In the gym, they are everywhere. You can spot them by their tribal tats and 20" biceps. They are blasting Pantera so loud through their headphones you can hear it on the Smith Press some 20 yards away (Crush! Kill! Destroy!). They seem to have a particular preference for black Tapout wife beaters at least two sizes too small, along with the mandatory weight belt, Harbinger gloves and ever-so-slightly skewed Yankees hat.
The people I am speaking about go by many different names: Body builder, Gym Rat, Muscle-head, but they all share a common trait- they aren't nearly as strong as they think they are. Yes, it's true, these muscle-bound studs merely give the appearance of strength. Underneath their huge swollen deltoids is, for the most part, water. These dudes can lift massive amounts of weight, but only about one to four reps worth. Yes, they have strength, but they usually lack true power, flexibility, focus and endurance.
I find a strong parallel between the mentality of these creatine-loving individuals and the mentality of our current Administration on foreign policy. Mr. Bush loves to use the brute force of the American military to scare potential enemies into submission, while also giving the proverbial dead lift to any country to whom he chooses to "bring" democracy. Like our friends in the raised Silverado Z71, the Bush Doctrine is chock-full of brute strength, but lacks true power, flexibility, focus, and endurance.
It lacks power because it has severely overestimated our military's ability to lift a country to peaceful democracy. It lacks focus because as our troops are dying around the world, the 9/11 mastermind still roams the world free. It lacks flexibility because our military occupation inhibits our ability to respond to potential new conflicts. And it lacks endurance because there is no clear stopping point to this military onslaught euphemistically referred to as the War on Terror.
America's military policy needs to work smarter, not harder. We need a President to behave less like the dude who always seems to be at the bench press, and more like someone who spends his time in the library.
If Mr. Bush researched the history of terrorist attacks on the U.S., he would notice that they were all committed in direct response to American intervention in the Middle East. Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the two founders of modern al-Qaida, each declared war against the United States and both cited exactly three causes - American military support of Israel, American military presence in Saudi Arabia, and the (first) American invasion of Iraq. (Neither mentioned American Freedom.) In fact, our muscle-bound American military policy is exactly why "they" want to kill us. Put down the protein shake, Mr. Bush, and pick up a copy of Prometheus.
The above work is the opinion of the author, and not necessarily that of the Prometheus Institute
Kids, don't do steroids, or you'll end up like our Governator