Fat Acceptance Is Unacceptable « beastmodal domains: "...While there’s not much substance to making fun of the obese, I’m tired of hearing them bitch about fat shit. “Wahhhh I can’t lose weight.” “Wahhhh I can’t buy clothes that fit.” “Wahhhh the McRib is on a limited run.”
What’s the most pitiful statement that defecates from their foodslots? “You’re so lucky you’re not fat. You have good genes.” Hold the fucking mayonnaise, widebody. Let’s sort this out. I’m not fat because:
Genes? Go to an impoverished nation with a food shortage and find the genetic-lottery losers of weight gain in that bunch. Being fat has little to do with genetics but a lot to do with poor decisions. Everyone has a bad-idea-filter in their brain. The bad-idea-filter in the brains of the obese is disconnected from their tongues. Boom. That’s the sound of a scientist high-fiving me.
I have no issue with overweight people who are making legitimate attempts to unfuck their situations by changing behavior. They’ve turned their brains back on and deserve encouragement. The slobs who just want to sit around and bitch while mindlessly pushing assbread down their throats will get no acceptance from me.
... It’s simple: use your goddamned brain, or be stupid and fat."
FWIW the masses are generally given a lot of disinformation when it comes to nutrition. We are told that saturated fat is bad for you. No, it's not--it's POLYunsaturated (such as vegetable oil) that's bad for you.
ReplyDeleteI started making dietary changes this past fall. I've been eating a lot of grass-fed meats, butter, coconut oil, and the like, and I've dropped close to 40 pounds so far and lost around 5 inches off my waist. I don't like being overweight. I hate it. So I'm doing something about it.
And I've achieved this weight loss without exercising regularly, due to a bad ankle. Of course as the weight comes off, I'm able to get around more, because there's less stress on that ankle.
It's not okay to be fat. It does NOT affect only the fat person. Think health insurance. And also, won't someone PLEASE think of the furniture?
Good points, all. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou're an awful human being. you are not "good at life."
ReplyDeleteAw, anonymous commenter with your anonymous commentary submitted anonymously who has become anonymously butthurt... I shall file your comments appropriately. Cheers!
DeleteI'm just curious about what constitutes being 'good at life'. Obviously if you got a check-mark being a loving accepting human being isn't in that category.
ReplyDeleteI have friends who are overweight or 'fat' and contribute to society as scientists, engineers, educators, health professionals etc. That being said, or course there are 'fat people' who aren't contributing to society.
You're also not even touching on the fact that someone can look 'fat' or be 'overweight' and still be healthy, or that there are people who have a healthy BMI (or lower) and are extremely unhealthy.
Some people are raised in families and situations which contribute to obesity and it is a lack of education and resources, if people being 'fat' and 'slobs' is a serious issue for you, maybe you should consider contributing to or starting some kind of public education nutrition/workout program for people and actually making a positive difference.
Thank you for taking such a greyscale issue, making it black and white, and being a total jerk about it. Please continue to make huge contributions to society by being an accepting taoist/yogi, both of which condone the type of discrimination and hatred you are voicing in this post.
Tempted to just go with "Lighten up, Francis" and move one, but you've actually gone to the trouble to write out some things here I'm sure you find valid, despite the fact that anonymous commentary on the internets is worth fuck-all. Besides, typing a retort is an easy way to help the caffeine kick-in to the neuron-firing meatspace of my brain.
DeleteWhat is "good at life"? Excellent, lead with the broad philosophical question with no discernible answer, ever. Can keep things nice and vague for later assertions. Clearly, there's no one answer for everyone & everything.
But regardless of how you define "good at life" there is no aspect to your existence on this planet that cannot be improved by improving your health, fitness, strength and physical appearance. Sound mind/sound body. Do you, like your friends, seek to contribute through primarily intellectual endeavors? It's long been know that exercise improves cognitive function. Engage in charity or work that you feel contributes to the world? You can work harder, longer, smarter and with more energy and verve by making your body and your willpower stronger with exercise. Want to convince and lead others in causes that you think can improve the world? People, by dint of evolutionary biology, will more easily follow, like and be led by those who are attractive & healthy in appearance. Want to be around for your family longer and enjoy more activities with them? Exercise.
There is no aspect of your quality of life that cannot be improved with exercise, healthy diet and hard work.
If you do not seek to somehow become the best version of yourself, but instead insist that others applaud your lack of effort and having given up, then I have no time for that kind of thing. If someone is fat, and happy with being fat, more power to them. But I've been fat, and I've been in shape, and I know which one is better. If an overweight person, in their heart of hearts is truly happy with how they move, look, feel and engage with the world, good for them. I sincerely doubt it, though.
DeleteAnd when the 'fat-acceptance' - 'you can be healthy & fat' - and cultural mores try to shift in order to reward this excuse-driven, woe-is-me, I'm-just-so-helpless, it's my genetics/environment/confusing information/insert random excuse here - as opposed to the honest answer, personal choices and willingness to make an effort - I've no time for that kind of weak-minded bullshit mentality. Asserting that I should accept people no matter what their choices have been is simply goofy. We all have standards we hold for ourselves and others. Yours may differ than mine, carry on and be happy. But as for the people I love, I love them enough not to sugar-coat and lie to them when they're making self-destructive and unhealthy choices, and then trying to get others to affirm them for it.
Your body, your appearance, how you care for yourself, how you feed and train and condition your only vehicle for moving through this world is a direct reflection of your psychology. While a strong body may not always indicate a strong psychology, because nothing is that simple, if you can't endure a few sets of push-ups, I'll indulge in the understanding you've little capacity for enduring much of anything in dealing with the world.
BMI as any kind of worthwhile marker for health or fitness is next to useless. Google is your friend. Along those lines, the idea that I should contribute or start some kind of 'education/program' etc... Well, let's see, the vast majority of my Training posts on the blog, which you've clearly no idea about, considering your hit-and-run professionally offended post on this one, link back to all sorts of success stories and motivational articles about people who have changed their lives for the better through exercise & healthy eating. My keeping up the Training posts, as well as serving as a vehicle for personal accountability, also, I hope in some small way inspires those who are looking to make changes in their life.
But the truth of the matter is that for anyone who really cares about finding a healthy exercise and/or nutrition program, the information is all out there, easier to find now than at any point in human history. In the age of information, and the internet, ignorance is a choice.
But hey, don't let an amusing article that I link to keep you from judging me about 'being a loving accepting human being.' Without that kind of judgeiness of judgeiness, where would the internets be? Oh hypocrisy, thy name is Anonymous. Huzzah. Cheers. Aloha. And all that kind of thing.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteJust because it will somehow be more valid if not anonymous, I'll post from my wordpress.
DeletePersonal bio? I'm a biologist in public conservation education and am planning to go to med school. I rock climb as often as possible, run, eat well, work out and am quite healthy thank you very much. Yes, fitness and health are very important, but fat-shaming people doesn't help. People need to love themselves and make personal fitness decisions for themselves if they want to, not work out and eat healthy because they hate themselves due to fat shaming.
Public awareness of nutrition and physical education information is quite lacking, as is evidenced by how many people buy into ridiculous diets constantly. So, there is definitely a place for education programs, particularly for youth. There is a lot of misinformation out there and having some type of nutritional and fitness education in school (what physical education class should be) could catch a lot of myths early. Internet blogs have their place, but there are like a billion fitness blogs. Accessible nutritional counseling, fitness training and general knowledge face to face in the real world is what we need. No I haven't read any of your other posts, I stumbled upon this one quite randomly.
As for the people I love, I love them enough to accept them for who they are and not judge them or contribute to the constant criticism some of them endure as a result of being overweight. Because if they decide to start working out and eating healthy, yeah man, I'm there for them but it's their body, and I respect them.
"somehow be more valid if not anonymous" - um, yes. Obviously. Whereas there are all sorts valid reasons for internet anonymity, say allowing dissenters to shield their identities and freeing them to express critical, minority views or the use of anonymity as a shield from the tyranny or retribution of the majority or abusive authority... for something such as this, yes, the willingness to put your name next to your commentary on matters of opinionated discourse or criticism does in fact carry more weight than not. The simple act of standing by and claiming what you write or say is a thing that matters.
DeletePersonal bio is basically, well, irrelevant. As I had no idea who you were, etc, the "you"'s in the above you seem to have taken personally by defending your lifestyle and health, were in fact the rhetorical/literary 'you.' Kudos to you for your healthy lifestyle, I guess.
"fat-shaming people doesn't help" - sure it can. Google "Fat-shaming may curb obesity, bioethicist says." Or find stuff for your side of the argument, like "Fat Shaming Can Lead To Weight Gain -- Now Can We Stop The Bullying?" [In short, science and behavioral reporting are notoriously horrible.] But a blanket statement like "fat shaming people doesn't help" is, quite simply, wrong.
DeleteIt may work for some, not work for others and may be essentially meaningless for others still. You, in your argument, seem to prioritize the possible hurt feelings of others in being honest with them about their choices, over my preference to be honest and integrous with them as to my opinions. You seem to feel that sparing folks your opinions, as you might somehow offend these delicate and easily crushed unique snowflakes with mean words, which, in my opinion sells most people short and treats them as less than the autonomous, responsible individuals they are worthy of being. If you tell somebody they need to study harder and their choices regarding their educational development are poor, do you call it "intellect shaming" as well? Or do you call it telling people what they need to do to succeed?
All self-improvement relies on some sense of dissatisfaction with how things currently are.
"Public awareness of nutrition and physical education information is quite lacking, as is evidenced by how many people buy into ridiculous diets constantly." This is in no way evidence of a lack of available information. This speaks to how little time and investment people have chosen to make in examining that information and using their reasoning faculties and logic to examine it. Most do not, simply, because for them it is not a priority.
"No I haven't read any of your other posts, I stumbled upon this one quite randomly." Well, yes, obviously. Good to know you were able to make such striking and clever observations about my character and who I am as a human being on the basis of one article on the internet I linked to. Well done, you.
"As for the people I love" I love them enough to know that I need not agree with, like or respect every decision or choice or aspect of their personality in order to love them. Likewise, they know that though I might disagree with them, or their decisions, my love for them is not the same thing as that.
It's a far more honest, realistic and worthwhile friendship if I can say to my friend, "Hey, you know what? Rather than shoving more shitty food down your piehole and then bitching later about how you're fat, why don't you put it down and go to the gym with me?" - rather than mindless rah-rah "You go girl!/or guy! You don't ever have to make any effort ever and your life will still be awesome!" Which only enables negative behaviors and leads people even further down the abyss of unhappiness lack of fulfillment.
Here is a link to a nice meta-analysis (not personal anecdotes or articles by who knows who off of google) of scientific studies on fat shaming:
Deletehttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hast.166/full
I'm sorry I attacked you personally. You could be a very nice person, I don't know you and shouldn't have judged you on one shitty repost on a blog.
Anyways, have a nice life, and please take into consideration being accepting of your friends and family's lifestyle choices.
Irrespective of the general limitations of meta-analysis in general, and this one in particular - it doesn't even seem to be a meta-analysis, in the sense I'm aware of... where's the independent data-abstraction, for one? Where's the data from randomized clinical trials? It's actually a commentary with some original independent research, an opinion piece, essentially. One of six commentaries that respond to Callahan's work [the first link I referenced via Google, above, btw.] And Callahan's original paper is here - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hast.114/full
DeleteEven in your link, the structure of some of the examinations Q&A, clearly indicates that yes, people are aware of being overweight - *and they don't want to be.* They don't want to be fat. The fat people themselves. Because they know their lives would be better otherwise. "They all said they would give up being a multimillionaire to be normal weight." [Which is the exact opposite of the "Gee isn't everybody swell" fat-acceptance movement.]
You can, and should if your tendencies lead you that way, judge me all you want regarding this specific topic. Attack my opinions all you like. Your immediate leap from there to judging my worth as a human being, well, that's different. But, you know, apology accepted, no biggee. It's the internet, ad hominem, etc, etc.
But as to that opinion, which you term "shitty" - somebody else's opinon, fwiw - I mostly hold with. So judge away. What you term "fat shaming" I call personal accountability, striving for something better, and refusing to accept excuses and a lowest common denominator lifestyle.
What's amazingly frustrating is that you seem to think that the post, or my endorsement of it is a call to go out and actively be a dick to some poor overweight person who's minding their own business. No where does it say that and never would I do that.
But the post is a response to the argument made that being fat is A-OK! or the "my decisions are not my fault" mantra. Argument which are just nonsense. This message that all 'lifestyle choices' are equally valid, including those dis-empowering ones that lead to poorer quality of life, is simply absurd.
Have a nice life as well, and please take into consideration that while people deserve kindness and compassion, flawed, crippling, poorly thought-out ideas [like fat acceptance] deserve the harshest criticism, scrutiny and condemnation.
*Edited for run on sentences/clarity.*