How important is identity?

[Fluidic Kimbo]

A lot of people go through life without ever considering that they have an identity -- i.e. a sense of who they are, a sense of what they're made of, a sense of what they're good for and what their purpose is.

It tends to only be people who've been through a crisis that have given much thought to their identity and what it means.

For some people, their identity is all about their roots, all about where they came from and who their grandparents and great-grandparents were and how they lived. I remember I was in Germany one time and I met a black African guy from Senegal who had grown up in Germany; I asked him if he ever wanted to go visit Senengal, and I'll never forget his response, 'My roots aren't important to me'.

Some people stand for something, and some people don't. Some of us have morals, beliefs and values, and some of us hold to these things tightly. You can offend a person by making disparaging remarks about their morals, beliefs and values. It seems to be identity though that's the real soft spot. If you want someone to develop an all-consuming rage, then poke fun at their identity. People go to great lengths to defend, protect, uphold and even avenge their identity. I grew up in Ireland in Europe, and so in school we all heard about the Irish hunger strikers who died in British prisons. I don't think that it was their morals, beliefs or values that enabled these people to resist hunger and watch their own weight and health deteriorate to the point of death -- I think their drive was their identity. They were Irish. Some identities come with enemies pre-loaded in, and the enemy of the Irish was the British. So they had two things: I'm Irish, and they're British.

You really piss a person off when they perceive your actions as an affront to their identity. I participated last year and the year before in a 'World Naked Bike Ride', and most people were cheering us on and laughing as we cycled (and rollerbladed) naked through the city. . . but it was very clear when we went past Muslims that they didn't see the lighthearted side to it. I think the Muslim women in particular took it as an affront to their identity. But then again I'm not a mind reader so maybe better to actually ask these people how they felt about it instead of taking my word for it.

I've only spent about a month or two in the USA in total, but military seems to be a big identity over there. It seems that US soldiers see their membership and participation in the military as a massive part of who they are and what their purpose is. God, Country, Corps.

Some people have their identity in Christ.

And identity can also be something like being a biker, or being in a fraternity, or being in a gang. It can be about a sense of being accepted and belonging, and a sense of feeling protected. Identity can even be about having a common enemy -- or if not a common enemy, at least a similar enemy. In Northern Ireland, you normally see the Irish Republican flag hanging in some areas, and the British flag hanging in other areas, but now the Republicans are hanging the Palestinian flag, and the British are hanging the Israeli flag. It seems that the Irish Republicans see an analog in how the situation in Northern Ireland compares to the situation in Palestine (not the same enemy but at least a similar kind of enemy in a similar kind of situation). Never mind that they're 2500 miles away and that 99% of people from Northern Ireland haven't been to the Middle East (nor vice versa), and never mind that they're Muslim and Jewish. Identity doesn't measure time and it doesn't measure distance either, it's just a "We're on your side".

And there are other aspects to identity too, such as our sexual identity, with some people having the identity of a queer, gay or trans. For me personally, I'm a gender-fluid lesbian trapped in a man's body. Lots of people are coming out as asexual nowadays.

I remember a few years ago . . . a friend of mine made a joke. We were talking about a world-class gymnast who broke their leg in training one day. Me being the joker, I dropped to the ground grasping my leg screaming "ahhh! fuck!!! my leg, my fuckin leg... it's fuckin broke... nooo!!!!!". My friend then dropped to the ground grasping his leg beside me and exclaimed, "MY IDENTITY!".

[Quester]

I do not believe sex to be part of identity. If sex is fluid, its a fuck-it and forget-it, if its permanent, then its so ingrained that we only question it if we are taught to do so. Of course, there are always those who have trouble with the most basic of things, for them, a little help is appropriate but for the vast percentage, just leave it alone and do not confuse us with BS, fuck Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. DEI is an aspect of ethics...just teach ethics and stop telling me I can't participate because I am a middle-aged, white, male. The ethics of every culture are universal in that culture, either a person id ethical, or that person isn't ethical. DEI is like setting up a separate distinction between yes and know, such as, yes-no-or maybe (where as making maybe contradictive to both yes and no). FUCK DEI, sex and gender. Drink Duff Beer.

[< <Samson> >]

I can’t even read this fool’s posts/threads

I’m just waiting till this this place just drops offline - it’s like this guy/person/troll is just here to start a thread/topic on just anything to get someone to reply


Man, sure do miss forums - this fB BS is annoying af

[XnavyHMCS]

I can’t even read this fool’s posts/threads

I’m just waiting till this this place just drops offline - it’s like this guy/person/troll is just here to start a thread/topic on just anything to get someone to reply


Man, sure do miss forums - this fB BS is annoying af

Can't like your post (for some reason), but I agree with you...

[almostgone]

Can't like your post (for some reason), but I agree with you...

Currently, the "like" function seems to only be functioning with the Tapatalk app, and even then it seems to be intermittent.

[Cylon357]

Currently, the "like" function seems to only be functioning with the Tapatalk app, and even then it seems to be intermittent.

For me, Tapatalk like feature works every time. I just don't use Tapatalk every time...

[Cuz]

I can’t even read this fool’s posts/threads

I’m just waiting till this this place just drops offline - it’s like this guy/person/troll is just here to start a thread/topic on just anything to get someone to reply


Man, sure do miss forums - this fB BS is annoying af

Pretty well sums it up right here. Its a sad sight. And has drove many of us away

[< <Samson> >]

Pretty well sums it up right here. Its a sad sight. And has drove many of us away

Yeah,

Not much works on here & amazingly enough this place is one of the last ones standing - for now.

It’s like the last final few walls of a building in a ghost town


I’m glad I went through my learning phase when places like this/forums existed. This place & others have helped so much.

There’s no real support/help in today’s social media. It’s just a front everyone puts up to be & appear a certain way.


It is what it is, there’s no stopping the Zuckerturds now

[Cuz]

Yeah,

Not much works on here & amazingly enough this place is one of the last ones standing - for now.

It’s like the last final few walls of a building in a ghost town


I’m glad I went through my learning phase when places like this/forums existed. This place & others have helped so much.

There’s no real support/help in today’s social media. It’s just a front everyone puts up to be & appear a certain way.


It is what it is, there’s no stopping the Zuckerturds now

I agree with you we were fortunate enough to learn as much as we could here while it was still boomin. Social media is just tearing everything down now in todays world. It will only get worse im afraid too much AI now.

[almostgone]

Pretty well sums it up right here. Its a sad sight. And has drove many of us away

It's probably operator error by me. I loaded the app a while back, but I'm not proficient with it. I much prefer using my browser.

[teedoff]

I cant figure out how someone can come up with SO much off the wall nonsense to post here weekly. I mean if I didn't work and just spent all day every day just trying to dream up crap to post, I couldn't think if a fraction of this crap.


Also, don't die yet....I may still have need of more knowledge here. lol

[Honkey_Kong]

Yeah,

Not much works on here & amazingly enough this place is one of the last ones standing - for now.

It’s like the last final few walls of a building in a ghost town


I’m glad I went through my learning phase when places like this/forums existed. This place & others have helped so much.

There’s no real support/help in today’s social media. It’s just a front everyone puts up to be & appear a certain way.


It is what it is, there’s no stopping the Zuckerturds now

It'd be one thing if there was a superior medium than places like this message board, but the replacement is places like TikTok or Instagram where you have retarded influencers giving even more retarded advice to lazy kids that have no ambition to research what they're putting in to their bodies.

One thing I notice at the gym (and you guys tell me if you notice the same thing) is that there are fewer and fewer guys that lift heavy and fewer people even look like they're on gear. Yet we know it's becoming more "socially accepted" for guys to hop on gear so there are more people on it.

[Cuz]

It's probably operator error by me. I loaded the app a while back, but I'm not proficient with it. I much prefer using my browser.

Yes I prefer the browser as well

[< <Samson> >]

Oh, it’s tough now to even make sense of what’s going on now with shit like roids

Many of the older folk(40 or so & up), have either croaked or pulled off roids

TikTok influencer BS can’t even be put into any category of real information

Roids are more available - but, since now there aren’t any semi anonymous places to talk about them - well, we don’t know wtf is what

But, the Sam Sulek’s are still coming up - but, no one one says shit about juice