Buzzfeed fails to go in depth with insulting bodybuilding article.

Looks like bodybuilding just got some main stream attention… kind of. It appears that just yesterday BuzzFeed has released an article that tackles the ins and outs of The Arnold Sports Festival through the lens of an outsider to the strength and fitness world. While everything starts out as a potentially engrossing venture into the world of bodybuilding and strength sports, it quickly devolves into a piece that somehow wishes to relate politics to what’s going on at one of the biggest fitness related events of the year.

We at Generation Iron want to say that while the attempt at delving into the world of bodybuilding and fitness may have been appreciated, the negative slant that the article takes is a slap in the face to those individuals who hold the fitness world in high regard.

A number of jabs are taken at Kai Greene, somehow making light of the fact that a bodybuilder or strongman could be vulnerable despite their strength. Greene put his best foot forward in making these statements and to suggest that any of it may be pointless is certainly disrespectful. While not everyone will naturally gravitate to bodybuilding and other strength related endeavors, the truth of the matter is that fitness does change lives and does so for the better.

The author of the article, Suzzanah Showler, is clearly uninitiated and is viewing things through a very different lens. To her, the event is purely spectacle for spectacles sake. But to suggest that the proceedings are somehow meaningless is perhaps a step too far. The article is an opinion piece and opinions are to be respected. But it’s of our opinion that making light of an athlete’s journey to the top of one of the most difficult physical endeavors to be explored only casts a negative light on strength sports. And unfairly so.

While there were indeed some notes of positivity explored within the article, the overall approach is treated with such casual ignorance that you can’t help but wonder if the author was able to have a more in depth conversation with educated individuals behind closed doors. We recognize that this a piece about the reaction of the uninitiated. But with all due respect, the events of The Arnold Sports Festival can not be summed up in one article. The meaning that it has for fans and for pundits alike is of great scale. For example, there are over 18,000 athletes in 70 different sports. Hardly any of which are mentioned here beyond bodybuilding and strongman specifically.

The political comparisons between the event and United States presidency offers only to distract from the idea that the author views these athletes as nothing but mountains of muscle with nothing better to do than lift things up and put them down. Statements like “It’s about break and smash, shock and awe. It’s not for excellence, but for excess. It’s a display of strength so functional that it crosses over into being totally pointless,” simply add fuel to the fire. The silver lining here is that even the author had to admit that the event tapped into something primal as she watched strong man Zach Hadge compete on stage.

Again, voicing opinions is all well and good. Having other lenses to look through is also equally as important. We only wished that the author was able to delve a bit deeper and perhaps she would have found something that is more pure and heartfelt than she may have initially thought.

What did you think of the BuzzFeed article?

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