Trolls Say, "If You Look Better Than Me It's Because You're Cheating"

Richard Sullivan @ age 51

Judging by the many discussions we are exposed to on TV, online and in person, it’s obvious most people seem not to have heard of dictionary.com. People argue heatedly over issues that no one stops to first define. They are applying their own definition to the same word their opponent is using but defining in his own way. People first need to come to an agreement on a definition before wasting hot air arguing any given topic.

One such word is “cheating,” as it is used pertaining to the fitness and bodybuilding world. Every YouTube video featuring someone who has excelled physically is followed by the predictable comments of woebegone underachievers and failures who scream “Steroids!!” as their go-to justification for not personally measuring up to the personality being featured. And they always state this in the form of an accusation, as in claiming that someone utilizing steroids is bad for “cheating.”

Cheating? Cheating who exactly? By definition (there’s that word again) people not in competition can’t “cheat”: it takes two or more for someone to “cheat.” The screamers are therefore revealing they consider themselves to be embroiled in some fantasy competition with a “competitor” who is completely unaware of them, and moreover that they’re losing to him. This alone is creepy.

Taken to its craziest extent, someone who envies fit bodies but doesn’t work out at all can claim that those who do work out are cheating. Or those who do not consume protein drinks or supplements can claim that those who do so are cheating. Or that those who eat crap can claim those who eat nutritionally are cheating. The fraternal twin of “cheating” is “unfair advantage,” as in their fantasy competitor’s superior genetics, more free time, more money, younger age, lack of injuries, access to mentors, and all the other excuses so well rehearsed by those who do not achieve.

When solitary individuals are working hard to be the best that they can be, there’s no such thing as cheating—except in the minds of those losers who through their own lack of effort and persistence do not compare or measure up, and therefore need someone to blame.