking, and it sucks because we have a two-party, bipartisan system, which President Washington warned us about in his final address. He said it worries me because even at the beginning of this country, you had your Federalists versus Anti-Federalists, your first two political parties, who were for a strong federal government and people who were for a strong state government, and so you already, immediately from the start of the country, had two parties. And he warned against it. He said this will destroy our country, and it has. And so it's a problem that you have one president, because it screws over the other half of the country where you know's he's not, or she's not representative of the entire populace, where, um, he might be the most effective and the most efficient, but he's not the most representative. And that might just get confusing, cause I just went from one side to the other, but, um, staying, staying on the track of it's the most efficient. It is Because, even if he doesn't represent the entire populace, he represents the majority, and that's how democracy works. The majority chooses and says this is what we believe, this is the direction we want to go, and when you have one person in charge, it's very effective and very efficient. You don't have to wait for opinions to roll through, you don't have to wait for hoops to jump through. You just decide and you go.
Speaker 1:Also, it'd be very, very frustrating to go to another country and say, ok, here's our three presidents, you have to deal with all of them. You know, no country would be like, okay, yeah, cool, no doubt, cause every other country has prime ministers and presidents and Kings and dictators, and you have one person in charge, because obviously it's the most efficient way to run a country, um, and, and so I I think that that maybe we need to heighten the, the checks and balances process, maybe a little bit, so that one person doesn't have as much power. Um, but as far as as being efficient, it's the number one way to go. Um, so, yes, I think that it needs to stay as one president, just because of efficiency reasons, um, but on the flip side of that, um, having three presidents would solve a lot of problems, a lot of problems. Um, and I still think it could be efficient where you have the presidency divided into like three parts.
Speaker 1:You have one president who is solely over the military. You have one president that's solely over international relations. You have one president that's solely over domestic relations, who focuses on the things that arise in our nation, specifically of you know. Oh, now we have an issue of the economy, or we have the hurricane relief, or we have, you know, the public transit and the farming and everything that happens here on our soil. You know, could be up to one person and then he wouldn't have all of the other shiz to think about. You know, that's the problem with having one, is he has to think of, or she has to think of everything, has to think of domestic problems, has to think of international problems, has to think of military problems. And if you look at the presidents, by the end of their term they've aged like 20 years because they have to deal with so much all the time. From the second they wake up in the morning and sometimes they don't even sleep, but the second their eyes open it is crap. Storm central, there's nothing good that happens from the second they wake up.
Speaker 1:Oh hey, a bombing happened over here. We need to address it. Oh hey, this country's failing over here. How do we help them? Oh hey, there was a race riot down here. How do we address that? Hey, the stocks just crashed. How do we address that? Oh, there's a famine over there. How do we address that? Oh, this whole entire automotive stocks just crashed. How do we address that? Oh, there's a famine over there. How do we address that? Oh, this whole entire automotive industry just crashed. How do we address that?
Speaker 1:Oh, also, there's a war happening over in Russia and Ukraine. What are we going to say to that? Also, are we moving tanks over into Gaza? Like, what's the deal with that? Oh, also, it's insane to have one person think about all of that. Crazy insane to think that one person can handle it. You know when, when the country started, that was a good idea because there wasn't that much you had to worry about. Okay, we're going to talk about tariffs and the trade that happens with other countries and state governments. Okay, cool, that's what we're going to worry about. That's my job, and now it's you have to run the world, basically, and deal with all of its problems all at once, its problems all at once.
Speaker 1:And so I think that having three would greatly improve the efficiency and effectiveness across the board. Because you have one person whose job is to focus on international relations Great, that's my job. And then you have one person whose focus is just the domestic relations and focusing on building the economy and building, um, you know, the the uh, the energy, um consumption here, and focusing on the revenue here and dealing with businesses and and the economy on our soil, you know. And then you have one person whose whose job is to focus just on military conflict, and, and so I feel like, if you have that, then they come together every morning and say, okay, this is what our, our respective cabinets and teams are working with right now, just so everybody knows, this is the direction I'm going to go. What do you think you know? Um, and ultimately, they have the power over that certain area, um, but they all have to check each other, they all have to sign off on it for it to go through for either channel, which I think would be incredibly effective because also, they wouldn't all be able to come from one party.
Speaker 1:It would completely destroy the party If it was a rule, a law, that, not that that you couldn't have two of the same party. You would have to have three parties. You would have to because you can't have a Republican and a Democrat or two Republicans, because then it throws off the whole efficiency and effectiveness. So you would ultimately destroy the bipartisan way of running the government and open up a completely way more free and more representative executive branch having multiple presidents. And this will never happen, obviously, because nobody wants to give up the power of the presidency, um, and and the power of their party.
Speaker 1:But theoretically it's way more efficient to have each person think about one area of of power and and relation than it is to have one person worry about all of them. Right, because obviously, science we know that the more things you focus on, the less effective you are in every single aspect of those things. You know you have this much energy, a hundred percent energy and if you have 50 things that are happening, you're able to give 2% of that energy to each of those things. Not a lot of good energy, you know, versus, you have one thing to focus on, you can give a hundred percent to it, chances are that thing's going to be way more effective and efficient. Um, so, yeah, I think that that having three presidents would be unbelievably helpful and effective and efficient in this country. It would destroy the bipartisan nonsense, it would decrease the amount of worry that the president has to deal with which is crazy and it would make the focus way more precise and efficient. But that is your devil's advocate. Let me know what you think. Are you a fan of the single president executive branch or do you think it'd be more effective to have a three president executive branch? Let me know Things like that that really I spend a lot of time thinking about. But, yeah, let me know what you think I actually think about and what you personally believe.
Speaker 1:And then, before you go, I do need to leave you with the final takeaway. Your final takeaway is the most important part of the show, so if you've skipped over the whole thing, at least listen to the final takeaway. Um, your final takeaway is a, a thought, an idea, a practice that you can use, that I can promise you will better your life and improve your self-worth and your being and your overall happiness. And today is a really important one, I think, and one that I personally struggle with for a lot of different reasons. So I'm being vulnerable on this one, um, but your final takeaway today is to put time into earning your own respect, meaning, you know, respect is not given, it's earned.
Speaker 1:We've all heard that, that and and usually they're talking about respecting other people and other people respecting you. Um, I'm a huge, huge proponent of respect, um and reputation, uh, where I don't care if you like me, I don't care if you don't like me, but I want to guarantee that, whether or not you like me, you respect me, um, and and I hope, like I live my life by that Um, I I really genuinely don't care if you like me or don't like me, but I want to make sure that you respect me regardless. And I was pondering on that the other day and I was like, well, if that's how I live my life with other people and how I view the world, am I earning my own respect? We're taught all the time to respect ourselves and to love ourselves, but if we follow that same rule of respect is earned and not given we have to earn our own respect, right, and it's something that I've been thinking about. Okay, so how do we earn our own respect, and I think it has to do with what we always talk about on here doing really tough things, forcing yourself to be uncomfortable. Well, and I put time and effort into it I walk out on the other side and I have earned my own respect. I respect myself because what I did in there was really hard, um, and I think that the more that you're able to do things that force you to either earn your respect or let yourself down, the the better chance you have of Really improving and really becoming a better person, and and so I and it's going to be different for everybody, so I can't say you know, do it this way, because it's going to be very personal. But I do think that we as people and humans need to do more things to earn our own respect Instead of just constantly saying oh, I'm beautiful enough, oh, I'm good enough, you're perfect just the way you are.
Speaker 1:I hate that saying. I hate it Number one, it's not true. Hate that saying I hate it. Number one, it's not true. But number two, it leads to self-hatred and a depreciation of self-worth because, deep down, you know that you're not perfect, because we all make mistakes, and so you're lying to yourself. And every time you lie to yourself, you lose less respect for yourself, or you lose respect for yourself rather less respect for yourself or you lose respect for yourself, rather. So I think that putting time into doing things that are very, very difficult is probably the best way to earn your own respect, because it is earned, it is not given.
Speaker 1:You don't just give yourself respect, you have to earn it, and that comes from doing really hard things. And if you think of those difficult things instead of just like, oh my gosh, it's a difficult thing, you know I'm going to shy away from it, think of whoa. But if I, if I go through this, I'm going to respect myself so much more. And on the other side of that, respect is strength, is self-worth, is confidence. Side of that, respect is strength, is self-worth, is confidence. So think about it, let me know your thoughts, ponder about it and ultimately go out and earn your own respect, because you deserve it. You deserve to be respected, you deserve to respect yourself, but it you have to work at it. You have to earn that Um and uh. I I do hope that you do that, because self-respect is huge. If you want to be happy, you have to have self-respect, um, and that has to be earned. So go out, do really hard things, earn that respect and and and become more confident and more happy.
Speaker 1:Um, that is this episode. Um, it fricking rambled like crazy. Not sorry, um, but yeah, um, I. I hope that you enjoyed it. I hope that it was thought provoking. I hope it was helpful. Um, hopefully we can continue to do this and get these freaking videos up, because I'm in front of a camera and I've got to get these videos up so people can watch it, because it's more entertaining to watch than it is to listen to, I'm sure. But I hope you have a wonderful day. Happy birthday to the constitution. I love you guys. I hope that you know you're amazing. I hope that you know that you're strong and you're powerful and you're beautiful and you're powerful and you're beautiful, and I hope that you take that into your life and your world. Until next time, fam, love you guys. This is the Fit Perception Podcast. I'm your boy T and I'm out. Bye you.