Sociability, Self Reliance, and the Demonization of Gear...

[small but working on it]

I get stares and looks in the gym and I am not used to it. I wear baggy shirts in the gym to detract from some of it. I try to keep to myself and hit the weights and go on. I can feel the eyeballs though. If I am in the locker room, I can feel some judging me. Like has been stated, most guys that we see have ZERO clue about steroids and the hard work it takes to get a good physique. I have become a bit more private and introverted because of my use. I feel there is a niche person or peeps that understand me and because of that I choose to keep to myself most of the time. I have family ask if I am on something and I always deny it. I have a few women "friends" and some ask and I NEVER let on that I am ever on anything. I think in todays society the less people know about you the better. I sweep my house all the time making sure my stuff is in the safe and out of prying eyes. I was dating a chick for a bit and she came over early, I jumped in the shower and popped out to get some soap as I was out and she was snooping through my drawers and shit. Wow, she was kicked out with a quickness. You never know when your "sweetie" will turn on you and tell every mother fucker you might have met about your use. It will be common knowledge. I mean what is the point of someone other than a doctor,source or a workout partner knowing ? I see absolutely no benefit of anyone else knowing, it is like handing someone a grenade that they can use on you when you piss them off.I was like this a bit before any gear but I think with the legal issues(and they can be quite harsh, much more so than some think) that surround steroids, it is best to keep everything close to the vest. If someone caught me injecting (which they wouldnt as I live alone and inject in my bathroom with the door closed) I would deny it. Someone could walk in with the needle hanging out of my delt and I would say, look, I fell down and somebody left a syringe on the ground.

I truly dont know how much gear has affected me though. I was always a private person and wasnt too overly friendly. If someone approaches me about a car or a motorcycle, I am usually more than nice and sociable. I have had very very few people I didnt know ask me if I was on anything and those times didnt go over too well. I guess I would be called an asshole or liar to my back but so be it. As I have gotten bigger, I feel more confident and secure about myself but dont necessarily like or appreciate the judgemental looks or the stares that I get if I am dressed as to show off my physique which is only slightly better than average and not nearly as impressive as some of you bros. I dont know how you handle it. I am 5 10 and about 210 with 16 or 17 percent bf. I cant imagine being the size of some of you. To each his own, I lift and get big,strong for me, not for my girlfriends, friends or to impress anyone. I truly think I got more ass when I was 170 lbs but I felt weak as shit and looked like a shirt on a coat hanger. Great question, I look forward to hearing some other inputs.

 

[nickster#1]

i believe the stigma is attached to gear when people discuss it in GROUPS

when i discuss gear 1 on 1 the other person is more accepting and understanding

one conversation at a time we need to change mindsets

not by having everyone on gear (lolool) but by letting people have the thought of - omfg - gear, when used responsibly with solid training and diet habits can increase quality of life...and it's not that bad i swear!

i also believe people should visit docs more often to address potential underlying issues that can be aggravated by AAS use, this is just common sense when taking ANY drug, nevermind steroids

^^NICELY SAID^^
I do agree with everything you said in this post. I also feel that if some of the big names that are well respected, celebrities such as Sylvester Stallone, and some others that have said they do HGH for anti-aging and love it, would maybe do a little more to open the eyes of the public and promote at least peptides done properly does in fact increase your life span. HGH ran at small amounts by people who are 45 and older, and I am talking about 3 to 4 iu a day, and some people respond very well to even smaller dosage, aleviates alot of health issues and brings back vitality and overall good general health. But still, under a doctors supervision as some people will have underlying conditions that can keep them from doing any peptides or AAS for that matter. But for the most of our society, especially geriatrics, HGH supplament from a doctor would decrease visits to the doctors office by a huge margin I believe. I am living proof of that myself.

 

[Tatyana]

I am dieting down right now and starting to look bigger.

To be honest, even though I am nattie, I am a bit worried about people thinking that I use steroids.

To those that do use, it is pretty obvious that I don't, but to the un-educated, anyone with muscle is geared up.

It is not really a huge issue for me as steroid use is decriminalised here, but if I was living in the US, I would be a lot more concerned.

I think the furor over steroids has got to die down soon.

It used to be 'the war on drugs', is that still getting as much press in the US?

 

[OMEGA]

In reality andropause is no different than menopause which has been treated with hormones for years. However due to the negative stigma of male hormones people just dont see the treatment in the same light which is pretty sad. I for one certainly hope andropause becomes a more socially accepted condition and as the "silver sunami" (ie baby boomers) ages it will hopefully help.

sooo true

 

[Harleymarleybone]

Emerson once said, It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion, it is easy in solitude to live after our own, but the great man is he whom in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude...

Due to the current cultural climate in the US created by the consumeristic subterfuge imagery that the media sheathe their commercialistic purpose of selling news, gear use is sensationalized, mythicized, and the masses are grossly misinformed...

People who have already reached their natural limit through years of following the inviolable laws of nature of training, diet, and rest and seek to advance their state of being to a higher level, (it is my personal opinion that periods of intense training leads to an amalgamation of body and mind, cognitive growth is developed, and psychological well being is enhanced), well these people who follow the unifying laws of training, diet, and rest in coherence with properly educated, balanced, and responsible gear use develop an air of nonconformity to mainstream culture's intellectually stifling, misinformed viewpoint concerning gear...

Main stream culture in society is a corporate machine in which propaganda is advanced to to the masses to settle in life for the mindless consumption of useless commodities (a human made product existing more for profit or trade value rather than utility), the result is the surrender of self awareness, liberty, personal autonomy of the eater of mainstream culture. The resulting virtue rewarded by consuming, or rather being consumed by mainstream culture is conformity... Conformity loves not personal growth or individual creativity, but dead classifications and squalid customs. I believe the properly educated, responsible gear user is the nemesis to this mindless conformity.

I'm still in school working on my masters and my colleagues are irrevocably more closed minded than they would ever estimate, I have never disclosed to family, friends, significant others that I use gear... I remain an affable nonconformist, yet having to deal with such a large percentage of closed minds sometimes makes me find company wearisome and dissipating...
Basically, while I love the US, I'm appalled by how living in this culture can be sooo weak at times.

My question is do you see yourself as an affable nonconformist and in spite of mainstream culture's debilitating viewpoint on gear, you have no trouble opening up, (without disclosing gear use), and getting close to people?

Instead are you a loner who due to current cultural outlook on gear. values privacy, solitude, and have a harder time getting close to people due the walls that have been built up?

Does gear increase your sociability?

Does gear use have no impact on your sociability and whether you are a recluse or super congenial and a pleasure to interact with?

Since I can't disclose to anyone in my immediate environment, EF has become a haven of good will, camaraderie, and intense knowledge...

The most inviolable principle that EF has reiterated to me is that more is definitely not better...

EF is the consumate shit...

Jeeesus, I have heard this Freshman, whiny, non-comformist rant so many times, it becomes nothing more than conformity to the message of non-comformity. The educated use of steroids is not a nemesis to mindless conformity as you say. In many ways it is the ultimate expression of conformity to the competitive, gotta look good, young, beautiful, win at any cost mentality that much of corporate culture expresses and tries to sell. In fact, that is one of the themes of the new movie on Steroids, "Bigger, Faster, Stronger."

If you want to really be a non-conformist, and original, go to Times Square and disembowel yourself or something, and call it art. Nobody has done that.

 

[-Ariel-]

Jeeesus, I have heard this Freshman, whiny, non-comformist rant so many times, it becomes nothing more than conformity to the message of non-comformity. The educated use of steroids is not a nemesis to mindless conformity as you say. In many ways it is the ultimate expression of conformity to the competitive, gotta look good, young, beautiful, win at any cost mentality that much of corporate culture expresses and tries to sell. In fact, that is one of the themes of the new movie on Steroids, "Bigger, Faster, Stronger."

If you want to really be a non-conformist, and original, go to Times Square and disembowel yourself or something, and call it art. Nobody has done that.

I appreciate the feedback Harley, and yeah your right I am a freshman, nothing wrong with being a newb, and no I don't think I'll disembowel myself and call it art... I think thats called suicide, which I'm not down with, sorry to bring ya down bro... thats not what I'm about... I love the US, it has given my family opportunities that I'm pretty sure we couldn't get anywhere else, I think it just sucks that responsible gear use is so misunderstood within this culture and mythicized to be something its not... With only 7 transnational media conglomerates owning 90% of all media, and all 7 weighed down by debt, they only have one object and that is to make as much money as possible and selling news through sensationalism is a reality... that can't be ignored... but yeah I'm a consumer of culture just like everyone else, I'm not special... however, I dig on trying to remain aware of the current ebb and flow that the tides of culture bring, and attempt to stay aware of where I stand in regards to this tide and what I stand for... nothing more than that... but something we do have in common is I look forward to checking out BFS as well... Don't mean to sound fight clubbish, but I don't dig on the current cultural climate and how the media has shaped a negative, nebulous world view on responsible gear use...

 

[nickster#1]

Jeeesus, I have heard this Freshman, whiny, non-comformist rant so many times, it becomes nothing more than conformity to the message of non-comformity. The educated use of steroids is not a nemesis to mindless conformity as you say. In many ways it is the ultimate expression of conformity to the competitive, gotta look good, young, beautiful, win at any cost mentality that much of corporate culture expresses and tries to sell. In fact, that is one of the themes of the new movie on Steroids, "Bigger, Faster, Stronger."

If you want to really be a non-conformist, and original, go to Times Square and disembowel yourself or something, and call it art. Nobody has done that.

I am curious as to where you got YOUR degree from???? You dont have anything posted in your profile, so I want to know why you would come down on this young person for his consciencious thinking about what he believes in, and even though he is a freshman, he raises questions that are mindful and also, well????? Non conformist???? Is that not what we all are on this and every other board, forum that promotes and stands up for the use, and on some boards, (not this one I must say), the abuse and misuse of AAS for the eyes of society to see? Why disrespect this kat by telling him to disembowel himself in whateversville because you feel threatened by his train of thought????? He is just raising questions that are obviously of some importance to him, maybe a paper that he is writing for some thesis he is working on, or just being a part of this community???????

 

[Harleymarleybone]

and no I don't think I'll disembowel myself and call it art... I think thats called suicide, which I'm not down with, sorry to bring ya down bro... thats not what I'm about... I love the US, it has given my family opportunities that I'm pretty sure we couldn't get anywhere else, I think it just sucks that responsible gear use is so misunderstood within this culture and mythicized to be something its not... With only 7 transnational media conglomerates owning 90% of all media, and all 7 weighed down by debt, they only have one object and that is to make as much money as possible and selling news through sensationalism is a reality... that can't be ignored... but yeah I'm a consumer of culture just like everyone else, I'm not special... however, I dig on trying to remain aware of the current ebb and flow that the tides of culture bring, and attempt to stay aware of where I stand in regards to this tide and what I stand for... nothing more than that... but something we do have in common is I look forward to checking out BFS as well... Don't mean to sound fight clubbish, but I don't dig on the current cultural climate and how the media has shaped a negative, nebulous world view on responsible gear use...

To live is to conform (to a large extent). Those who don't are largely weeded out of the gene pool. About the only way to avoid conformity is to off yourself, and since even this could conform to what others are doing, do so in a creative way. Hence my disemboweling example. If you work, get married, have a kid, in many cases you are going to be one of the schmucks some kid in college who hasn't lived much is going to point to as a lemming drone, but you will know better.

Your statistic about the media is largely a red herring. Today people have more information at their fingertips than at any other time in history, despite what your naive professors tell you. Sensationalism and misinformation has been around a long time before the conglomeration of media.

Let's say news were more dispersed and 90% of the media were owned by 5,000 companies instead of 7. Why would you think sensationalism would decrease? These smaller news companies would still try to make a profit, and juicy sensationalistic stories sell. Why wouldn't the sensationalism just be more localized abd dispersed? Of course, you could avoid the profit motive by having the government own the press. Is Pravda a good solution?

 

[Harleymarleybone]

I am curious as to where you got YOUR degree from???? You dont have anything posted in your profile, so I want to know why you would come down on this young person for his consciencious thinking about what he believes in, and even though he is a freshman, he raises questions that are mindful and also, well????? Non conformist???? Is that not what we all are on this and every other board, forum that promotes and stands up for the use, and on some boards, (not this one I must say), the abuse and misuse of AAS for the eyes of society to see? Why disrespect this kat by telling him to disembowel himself in whateversville because you feel threatened by his train of thought????? He is just raising questions that are obviously of some importance to him, maybe a paper that he is writing for some thesis he is working on, or just being a part of this community???????

Whose threatened by his train of thought? The disemboweling example was to make the point that conformity isn't necessarily bad, and non-conformity is not necessarily good. Also, the educated use of steroids is not necessarily non-conformity, since many use steroids to conform to a particular image of masculinity etc. Great, if he is writing a paper, maybe he can incorporate some of the points I made.

 

[-Ariel-]

Harley you have made some good points, some of which I would like to expand on, first of all, I realize you were just making a point with the disembowelment comment... I've learned that here at EF there may be some differentiating opinion on the suppressive nature of trenbolone, but I think we can all agree on the high levels of suppression concerning ritual disembowelment... First of all I would like to clarify what I mean by affable nonconformist, I think we are having a miscommunication on a semantic level and not one of real substance. I am not advocating the position of not being a subject to the inviolable laws of logic, reason, or cause and effect, I mean I conform to drinking water, breathing, following the laws of train, eat, sleep... and I'm not supporting the notion of not conforming to being a human being that lives in society... I want what you want or maybe already have, a profession in which I'm of service to other people and pays me a decent wage, loving family, and a living environment in which I've formed strong connections to my friends, coworkers, and other people... I mean that's how meaning in life is obtained, by forming intimate connections with other people, its not achieved by how much money one has or power they have obtained, but by creating quality relationships with other people... I digress. When I state and promote being a nonconformist, it is in relation to the cultural imagery that is created by the elitist media that gear use is destructive, leads to aggressive behavior, and is morally wrong. I don't want to conform and be subjugated to this type of ideology which promotes a specific mindset that is being culturally marketed to the mass audience. I'm not cool with the disinformation that is currently being promoted to the general public. I'm being a nonconformist to the selling of this mind set or belief system that educated, responsible, balanced gear use is destructive and morally wrong.

What is culture, culture is the power to define reality... who has the active power to shape reality? The agenda setting media controlled by a minority of wealthy, 'enlightened' individuals who believe that the masses are ignorant and incapable of making important decisions concerning the welfare of society. The elite or agenda setting media such as the New York Times, ABC, USA Today are all owned by private corporations such as the transnational conglomerates Disney or AOL Time Warner and they are just part of corporations that are run by the elite individuals at the top this hierarchical structure. These elite individuals are able to set the agendas or policies that shape culture. This is what I am trying communicate that I'm a nonconformist to the mindset that is being advanced to the mass audience as truth.

As far as academia is concerned, its my opinion that degrees are just passports facilitating one's ability to land a job in corporate America. The wisest people I have met do not have post graduate degrees or teach at universities, rather they have two things which I covet: experience and common sense. Common Sense is the foundation for genius, in a sense common sense is genius. The university I attend is a privately funded organization that requires a large amount of private funding to exist, therefore they have to have a legitimate reputation in preparing students for corporate life, this entails training people how to behave appropriately, what to think, and what not to think... so they are not nearly as open minded as one might think. I have no problem with that. When I'm not at the university, I work at a bookstore, so its not like daily conversations revolve around size vs symmetry or whether I should take my winnie orally or inject it.

This is the first board I've joined and totally dig on the communal approach here of long term development, balance, and and educating one self on how gear works, the nature of PCT - post cycle therapy - - post cycle therapy - - post cycle therapy - - post cycle therapy - , and safe dosages. The wisdom that has been dropped on me is immense and I'm grateful. I've met some extremely articulate wise individuals here, and they have been so generous in providing advice as well as promoting a sense of good will, and thats what I dig about EF. Finally I have to stress that I'm a grateful newb who has an incredible amount to learn about life, training, gear and that's fine with me, if I had nothing to learn, then where's the fun in living?

And while I was extremely curious about the nature of nondisclosure and how it has affected people socially, and decided that it did merit a thread, this thread is not the subject of a paper I'm writing for school, first of all, it has no place in my field, second I would be ostracized at school and any mention of gear would fit in as well as me (an urban Asian) at a rural country western bar, which is not at all.

Finally, I dug all the feedback, and no I won't be posting any future polls revolving around issues like "do you prefer darker colors when you are on and does it make you feel like an outsider since nongearheads prefer lighter colors?"...

The feedback was immensely appreciated from this newb...