Aspies For Freedom

Governor Crist is proposing a law to mandate daily physical education class in elementary schools.  The reason: "obesity epidemic".  Personally, I'd prefer to try a "sin tax" on fast food and junk food.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...80430/1039

That's just one of many articles.  Google "Crist PE"

I just thought I would bring this one to everyone here's attention considering many of us have rather strong opinions on PE, being it is usually a haven for bullies.  No mention in the article on bullying problems in PE classes.  The article does mention that it conflicts for time with other classes that are linked to standardized tests.  Briefly mentioned is the concept of parents taking responsibility for their kids' exercise instead of dumping it on the school system.  Pro-PE lobbying groups are also mentioned.

I wouldn't have a problem with the politicians promoting PE, if they'd give some options instead of the one-size-fits-all gym class where you're a sitting duck for bullies.

What about credit for regular physical activities outside of school?  Let me explain...

I was looking in the martial arts section of the yellow pages the other day.  After a ten-year hiatus, I am seriously interested in getting back into the martial arts, so I was looking for a dojo that has the forms I am interested in.  (An adult class, appropriate for those of us in our mid-thirties.)  While at it, I noticed that alot of the dojos advertise after-school programs, complete with transportation.  Obviously, they're already on it.  Why not just send a form along with the kid and have the sensei sign off saying, "Yes, this kid did burn x number of calories."  Same thing with soccer, little league, etc.  That would provide lots of options, and wouldn't cost the school system or the taxpayers a dime.

Personally, I'd prefer to keep the damnable government OUT OF IT ALTOGETHER!  If people want to raise their kids to be fat slobs who die at 40, then they'll do so, and the only thing that government interference will do will be to annoy everybody and steal even more money from honest people in the guise of "taxes" to give over to dishonest people (government officials) in the guise of "programs".  This nanny government crap is a sign of encroaching epidemic stupidity--that is, anyone who thinks it's a good idea obviously suffers from the stupidity epidemic.

Ahh!  I was beginning to think I was the only one who thought there's a stupidity epidemic going on.

I haven't researched it much, but I figure the only reason the government pretends to give a crap about kids' physical fitness is because there's probably a very powerful sports lobby somewhere in Washington (and in this case, Tallahassee), doing everything it can to keep the whole school sports culture (and industry) going, despite all the problems it causes like misbehavior of college athletes, and (not the least of which is) making every kid go through those horrible gym classes despite it being obvious that it's not for everybody.

My reasoning is that if there absolutely has to be sports for every kid, at least give them a choice, including options away from the school.  I use martial arts heavily as an example because (and I know this from personal experience) the benefits go far beyond simple physical fitness to include confidence, focus, and (for when little Aspies encouter the bully at school when there's no teacher in sight) the skills to "open up a can of whoop-***" when need be.

That's still no justification for even more government meddling in private lives.  Paternalism is merely tyranny with a smiley face.

My favorite irony on this is that PE is a cesspool of gay-bashing, fag-calling and general homophobia training. Maybe the gay (and closeted) governor of Florida has forgotten that since his days in PE.

I was one of those unhealthy thin people who turned into a healthy fat person.  I was never bullied in PE, but I only took it in elementary school and in eighth grade.  When I was growing up, girls weren't supposed to get sweaty, as crazy as that sounds.  I never exercised, and I was excused from PE to be a teacher's aide, or whatever else was available.  I had a real thing against exercise.  As long as my mother was feeding me, I was OK, but as soon as I was on my own I got fat, fat and UNhealthy.  Then I started exercising, and became fat and healthy.  I've been fat and fairly healthy for twenty years, and now I'm working on being not fat and healthy.

I doubt that PE in schools can be done properly, but I agree with the posters who said some alternative should be offered for non-team sports.  Walking and running are both great exercise and great to do alone.  I am concerned about my daughter not getting enough exercise, and American kids are getting fatter so I would endorse something that encourages exercise.

When I was in middle school, I would often just sneak down to the creek next to the field and catch fish during PE (with 80+ kids in the class you would never notice that the most inconspicuous one was missing). Sometimes they would make us play team football or baseball, however, and I was always the worst player (partly because of my poor stamina and gross motor coordination, and partly because I just didn't understand the rules). As bad as it was, it was not my least favorite class because I wasn't bullied as much in PE than in other classes and I didn't fail it.

Regarding the topic of the thread, I feel that parents have significantly more control over how healthy their kids are than the school systems do, and therefore they should be held more accountable for how their kids turn out. I think a government-mandated increase in the amount of PE kids get in school is ridiculous.

Thanks for pointing that out.  I don't eat fast food, and that is one reason I can be healthy and fat, just because I eat too much healthy food.  Americans eat a lot of burgers and fries and don't exercise, leading to unhealthy fat.  I think kids are getting fatter from eating crap and not exercising.  At least if they exercise they will be a bit healthier.  Sorry this is still not too clear but the best I can manage today.

One thing to consider is that people's metabolisms vary.  I was once at an event and there was someone there with a very high metabolism - rail-thin no matter how much he ate or how little he exercised.  I felt a bit envious, because though I'm thin (At 6'3", I look thin even at about 205 lbs.), I'm at that age now (35 y/o) where I had better be careful if I want to stay thin.  (People of my build just get the "beer gut" look, without the girth.)  I figure there are alot of people with the exact opposite case, that being a naturally slower-than-average metabolism, in which case you'll look naturally heavy.  Whatever someone's metabolism, that person deserves respect nonetheless.  Might I propose a ban on Barbie dolls?  (What I don't respect are those who really do stuff themselves with fast food.  I've known a couple of people like that, and how they treated their bodies reflected heavily on how they treated their friends.)

I still like the idea of letting kids get credit for extracurricular activities (e.g. martial arts, little league) in place of PE, so as to avoid having to take PE.  I believe PE is and always will be a rough culture that boosts up "the strong" at the expense of "the weak" with no consideration for what would let "the weak" become "the strong".

I think every Aspie should know how to fight, because sooner or later, someone will give you crap and you'll have to return the favor whether you want to or not.  I remember that thread over on WP where an Aspie martial arts instructor said he was afraid to teach Aspies (including his own son) fighting skills because they might kill someone.  (That's like saying you won't teach your kids to drive because they might kill someone in a car accident.)  I figure that as soon as you hand a bully his *** on a silver platter (/metaphor), word will get around and they'll leave you alone for the most part.  Then you'll only rarely have to use your fighting skills.

Last year, I looked into the possibility of studying Tai Chi Chuan.  (That's the predecessor of the Tai Chi you see billed as a relaxation technique, but still a fighting martial art.  Seems like a good choice because it serves two needs: relaxation skills and fighting skills.)  My idea was I could start studying it now while I'm in my mid-thirties (building on the karate I had studied when I was in my twenties), and possibly be able to qualify as an instructor before I reach age 45.  The only thing that stopped me was that it was expensive (yeah right, with my current government job) and the triangular commute between my apartment, my office, and the dojo I had called up would have been atrocious (with the cost of gas and the congestion in my town).  I haven't totally given up on that idea, if I can find a way to work out the expense and logistics.  (Teaching geeky kids like I used to be how to fight so they won't have to deal with the same crap I had to deal with, has always been a dream of mine.)

Re: medicating boredom and unhappiness...

I heard somewhere that the music you hear on the PA system in a supermarket is carefully selected to influence you to buy more food.  It's often instrumental muzak versions of the pop tunes of decades past.  Think about it.  (A slightly depressing version of some tune you listened to when you were younger, to remind you of days gone forever, but cheer up!  There's a whole aisle full of cookies to choose from, so load up, take 'em home, and chow 'em down in front of the TV as a dessert to follow your deep-fried entree, as you watch some crappy sitcom about fictitious lives more interesting than your real one!  Pffft!  Who needs exercise and all those silly endorphines, when sugar, cholesterol, and saturated fat are just a bite away!  /sarcasm)

I'd have to go back and verify this, but I believe you have to experience a bit of pain first (in the form of lactic acid burn in your muscles) before the endorphines kick in.  After all, endorphines are your body's natural painkillers.  Supposedly, you get addicted to the endorphines and therefore addicted to exercise.

Though I can't afford to join a dojo at this time, I still try to make time for a two-mile walk in the afternoons.  I'd eventually like to turn that into a two-mile run.

CJ is certainly right about there being a big demand for junk food.  In my worst socialist moments I just think, tough, this stuff is crap and it should not be made.  Yeah, right.  I am reminded of another thread where a European mentioned visiting America and being shocked at the food in the grocery stores, as it all seemed to be candy, disguised as cereal, bread, etc, the basic foods.  I think they wrote that it was as if all of the food had been removed from the containers, and replaced with lollies.  Very funny, but sadly true.  And I also have experienced many times a sort of addiction/hangover/craving effect for unhealthy foods, the more you eat, the more you want, and the more you eat.  Which of course just drives up the profits, and makes those companies make even more.  Quite a vicious cycle in my opinion.  I think the movie was called Super Size Me, or something similar, a documentary about a man who ate only McD's food for a month and got remarkably unhealthy very fast.  
I hope I didn't offend anyone, I am prey to these same forces and have struggled and struggled for decades.

I haven't seen Super Size Me, though I'd like to find a DVD of it.  I remember hearing about it on the radio.  The guy had three doctors monitoring him through the whole stunt, and before it was over, they were begging him to quit.  It's all in the money and power of the junk-food and fast-food industries, and also in the decades of practice the advertising industry has in mass psychological manipulation.  Which brings me to this...

I've put heavy emphasis on martial arts / self defense in this thread.  That's the physical aspect of self-defense.  There's also, IMO, a very important mental aspect to self-defense.  This includes trying to recognize when you're being manipulated (as is the case with advertising) or set-up, and having some tactics of your own with which to counter it.

As an example, back in university, I remember there being a huge crackdown on fraternity hazing.  When fraternities were told they could no longer beat pledges with paddles, they just switched to psychological hazing.  Among the examples I heard was one where the fraternity members ask the pledges questions and expect answers in very rapid fire.  (Sounds kind of like... ABA.)  In that and many other situations, what people cannot do to you physically, they do psychologically.  In the past, I've had the classic @$$#0!3 boss try to break me mentally.  No doubt the kind of *** who would use physical assault in an instant if he thought he could get away with it.  A physical assault can land the perp in prison, whereas with a psychological assault, the damage is not as tangible and easy to prove.

Psychological self-defense is not a new concept.  Here's a book I once read...


(ISBN: 978-1893626003)

If I do manage to get back into the martial arts, I might look for ways to supplement it with knowledge of psychology, and then try to apply martial arts principles to psychology, if that makes any sense.  You could live the rest of your life never having to use physical self-defense.  (Physical self-defense is kind of like the air bag in your car.  You hope you never have to use it, but you want it to be there and ready in case you do get in an accident.)  Whereas, you're being psychologically bombarded every frickin' day, whether it's advertising, grocery-store music, or somebody trying to dominate, manipulate, or swindle you.