The Athlete Special

I mean, personally I find the video a bit cringey but whatever floats his boat. I meant some posters on here are suggesting he get a "real job", while others are saying he shouldn't squander his younger years and train, or that Allie will eventually leave him, or that they both need to "grow up". To me it comes across a bit like projection: dumping our own flaws on others.
He is somewhat of a niche "celebrity" in the sense that a fairly large community has heard of him, and therefore people will speculate on his personal life.

But I find speculation into his and Allie's personal well-being/lives just a tad obsessive and weird.

The guy is unemployed and makes video of himself acting like a goof running in a Mario costume, and you think people are projecting when they suggest he grow up? What? What?!

So you are suggesting that he is acting like a normal adult and the only people who would see his behavior as childish are people who themselves need to grow up, and are projecting their childish view on him? That's beyond ridiculous.

Your post could well be the stupidest thing I've ever read on LRC.

You haven't been on the boards long if that is the stupidest thing. Maybe I struck a nerve? Like I said, I think it's weird but I don't obsess or talk about the lives of people I've never met.

Yeah, you're missing the guy's point. He's not suggesting that critics are projecting because they themselves need to grow up. He's suggesting they're projecting their ideas of what constitutes an acceptable or desirable way to life onto someone who may not share those particular ideas.

Personally, I've never watched any of this guy's videos (I just find these threads entertaining in the same way I find that Seth DeMoor thread entertaining). And frankly, that Mario video makes me about a billion times less interested in starting. But I make a distinction between "I find that guy's shtick totally uninteresting" and "That guy needs to live a different kind of life." If Mario videos don't pay the bills, then eventually circumstances will force him to make some changes. But until then, if that's what he wants to do, I don't see any compelling reason to judge that his life choices are wrong, or that he needs to get a desk job for the sake of his moral development. That's the projection part.

Bingo. I'll even admit it is somewhat childish to do what he does but my point was in my experience, when people tell others (or talk about what others should do) there may be some resentment in how they live themselves. Like the guy that decided to focus on their career over running and got bitter he didn't follow his dream. Or the opposite, guy chases a dream, fails, and does a typical 9-5, regretting the lack of career advancement lost.

It's not the disagreement that makes me think this, it is the venom in which these opinions are articulated. Like a trigger or something. I'm not a psychiatrist, I don't know if people are actually projecting but it just seems like people are really emotionally invested in Spence's life choices.

I think there's also a lot of resentment with the direction that his content is going now. Spencer built up a following by being an early vlogger in the college running scene back in like 2016 when he was a freshman at Georgetown and I'm sure many on here have been following him since those days. To see someone you used to root for and hope to step up to the next level resort to this definitely is sad to see and may make some people feel a little betrayed (hence some venom in responses). I'd say the general vibe I get and feel myself is that Spencer should either get serious with his pursuit of running the trials next year or just hang em up and pursue something else. The aging YouTuber is not a good path to go down and, again, it's sad to see someone you used to enjoy start moving in this direction. Just my $0.02 but I don't think I'm alone in feeling that way.

That's a good point, and as someone that did not watch Spence way back when, I never considered that. I appreciate the critique minus the insults!

He is testing the waters but he may lose both audiences (hardcore vs casual) if he doesn't pick.

Content creation can be legitimate as there is demand for it. Doesn't mean it is considered as such socially. But it's 24/7. Like any self employed person. Yes you can take breaks but if it fails it's ultimately on you.

I think you are the one who missed his point. Did you read his post? He wrote "To me it comes across a bit like projection: dumping our own flaws on others".

I don't want to presume, but you can see that writing "dumping our own flaws on others" is just not the same as your interpretation being "projecting their ideas of what constitutes an acceptable or desirable way to life(sic)". Unless you really think that what a person believes constitutes an acceptable or desirable way to live are that persons flaws? I don't know, whatever, your interpretation was just not what was written and is nonsensical.

I'm done, what he wrote was idiotic and your lack of reading comprehension to defend his idiocy was probably even more idiotic.

Nah he understood perfectly.

You're either a troll, or a bitter person. Either way, that is tacky and a bit sad.

Nice try, dude. It’s abundantly clear that was not what you wrote. I would also guess you signed in as “just a cottage cheese” to have a conversation with yourself to defend your post. Did someone recently accuse you of projecting so now you want to accuse everyone else of doing it, without relay understanding what it means? You should just admit your post was poorly written and explain what you really meant instead of doubling down.

You would be incorrect, but I have no way to make you believe me nor do I care.

this last video was bad as a whole but what really drew the line for me was when he stood on a public toilet seat in vaporflies.

If he was all in on click bait content fine. I’d say the problem people have is one week (or even day) he’s trying to be serious 3:37 Spence and selling some line about trials and qualifiers or sub 14 or something and the next he’s Nick Symmonds. It’s like the nutrition stuff. One day he posted a video of his horrendous diet and if I’m not mistaken the very next vid contained an ad for meal prep where he was going on about the health and nutritional benefits of it.

Here's the thing, being a content creator IS a rat-race. Tbh I think if he wants to be a full-time YouTuber without running at an elite level he needs MUCH higher production quality content. Stuff like this can be funny once in a cringe so-bad-its-good type of way but to sustain an audience you have to hone your editing techniques and keep up with the latest tools for doing so. You have to work just as hard as any other job and Im not sure hes prepared to do that.

Fair points. I probably could have phrased my points better and maybe not used "projection" as it probably gave off a "I am very smart" vibe. So my bad. But I still think people are way too invested in this, and the fact I keep replying shows I probably am too, so I am done with this thread.

Not enough editing in the world could make Spence entertaining without running.

You and the other guy are way misunderstood when it comes to projection. It's not "dumping your flaws" onto someone or a subjective imposition of what is perceived as valuable or worthwhile on another. The classic projection trope that people love to use to smear people is the example of someone with, say, a repressed struggle with their sexuality bullying someone else by insinuating they're a homosexual in an effort to alleviate or distract from the negative emotions they feel on that subject. The key here is that it's done in an effort to alleviate or quell negative emotions around an insecurity.

More likely, people give advice on the basis of their own value and belief system. In my case, I benefitted from getting a job. Not in terms of my moral development necessarily, but a holistic personal development that most adults here in the US go through at some point. The reason Spencer is getting so much flak is because he's living the 20s equivalent of what it would have been like if he was still playing with Lincoln Logs on the living room floor in his high school years. It's a very mismatched set of circumstances for a 26 year old man to be living like a 17 year old at running camp still.

A lot of you have the hots for TAS but are holding back from admitting it.

I suppose you all will wait for him until he starts his Chat-N-Run-N-Bate business.

People talk about him getting a real job and also his lame videos. I've seen this guy on YT that makes TAS latest video look like a National Geographic documentary. Yet this guy has millions of viewers and is pulling in about $160K a month! It's just absurd but he's definitely making a living out of it and he's 30 doing just crazy stupid stuff. (if he were to see the TAS Mario video he might try something similar, although he's not a runner)