I’ve been reading a lot of stories lately about obesity and how the rest of the world is picking on fat people. Poor babies!
Look, I understand that in some instances obesity can’t be helped. I also don’t believe that the majority of obese people fit into the category of “it can’t be helped.” I just don’t get it. I mean, I’m not very active. I eat bullshit snack foods all the time; it’s called the munchies. I don’t exercise very much. Ok, I play golf, so I don’t really exercise at all. I even have an electric bicycle. Even with all these things going against me, I’m still only a few pounds overweight! How the hell do you get to the stage they call obese?
When I looked up obesity on Wikipedia, it told me that this "disease" is very rare in wild animals and pretty common in domesticated animals. The reason? Domestic animals tend to be overfed and under-exercised. In other words, if obesity is a problem, try eating less and exercising more. Sounds pretty simple to me.
A couple of weeks ago at BC, I read an article about fat people having trouble getting hired. The way I read the article and the comments that went along with it, the writer got on his tilt because his mother told him that fat people couldn’t get hired for good jobs. Of course, the discussion that followed brought up smoking and every other thing that employers should be using as hiring criteria, but really didn’t discuss the problem of hiring the obese and the associated costs.
Today I opened the editorial section of my paper, like I do every day, and read a letter from someone whining because their feelings were hurt over a picture in the paper last week showing two therapists sitting in one oversized wheelchair. The person that wrote the article whined because it sent a negative message. What was the message, you ask? According to the letter to the editor, the message is that two normal-sized people can fit in the same space as one fat person. Somehow the person that wrote that letter doesn’t realize that I don’t need a picture to figure out that two of me can fit where one of her can fit. I usually get the picture when he/she walks by my table at Quizno’s and blocks out the sun for a minute or two.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Ruthie
Actually they are proving genetics play a factor..many have low thyroid levels...I don't find fat people offensive. I do think unkind, hurtful people are not only offensive but sick. But I can't tell who they are until they open their mouths. They have the ability to block out the sun for days.
2 - Andy Marsh
Ruthie - I did say in my post that I understand that sometimes it can't be helped. I don't find fat people offensive either, unless I'm the one stuck next to them on the airplane.
3 - CANDYE KANE
Andy, the problem is that fat people are called fat, lazy, slovenly disgusting and stupid all at the same time. It is assumed that we became fat because we do nothing. I am an extremely active fat woman. I travel 250 days a year making music. I walk daily, at least a mile, ride my bike or swim laps. I dont overeat. I dont drink. But I am a big soft person and I always have been. Just because YOU don't gain weight and dont exercise frequently doesnt mean that its the same for other people. People gain weight for different reasons. Childhood habits, sedentary lifestyle, pregnancy, surgeries, back, ankle and knee problems, can all contribute to and exacerbate weight gain.
Fat people are one of the only groups it is still okay to make fun of. There are no stickers that say "No blacks" or "No Jews" but there are stickers everywhere that say "No fat chicks." It is still socially acceptable to ridicule fat people and discriminate against them. It is called "sizism," andy, and it is wrong! It should be wrong to discriminate against anyone based on appearance but with fat people, it is still considered "funny" and okay. When we complain about it, we are called " whiners." When other people mention discrimination, it is called racism, sexism or any other "ism" that singles out a person because of race or gender.
Airplane seats are tiny anyway. I have been next to six foot five men who werent fat but were certainly taking up more space than the average person.I have sat in front of very tall people whose knees were in the small of my back all the way to London. Pregnant women also take up more space. Should we be rude to them? Your philosophy seems to condone rudeness and hostility just because its easier than trying to be politically correct.
Politically Correct terminology, though it may be an inconvenience for those of you who want to label and name call, was invented to prevent whole groups of people from being stereotyped. There was a time when it was okay to call African Americans derogatory names. There was a time when white entertainers wore black face and mimicked African people. There was a time when Asians were called "chinks and japs." There were lots of words used like "gook, kike and wetback." These words have almost been eliminated from civilized conversation because they are ignorant, hurtful and unneccessary. If you are going to eliminate all PC now and throw out the card from the deck, maybe you should also go back to being transported by a horse drawn carriage. Get rid of your computer and write by hand and candlelight. Use ice blocks and unplug your refrigerator. Get a carrier pigeon and throw out your cell phone.
Progress is a good thing, andy. It is healthy to realize that the way we used to do things, may not have been the only way. Just because it worked in 1953 doesnt mean it works in 2006.
Bodies come in all shapes and sizes. People come in all colors and religions. Accepting yourself with all your flaws and individual attributes should bring you closer to accepting others who are different from you. The world is getting bigger and more and more people from different cultures are coming together. The time to learn to accept each other is NOW. We all have the same red blood in our veins and the same internal organs. Now if we can just learn to accept our outside appearances, we will really have progressed. Sign me : Fit, fat and fine.
4 - JELIEL3
Indeed your article will and does offend. You should be told to "shut your pie hole".
You have no idea all the factors that can overtake "will power".
Did you know that a simple food TV ad can kick start your digestive process and have your stomach requesting food?
Did you know that most obese people's brains get FLOODED with dopamine with only the smell of food, thereby overriding reason? Do think will power can determine dopamine release in the body?
Do you know that COMPULSION means you have lost the ability to make a choice?
Did you know that when a fat person restricts his caloric intake, his system reacts by storing fat even more?
Judge not so quickly. I'll submit myself for example. I used to be an Olympic level athlete training for Barcelona, then I get into a few accidents which left me with broken shoulder bones, 4 ribs, hands and feet crushed, luxated knee (Seeing my knee flip forward was easily the most funny thing I've ever seen) and 3 fractured vertebrae. 8 back surgeries later and 4.5 years face down in a bed, I fattened up to a whopping 315 pounds. Now I'm down to 260 and still working like MANIAC (to the point of burning out and needing 8 months to recover) to lose it all...
So don't judge me or other fat people with your whinny arguments... you have no right and obviously NO IDEA.
5 - Andy Marsh
Candye - there's a difference between PC and name calling. And again I'll say that I understand that in some cases weight can't be helped.
My point and the reason for calling them whiners was because the article in the paper was talking about how a local hospital was making concessions for, whatever PC term you prefer for obese people, by purchasing oversized wheelchairs. The picture in the paper showed two people sitting in that wheel chair. How is that offensive? Would it have been better if they only put one little person in there to show how much extra room was in the seat? That's what makes it PC BS. There wasn't any derogatory remarks with the picture in the paper, but somehow, it's offensive.
If you require a love seat as a normal seat that's fine, but I guess when someone else walks in the room and has to stand, you'd prefer that they do it quietly instead of making any kind of remark about the person taking up two seats?
I'm 6' tall. My knees almost make it to the seat in front of me. I travel about as much as you do during the year and most of my flights are from one side of the US to the other...
And really...the world is getting smaller...I sure seemed to have a lot more room when I was younger than I do now.
6 - Greatest Comedian Ever
I thought all fat people were made of rubber and what ever you say was supposed to bounce off them. Guess not.
7 - Andy Marsh
so somehow, you've managed to overcome all that...compulsion...and dopamine and surgeries...and every other thing you just mentioned and lose weight....hmmmmmm
I guess that diet coke I saw that guy order with the double whopper with cheese was what???dopamine suppresant???
It's not my "pie hole" that's the problem.
You're right...I have no idea.
8 - JELIEL3
Yes I am right. You have NO IDEA what fat people are up against, not that I would mention ignorants like yourself which are a daily reminder of human cruelty.
There's a lot more to being fat than simple overeating and the solution to losing wait is simple in concept but far from easy to applicate. You just lack the capacity to wrap your mind around that.
Most people with your convictions are people who can't step out of themselves even for a moment. And they can miraculously solve every problem a seemingly "easy common sense" solution that no one else but yourself seems to have thought of, what a genius. All you said has been said before by jackasses with NO IDEAS either. You should educate yourself before passing on opinions with absolutly no basis in reality or become a republican.
9 - Greatest Comedian Ever
Great post Jeliel. I could almost "feel" your fatness through the screen. I hope that inbetween posts you are doing jumping jacks. Of course assuming for safety reasons that you are on the ground floor.
10 - Al Barger
Andy, I cannot tell you just how impressed I am with your sweeping moral judgments of people's medical conditions. It's very impressive how you can generalize your own fortunate genetics that let you get away with slovenly behavior into disdain and ridicule for people who are less fortunate.
Fat people just lack will power- that's the way to look at it. No need to consider any of the complexities of weak metabolism that are encoded in some people's genetics, nor how those genetics impact people's appetites and cravings. And you certainly needn't bother to consider bad programming embedded from childhood about food.
No, that would involve thinking and even human empathy. Much better for maintaining a cheap and unearned sense of superiority to blanketly label fat people as lazy and irresponsible. Better yet, brand them all as left wing PC whiners- cause I'm sure all fat people are liberals. You never see fat Republicans, after all.
Schmuck.
11 - Mr. Takes things too literally
I highly doubt that all fat people are liberals. I see fat republicans all the time. Check your facts Mr. Barger.
12 - JELIEL3
Al Barger, this must be a parallele universe where we agree on something =)
2 thumbs up.
13 - MCH
"We're gonna call fat people fat, lazy people lazy, stupid people stupid."
And let's call bureaucratic people bureaucrats.
14 - Andy Marsh
You people are all missing the point here. I open up my paper one day to read that the local hospital is buying oversized medical equipment to take care of our ever "growing" population and someone sends a letter to the paper complaining that the picture that accompanied the article showed two people sitting in a wheelchair and it was insensitive of the paper to print that picture...not thank you to the hospital for accomodating my big ass, but shame on the paper for showing a picture of a large wheelchair big enough for that same large ass!
15 - Nancy
Perhaps we should look forward to the day when, unexpectedly, Mr. Marsh's formerly orderly metabolism gives out due to aging or some biochemical reaction with a bp drug, and he suddenly balloons to 200, 250, or more because although his system has moved along, his eating habits haven't. As his weight increases, he finds moving to be more strenuous, more tiring - even breathing becomes a matter of labor instead of instinct - and yet paradoxically, his appetite has increased! Since Mr. Marsh is a person of iron will & steely self-discipline, he embarks on a protocol of diet & exercise ... which lasts until Thanksgiving when only a shockingly few days of indulgence suddenly pile all that weight right back on to where he started. It came off so hard ... it came back on criminally easily, and it came perhaps (if he's like most people) with a little "bonus" of 5% or so. So he not only gained back everything he worked so hard to lose, but more. So he starts again, and thereby gets on the unending round of lose - and gain; lose - and gain, each time a little more than before, and meanwhile he's working himself into a stroke trying to keep ahead of the tide....
I'm seeing a lot of this with guys, especially those who were active in their youth, but ate anything they wanted. Women tend to catch it earlier, during & after pregnancy. The heartbreaking thing is, no amount of exercise seems to keep it off. They work so hard, and just one episode or slip, and - it piles back on, and then some. The psychological devastation of this is pretty bad, made worse by the attitudes of compassionate persons like Mr. Marsh & "Comedian" who feel free to heap scorn & contempt on people who in fact are far from lazy, but have fallen into an increasingly common physical syndrome that is not understood at this point. I personally think a good deal of it has to do with all the additives corporations have been dumping into 100% of the prepared foods most of us eat over the years. If you note, it's the generations since the onset of TV dinners & fast food that are increasingly obese. I think, personally, that these additives are not only screwing up people's metabolisms, but are addictive as well. Let's just say, I wouldn't be surprised. And after all, didn't the Tobacco companies swear up & down that their products weren't addictive or carcinogins?
So carry on, Mr. Marsh; just remember what goes around tends to come (or become) a-round.
16 - Andy Marsh
Well, I weigh 205 now, I have for a long time. There may come a time when I gain weight and can't get my ass off the couch.
But you know what? When I get to the hospital, which I'm sure I will, if I make it that far. I'll thank the hospital for having a wheel chair big enough to accomodate my fat ass.
And if two orderlies wheel themselves out to me in it, I won't even bitch about that! I'll thank them after they lift me onto the bed. And continue to wonder why I should be offended.
17 - Nancy
I hope to God that day never comes. It is a vicious cycle, and no one deserves that. Well ... maybe Saddam Hussein & Michael Jackson & a few others I can think of. But it is a real bitch. And I really do think it has to do with all the commercially prepared food additives. I foresee some lawsuits against the food industries that will make the tobacco 'suits look like peanuts. The coincidence is too overwhelming, but I'm no biochemist.
18 - Andy Marsh
Al - First thing I said in the piece was I understand that sometimes obesity can't be helped. This had nothing to do with that, it was about how offended someone was by the picture. So, I decided to tell you how offended I am by some of the things that obese or fat people do. And now you're whining too.
19 - Andy Marsh
and Al - did I say left wing or liberal or anything like that anywhere? I said PC Bullshit.
20 - JELIEL3
Perhaps you are true to your intentions Marsh, but your manners are supremely sloppy. Like my pappy used to say,"Tout est dans la manière". Don't worry I'll translate for you. It means how things turn out depends on how you play it.
You have the grace and the tact of a prison door and the subtlety of a speeding 18 wheeler truck with a flat tire. So eh good luck with that.
21 - Andy Marsh
I really like the bad programming as a child thing too. It's not my fault...my mommy did it to me...holy mackeral.
22 - Andy Marsh
JELIEL3 - I did say I was working on that tact thing...
23 - My Opinion, That's All
Wow. I'm glad I'm a disembodied spirit. Corporeal things matter not to me. [smile]
24 - Nancy
I do agree with you on one thing, and that is the invidious way all the fast food chains have "supersized" everything. The reason for this, is, I'm told by an friend in low places, because that enables them to charge more & make higher profits off what SEEM to be much larger items, but a close look shows that the 'larger' items are the really cheap stuff, like the buns, etc., which also happen to be the most fattening. Also note that their meats, etc. are full of fats. Fats are not only where the calories are, but the flavors as well. What is not being said is that a lot of these items are 'flavor-enhanced' to taste char-broiled, or a touch of garlic powder (not enough to taste), that taste buds respond to without being really aware of them. If someone is already hungry, the combination of fats & carbs tends to lead to more and faster ingestion of foods, before the system has time to 'digest' what it's getting, so to speak, & signal the brain it's full. And then there's the infamous preservatives & additives.
Add to that, that the primate brain is hard-wired to go for sugars over just about anything else, with fats a followup. Our own systems are geared towards our destruction, especially since few if any people work so as to require the humongous meals required by farmers, etc. in the Olden Days. Even the Amish are having problems with it, and their lifestyles are about as labor-intensive as it can get. Another interesting clue is that oriental people, raised on generations of healthy, low-fat, fishy diets, are now ballooning out of shape as well, after only a few years eating sporadically at McDonalds & Co. You don't need to be paranoid to have enemies....
25 - JELIELÂł
I did say I was working on that tact thing...
I'm thinking overhaul.