Just in case you're unaware, exercise is not automatically...¶

Just in case you're unaware, exercise is not automatically good for you. One of the defining characteristics of several forms of disability is exercise intolerance, where physical exertion actually decreases your capacity. You cannot simply "power through" to recovery. (1/16) One of the earliest signs that something was wrong after I "recovered" from COVID was when I tried to get back to my routine of daily cardio. I wasn't trying to push myself too quickly, but I quickly found that even going on light walks was getting harder, not easier. There are a number of potential causes, ranging from neuromuscular to mitochondrial to immune issues. We know pretty conclusively that there's a huge difference between this form of disability and "deconditioning," where your body has simply gotten used to not expending energy. Decades of bad science have supported this idea that, through careful planning and sheer willpower, you can build up your physical capacity. Large, well-funded studies supporting the rpg-style "gain exp points and level up!" theory have since been thoroughly debunked. There are so many potential etiologies for exercise intolerance, including genetic disorders (cystic fibrosis, Ehlers-Danlos, Huntington's), immune dysfunction following viral infection (long COVID, multiple sclerosis), and a wide array of cardiac diseases. So often, when "the left" talks about disability, it's done in an abstract, almost patronizing way. At worst, there's outright dismissal, but even the "morally righteous allies" adopt an attitude of "being inclusive" of what they imagine to be a tiny minority. The fringe cases. But collectively, the range of conditions that can cause exercise intolerance amounts to a HUGE proportion of population. One that is growing rapidly in the context of COVID.

The incidence of long COVID is growing, but severely underreported -- as high as 10% in official reports When the biggest impact of your disease is decreased capacity for exertion, it's incredibly difficult to rely on self-reporting. People justify it as "I'm just tired lately" or "I haven't gotten back into a rhythm" or "I don't have the time these days" or "I'm getting older." Even with the difficulties of getting exact numbers, the multitude of potential causes leads us to, not a tiny minority that needs to be tiptoed around to avoid disrespecting, but a significant chunk of the population that cannot be expected to "outrun the fascists." Obviously, we haven't even mentioned age, with young children and elders representing an enormous proportion of the population that, in general, cannot be expected to "make themselves strong enough to fight or flee." As a general estimate, children, elders, and adults with various fitness-imparing disabilities could make up as much as 40% of the working class.

This is not some academic, liberal preoccupation with "fairness." This is the reality of how revolutionaries must operate. Communists throughout history have had to contend with these numbers. They have built revolutions capable of overcoming a massive gulf between the physical might of the oppressors and their own disabled, malnourished, under-resourced, untrained, and dispersed populations. The fascists have the luxury of picking and choosing the "cream of the crop." They eagerly discard those who don't serve their purposes. We don't have that.

Imagining that, if only we could make our people into fighting machines, we could win, is simply idle fantasy. That's not how communists win wars. We win because, when we do our jobs right, we have a MASSIVE pool of labor to draw on -- the entire working class. If even 1 in 30 of our people are willing and able to physically fight, and most of the rest support with their labor, we win. The Red Army peaked at 3% of the population of the Russian empire. The PLA was less than 1%. Starving, shivering, war-torn populations, who managed to produce a tiny minority of fighters -- and they still trounced the imperial armies. We will not out-exercise the fascists. You will not individually become strong enough to take on the cops, the Nazis, or the military. You will not outrun the bullets. We, as communists, have other strategies. Collective strategies. The ones that actually win wars. (16/16)