Holy Crap

How is it possible in the day and age where we see most societal hangups about differences among people going by the wayside, that a writer in one of the largest papers in the United States can get away with writing this? I share with you below my "favorite" passage from this hateful piece:
Shame — the certain knowledge that you have given those around you ample reason to disapprove — is a powerful societal weapon. See how well it worked on cigarette smokers and drunk drivers? Importing a little Parisian attitude to America would vastly benefit the tubby. Obesity has now surpassed smoking in America as a health threat, according to a new 15-year study conducted by City College and Columbia University.

Tolerance is the enemy of shame. With more and more fat acceptance — like that encouraged by V — there will be more and more fat people.

Nobody is born 300 pounds. Nobody “suffers from” obesity. She chooses it, one milkshake at a time.

What have fat people ever done to you, Mr. Smith, that you feel compelled to shower us with so much ugly hatred? Would some level of societal acceptance of our larger bodies really threaten you so badly? Really?

Wow, what a crappy way to start a Friday.

Comments

Deidre said…
Wow, that article is awful. Hate this line: "If the fashionably starved are the only thing keeping the final 40% of us from turning into human zeppelins, they’re not as useless as you think." As if it wasn't those unrealistic expectations that got us here in the first place.

Like you I've tried to be thin. Never could make it stick. I'm better off healthwise and mindwise focusing on what I eat, the exercise I get etc. To suggest that seeing a woman my size or larger in an ad might somehow derail that effort is laughable.
Marla said…
Oh Denise, I can't even read things like that, I'm afraid I'll have a stroke. You're right, it's just filled with hatred. You don't use words like "zeppelin" and make stupid stereotypes about milkshakes if you're approaching the issue objectively. It makes you realize how something like the Salem witch trials could happen, people are prone to violent hysteria.
Anita said…
"Nobody is born 300 pounds. Nobody “suffers from” obesity. She chooses it, one milkshake at a time."

*smacks writer clear into the next century*

If I remember correctly there's "plus" like you and me and there's "model plus", which is more like a realistic-looking woman with a little "meat" on her bones. I've not once seen a 250+ lb woman modeling underwear, if you know what I mean.....

Protraying "normal" or "meaty" (sorry, best word I could come up with) as "fat girls who drink too many milkshakes" makes me want to do bodily harm to that writer. Grrrrrrrr.....

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