I mean the hypocrisy of this type of thing bugs me somewhat (replace white w/another race and see what happens), but at the end of the day, who the hell cares. Maybe I'm just used to seeing this sort of thing crop up by now, but I've kinda reached the point of "meh, so what..?" It's the title of some dumb article of a single publication. I can't say I'm such an advocate for free speech and then turn around and condemn this.

And I don't really see why anyone should take this personally anyway..  At the end of the day most of us are middle class white dudes living in the Western world. As one of my current favorite comedians Bill Burr says, "ya really can't have much of a better starting point than that."

My philosophy here is - it's not as if you control how you're born so who cares? You do however control whether or not you're a racist; a trait this lady has to live with and is basically exposed of with this article, even if she tries to deny if or legitimize it in some way.

 If people want to be racist (or try to be 'edgy' for clickbait, which is more likely the case for this) that's their problem, it ain't mine.

Being an advocate for free speech doesn't mean you can't criticize or make fun of what someone says.

Unless you wish to assert that messaging "spin classes" as predominantly white is due to logic (in the same vein as marketing shoes to people without feet), there is no reason to go down that route of discussion.

And here is another ad from planet fitness about an overweight man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wQ9pCDahkU

I mean, the fact that marketing exists with fit people doesn't really prove your point. While gyms make money, the "gym" industry is notorious for being unable to keep customers and while there are a lot of reasons for that, people being uncomfortable being "unfit" in a gym is one of them, which is pretty much the mantra behind Planet Fitness. 

I'm not really sure what the argument we are having right now is. This article is calling out a feeling of exclusion within a specific industry. Showing examples of that industry doing a poor job at including a certain demographic doesn't really prove any point.

People want to feel like they belong. Being the only fat person working out alongside 100 bikini models would make most anyone feel uncomfortable. A similar principle applies to race and age. It isn't prejudice against other groups, it is simply wanting to be made to feel like your group, whatever that is, isn't being excluded and that you belong. 

I know that I don't think I'd ever do a yoga class because they are typically all women, and I would feel super weird being the only guy doing yoga in a class of women. That says nothing about me hating women, but instead it says that I don't feel welcome in those groups because I am not part of the in-group of those classes.

"Unless you wish to assert that messaging "spin classes" as predominantly white is due to logic"

quick question... are the populations of white people and black people the same in the us?

no? so if that's not the case would you expect 50/50 representation in any area? wouldn't that be a stupid expectation?

furthermore there's the difference in economics between both populations, white people having more money to spend on leisure, for example

and yes this obviously ties into past racism and oppression but that's not what this is about - the argument is about current factors

"I mean, the fact that marketing exists with fit people doesn't really prove your point."

well it pretty much does when you are arguing incorrectly that they have to advertise in a particular way that is the opposite of what they have always done(99% of the time) and fitness programs being more popular now than ever

" While gyms make money, the "gym" industry is notorious for being unable to keep customers and while there are a lot of reasons for that"

fitness programs whether it be gyms or otherwise are more popular now than they ever have been

"people being uncomfortable being "unfit" in a gym is one of them"

insecurity because of lack of proficiency in any area affects people across all criteria and is not a problem that can ever be done away with

"This article is calling out a feeling of exclusion within a specific industry. Showing examples of that industry doing a poor job at including a certain demographic doesn't really prove any point."

my point is that your framing of standard advertising procedure as bad or ineffective because its exclusionary is silly

advertising as i said before is about two states - the state of the person initially before buying a product and the state of the person after buying the product

the goal has always been to show the end result and as a result influence the person to buy into the product

a consequence of that is to present the initial condition as being unsatisfactory or excluding it entirely, which obviously results in exclusion

why do people work out? to be fitter and often to be more attractive so images are presented of what can be done by buying into a fitness program

why do people buy hair loss products? to not be bald so images are presented showing men or women with full heads of hair

why do people buy one type of phone over another because that phone is presented as having unique features not found anywhere else

and you can go right through advertising and see the same pattern and its there for an obvious reason

"I know that I don't think I'd ever do a yoga class because they are typically all women, and I would feel super weird being the only guy doing yoga in a class of women. That says nothing about me hating women, but instead it says that I don't feel welcome in those groups because I am not part of the in-group of those classes."

63% of the us population is white

and 13% is black

how would you deal with that?

Look beyond the article and look at the user. That’s when you find intent. The user, check his history. What does it say about him? More than that, look at his threads. Before this thread it was: Do you consume soy?, How video games are fueling the far-right, Britain’s ‘Worst Ever’ child grooming scandal, NK talks about abandoning it’s Nuclear Weapons, Italian Election Results, US to overtake Russia/Saudi as top Oil Producer, etc etc: On top of gems such as “New World Order”. 

He does it to stroke the fears of the scared, anger the marginalized, and divide the common ground with half-truths and sensationalism. Control the narrative by misconstruing the intent of the information. Let’s look at this, the article, as you said it is nothing. It’s a boring and for the most part innocent story. Well as you can tell by the comments: Most didn’t read it, didn’t care to read it, and most of the commenters came here to fight for their side of the political spectrum. By knowing most won’t read it, he can write nearly anything he wants and cherry-pick any part and cause fight for it. Because he controls the narrative it is more often than not unchallenged. 

Funnily, this guy says we should avoid a world like 1984, when in fact his post screams and hollers with the same sounds of Big Brother. It’s hypocritical, but people like him don’t care. Or if they do they try to prove they aren’t bias. Or when they fail they redirect. 

The OP is misleading and purposefully causing and sowing discord. I spent a fair share of my time watching these types. He’s nothing new or special. It’s a norm, left or right. They all do this shit, Honestly this needs to be a locked thread.

You’re supposed to. In reality you’re supposed to put your opinion in the OP. The thread should be shut down for lacking any substance other than to cause intentional problems. And they are intentional.

Actually, it is in the rules:

Thread Content:

• Copy-pasting full transcriptions of articles is strictly prohibited. Instead, you may paste specific sections of the article that pertain to the subject of your thread, along with your own commentary related to that article.
• Likewise, your thread should never only be a link to the story/article/video/etc.  You must include your own commentary.

The mods here are volunteers, they don't get paid. I'm not intending to bring the rules to a black and white understanding, I can just recognize what the TC is trying to do and I think that the mods should act on it by a lot making him have to state his own views/commentary if he's going to create a thread, I don't see how ensuring that is going to drive away users/make the site worse.

You know this is all nonsense. 

If asking the TC for his own input in the OP will drive users away, then the question is whether this site is the right place for them in the first place.