On Vision and Arnold Schwarzenegger pt 1
The Position
For part one of this study, here is the premise. Next follows the rebuke. (and I offer this as a rhetorical kind of play and exploration via thought.)
It is important to know at the outset, that this current version of the speech is hosted on a Youtube Channel called, MotivationHub. If you’re not already familiar with the vibe, you can expect “inspiring” or “motivational” music added in the background with random quotes appearing in these kinds of videos (as if the source of the ‘inspiration’ weren’t already inspirational?)
Anyway, here’s the deal:
In this video, Arnie lays out two rules for success.
Firstly, have a vision.
Secondly, ignore the nay-sayers.
This is sound advice.
For the sake of this speech, his life arch is as follows:
- Growing up in Austria after World War II, didn’t want to be a farmer and have “simple” life
- Saw advertisements about the US, our cities and 6-lane highways (which, now, is really just shallow urban planning), and wanted to move here
- Moved here, saw magazine of body builder, found blueprint for life
- Worked out like a maniac and became Mr. Universe at the age of 20
- Wanted to become an actor, and did shitty movies until his first break
- Conan the Barbarian (’82) called for a massive dude to take lead role
- His body fit the bill
- This success gathered attention to him and The Terminator as the later fit, especially because his accent was ‘odd’ and “robotic”
- He became known across the land
- He wanted to become the Governor of California, ran, and become so in two months time
- He is successful
The primary point of interest to me is a moment in the clip where he states that “74% of Americans don’t like their work” and goes on to explain how, essentially, without a vision and something to unify all the meaninglessness along the way, work is not fun and stays a chore.
I want to affirm Arnie in his hard work. Moving to a new country is, certainly, a difficult thing, and I’m proud that he found my home country as the place for his future, the place that would give him quarter while he pursued his version of a better life. That is outright incredible and a reason why I love the US. I love all immigrants.
I also don’t doubt that he had to take on and bear many difficult things to get to where he wanted and ultimately is. Seriously, he seems awesome, and I’d love to have a beer with him some day.
But let’s get serious here. What he offers against the epidemic of bullshit jobs is not a real solution and is the remedy of someone who has clearly not worked an unpaid internship or done data entry in his life.
More soon,
Trevor