Crossfit: One False Move & You’re Dead
KYLE UNGER
DeSmet
Crossfit CEO Greg Glassman admits he made a mistake. The protests that resulted from a Minneapolis police officer killing George Floyd during an arrest have brought to national attention once again the levels of racism and discrimination plaguing our nation.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation called them “critical public health issues” on Twitter, and CEO Glassman responded with “It’s FLOYD-19”.
He’s now a hated man, and Reebok has decided to end its partnership with his company.
They weren’t the best choice of words, and certainly they were a bit insensitive at this time, however, Glassman has the right to post what he wishes, and he does admit he made a mistake.
What’s alarming is that more and more people are being fired for not parroting the exact lines of the Black Lives Matter movement, and suddenly people’s entire lives are ruined over a quick, thoughtless tweet like Glassman’s.
Shouldn’t he be allowed to apologize, though, and without his sponsors, such as Reebok, jumping ship? Can’t humans be human any longer and make mistakes?
Glassman tweeted: “I, CrossFit HQ, and the CrossFit community will not stand for racism. I made a mistake by the words I chose yesterday. My heart is deeply saddened by the pain it has caused. It was a mistake, not racist but a mistake….”
As much as Glassman has his right to freedom of speech, Reebok has theirs, and has the right to condemn speech, and they certainly don’t have to keep anybody on that might hurt their brand.
What’s dangerous is how our landscape has become dominated by a few corporate powers controlling nearly every sector of our lives. Clothing and apparel, fashion, finance, energy, food, and so on, so that if you don’t tow the line, you get cut off. And now with such an all-pervasive social media presence, I worry how a person can get completely culled from the herd for one bad take, or one inappropriate statement. That line you wrote that suddenly went viral and offended everyone can be the one that is copied a million times and prevents you from ever holding meaningful employment ever again.
Glassman will most likely be fine after his gaffe. He’s got money. He’s successful. He can survive without Reebok, even if it’s less comfortably. But the fact remains, we’ve lost our independence in place of convenience at the hands of our mega companies and institutions that, of course, don’t truly care about values and morality, but rather about appealing to the largest possible amount of people possible, making true freedom of speech a rarity, and an opposing opinion, or even a stupid joke a capital offense.
The way we’re trending, the best advice I can offer you is to gain as much information as possible toward freeing yourself from depending on society. Learn how to be as independent as possible. Find sources of income that can’t be cut off or destroyed by the cutthroat backlash of social media users. Invest outside of the dollar and the banking system. Learn to grow your own food, store your own provisions, and find alternative sources of energy.
For my part I buy into NONE of these big name “designer” vanity labels. If idiots want to waste their money, fine. I won’t give these corporate whores a brass farthing. The best way to wallop them is to boycott them just like millions of men now boycott Gillette. Get Woke Go Broke.