Bigger, Stronger, Faster
“Are we the most unhealthy people in the world? Or do we just watch too much TV?” Christopher Bell in Bigger, Stronger, Faster. With respect to the six components of wellness, and after viewing the said documentary the answer to both of these questions is: yes. Our society has evolved into a culture that relies on heroes such as Arnold Schwazenneger, Hulk Hogan, He-man, and Barbie to determine what we should aspire to be as individuals. These heroes set unrealistic, unhealthy, and unfair standards for our culture from early childhood. The moment we began to play with most of our childhood toys, or watching television the brain washing commenced.
Steroids give an unfair advantage to athletes, and even some amateurs over your average steroid free individual trying to get healthy, and strong to the best of their natural abilities. Throughout the documentary most of the steroid users argued that they work much harder than a person who does not use steroids. While this is true it is an inequitable comparison as the individual using steroids recovers at a faster rate allowing the person to work harder during the workout, and enables that person to work a set of muscles sooner as a result of faster recovery. A person not using steroids stands no chance against someone who is juicing.
Many feminists speak of barbies setting unrealistic standards for girls; He-man has the same effect on boys. Children grow up believing they have to look a certain way in order to find a place in life. The media plays a huge role on these unrealistic standards, from toys, to supplement spokespersons, to body builders, and so on. Society molds individuals to look at what they should be rather than looking inward at what they already have to work with. This causes for a desperate, and even depressed society; a society willing to pay any price to fit in.
The ultimate price our culture has paid to be like our heroes is our health. Some may...