There's a few things I find interesting about this debate that crop up no matter where I see it.
Most of the people complaining that fat people are unhealthy and sucking tax dollars away, and ugly, and smelly, and one step short of the devil... are not fat. And have never been fat. Or maybe they were, but they lost all the extra weight when they went through puberty or moved away from food-zealous parents. Yet, somehow, they believe they know just how easy it is to drop all that weight and that this is universal for everyone from every walk of life. I'm not sure if blame can be put on the media for its endless parade of Jared and co. stories or not, but there seems to be this glorified image of before-after shots in the public's mind where the inbetween has been made to be considered effortless and instant. (Lose pounds in minutes a day, take off inches while sitting in your chair, eat what you want and still lose weight, etc.)
Now, here's the tricky part. I'm slightly overweight right now (drinking game, take a shot for every ten opinions that just changed midway through reading this at that statement. Actually, every 50, or you'll die). I used to be FAT. Like, good lord fat. Holy mother of god get this kid a forklift. When I was... 17, 18? I think I was closing in on 280 pounds, and while I claimed that was inflated because there was some muscle - and there had to be, walking around at that weight - I knew deep down that wasn't the bulk of it. Now, why was I fat? In my case, I can tell you for sure: It was because I considered fat to be evil.
Yes. I'd been told by so many people so many times that fat was the reason I was fat. So what did I do instead? Natch. I ate sugar. Lots and lots of sugar. I'm surprised I didn't get diabetes. The stuff would never fill me up, so I just kept eating more sugar in the hopes that it would. My logic was 'fat makes me fat... but sugar isn't fat, so it's okay!' I clung to this even as I ballooned because frankly, I didn't have any better ideas. Where I am, it's difficult to find fruit that isn't mushy 8 or so months out of the year, not that I considered it. Vegetables were similarly unfilling, and I learned to avoid them anyway because I only liked most of them with cheese. Meat? Something filling? Get that crap away from me, it's much more boring than this endless stream of sugar and besides, it's fatty.
Just for posterity, let's comb that paragraph. In my opinion, the sugar was a choice made with limited education, that being 'fat is bad' and vegetables not being something I was drawn to. The fruit was a choice, and I still don't eat much fruit outside of summer for the same reason. The vegetables were definitely a choice because although I could have eaten them anyway, I always opted for something like pasta instead. The meat was a choice.
But consider this. My reasoning at the time was, why should I exert effort to change for these assholes?
Personally, I didn't have a problem with being fat at the time. I do now. I like being able to stand up without my vision fading out for a few seconds. I like being able to run. I like not breathing hard. I like not waking up in the middle of the night choking because of sleep apnea. I really like the fact that my blood pressure is no longer some insane number; I forget what exactly, but the systolic pressure was usually between 150 and 180. Right now I'm 125/83, and that's the way I likes it. But at the time? I didn't know anything other than being fat, so *I* didn't have a problem. But everyone else did, hoo lordy.
I was told, and I don't think I'm exaggerating, hundreds of times by teachers that being 'overweight' led to health risks. Not obese, not fat, but 'overweight'. Now consider how far past overweight I was. Also consider that as a rebellious teenager I was the type to do the moron thing called thinking, and ask the question 'who decided what 'overweight' is anyway?' Never got an answer to that, btw. And they handed down their mandated food charts and exercise journals. Not really sure what that was supposed to accomplish; the stupid things said to eat more bread than anything, which incidentally screws me up in this weird way where my skin turns blue and clammy and my throat/lungs gets scummy. Not conducive to exercise, and having to track every bit of exercise I did do to the minute... by selecting it off a list of pre-approved activities with no 'other' option to make it easier for the gym teacher who was incapable of teaching even that class to mark it... well. But we haven't even gotten to the other kids yet.
Summing up. Didn't think I was objectively 'over weight' even though I was probably obese. Indoctrinated education that at best was well-intentioned malarkey. And now the kids. They seemed to be the only ones who actually had a problem with my weight. And good lord would they point it out at every possible opportunity. Apparently being fat made me an objectively bad person, too, because it wasn't just the dingleberries who made oinking noises or the wantwits who would lean over and whisper "You're fffat" in the middle of class. No, they'd knock books off my desk, they'd spray me with girly perfumes and crap even though I regularly showered, and if I dare ask a question or say anything in class, *all eyes on the fat kid, everything he's saying is bad and must be used against him later*. Treated like complete shite, and these were the people I was supposed to impress by losing weight? Nuts to that. I'd prefer to do something I enjoy, like (at the time) playing an RPG.
This brings me to my last point. Thank you for reading this far, I know I ramble. What the hell does society expect fat people to do? If you're fat, you get stared at. The fatter you are, the more stares. The unwashed masses immediately discount the ideas or opinions of a fat person to some degree. In turn, a fat person will come to despise people. You know how someone can be nice once you get to know them? Fewer people will end up getting to know fat people because the ones that try will start getting pushed away. With fewer positive influences and more negative, it's easy to get even fatter. Trust me on this one. Now, say you're fat and you actually decide "I don't want this". You start eating better, portion controls, vitamins, checking ingredients, all that. You try to exercise. Well, here we go into the no fatties club that is society. You go to a gym and people will *stare*. You make noise if you run on the treadmill. If you're fat *and* decidedly out of shape, your breathing can be heard across the room. You'll probably turn purple a few times. People will stare. You try to run around the block a few times? You jiggle. People stare. Some point and laugh, because you're obviously too fat to be exercising. You can exercise in your living space, but let's be honest. Besides bodybuilders, who can possibly stick with that for long? It's boring, and when you try to alleviate the boredom, you start falling into habits that will make you fat, like turning the TV on while you exercise... and then removing the exercise part. So if you're a fat person in today's society, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Does this warrant protection against people who insult the fat? Hard to say. If it isn't mentioned it isn't considered a problem. If it is mentioned, and it will be constantly, it becomes a problem you don't want to hear about anymore, so you try to escape from it. Maybe something else is warranted, like getting people to think about what they're spewing out at people. That's a task equivalent to filling in the Pacific Ocean with Mars one spoonful at a time, but oh well.
Most of the people complaining that fat people are unhealthy and sucking tax dollars away, and ugly, and smelly, and one step short of the devil... are not fat. And have never been fat. Or maybe they were, but they lost all the extra weight when they went through puberty or moved away from food-zealous parents. Yet, somehow, they believe they know just how easy it is to drop all that weight and that this is universal for everyone from every walk of life. I'm not sure if blame can be put on the media for its endless parade of Jared and co. stories or not, but there seems to be this glorified image of before-after shots in the public's mind where the inbetween has been made to be considered effortless and instant. (Lose pounds in minutes a day, take off inches while sitting in your chair, eat what you want and still lose weight, etc.)
Now, here's the tricky part. I'm slightly overweight right now (drinking game, take a shot for every ten opinions that just changed midway through reading this at that statement. Actually, every 50, or you'll die). I used to be FAT. Like, good lord fat. Holy mother of god get this kid a forklift. When I was... 17, 18? I think I was closing in on 280 pounds, and while I claimed that was inflated because there was some muscle - and there had to be, walking around at that weight - I knew deep down that wasn't the bulk of it. Now, why was I fat? In my case, I can tell you for sure: It was because I considered fat to be evil.
Yes. I'd been told by so many people so many times that fat was the reason I was fat. So what did I do instead? Natch. I ate sugar. Lots and lots of sugar. I'm surprised I didn't get diabetes. The stuff would never fill me up, so I just kept eating more sugar in the hopes that it would. My logic was 'fat makes me fat... but sugar isn't fat, so it's okay!' I clung to this even as I ballooned because frankly, I didn't have any better ideas. Where I am, it's difficult to find fruit that isn't mushy 8 or so months out of the year, not that I considered it. Vegetables were similarly unfilling, and I learned to avoid them anyway because I only liked most of them with cheese. Meat? Something filling? Get that crap away from me, it's much more boring than this endless stream of sugar and besides, it's fatty.
Just for posterity, let's comb that paragraph. In my opinion, the sugar was a choice made with limited education, that being 'fat is bad' and vegetables not being something I was drawn to. The fruit was a choice, and I still don't eat much fruit outside of summer for the same reason. The vegetables were definitely a choice because although I could have eaten them anyway, I always opted for something like pasta instead. The meat was a choice.
But consider this. My reasoning at the time was, why should I exert effort to change for these assholes?
Personally, I didn't have a problem with being fat at the time. I do now. I like being able to stand up without my vision fading out for a few seconds. I like being able to run. I like not breathing hard. I like not waking up in the middle of the night choking because of sleep apnea. I really like the fact that my blood pressure is no longer some insane number; I forget what exactly, but the systolic pressure was usually between 150 and 180. Right now I'm 125/83, and that's the way I likes it. But at the time? I didn't know anything other than being fat, so *I* didn't have a problem. But everyone else did, hoo lordy.
I was told, and I don't think I'm exaggerating, hundreds of times by teachers that being 'overweight' led to health risks. Not obese, not fat, but 'overweight'. Now consider how far past overweight I was. Also consider that as a rebellious teenager I was the type to do the moron thing called thinking, and ask the question 'who decided what 'overweight' is anyway?' Never got an answer to that, btw. And they handed down their mandated food charts and exercise journals. Not really sure what that was supposed to accomplish; the stupid things said to eat more bread than anything, which incidentally screws me up in this weird way where my skin turns blue and clammy and my throat/lungs gets scummy. Not conducive to exercise, and having to track every bit of exercise I did do to the minute... by selecting it off a list of pre-approved activities with no 'other' option to make it easier for the gym teacher who was incapable of teaching even that class to mark it... well. But we haven't even gotten to the other kids yet.
Summing up. Didn't think I was objectively 'over weight' even though I was probably obese. Indoctrinated education that at best was well-intentioned malarkey. And now the kids. They seemed to be the only ones who actually had a problem with my weight. And good lord would they point it out at every possible opportunity. Apparently being fat made me an objectively bad person, too, because it wasn't just the dingleberries who made oinking noises or the wantwits who would lean over and whisper "You're fffat" in the middle of class. No, they'd knock books off my desk, they'd spray me with girly perfumes and crap even though I regularly showered, and if I dare ask a question or say anything in class, *all eyes on the fat kid, everything he's saying is bad and must be used against him later*. Treated like complete shite, and these were the people I was supposed to impress by losing weight? Nuts to that. I'd prefer to do something I enjoy, like (at the time) playing an RPG.
This brings me to my last point. Thank you for reading this far, I know I ramble. What the hell does society expect fat people to do? If you're fat, you get stared at. The fatter you are, the more stares. The unwashed masses immediately discount the ideas or opinions of a fat person to some degree. In turn, a fat person will come to despise people. You know how someone can be nice once you get to know them? Fewer people will end up getting to know fat people because the ones that try will start getting pushed away. With fewer positive influences and more negative, it's easy to get even fatter. Trust me on this one. Now, say you're fat and you actually decide "I don't want this". You start eating better, portion controls, vitamins, checking ingredients, all that. You try to exercise. Well, here we go into the no fatties club that is society. You go to a gym and people will *stare*. You make noise if you run on the treadmill. If you're fat *and* decidedly out of shape, your breathing can be heard across the room. You'll probably turn purple a few times. People will stare. You try to run around the block a few times? You jiggle. People stare. Some point and laugh, because you're obviously too fat to be exercising. You can exercise in your living space, but let's be honest. Besides bodybuilders, who can possibly stick with that for long? It's boring, and when you try to alleviate the boredom, you start falling into habits that will make you fat, like turning the TV on while you exercise... and then removing the exercise part. So if you're a fat person in today's society, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Does this warrant protection against people who insult the fat? Hard to say. If it isn't mentioned it isn't considered a problem. If it is mentioned, and it will be constantly, it becomes a problem you don't want to hear about anymore, so you try to escape from it. Maybe something else is warranted, like getting people to think about what they're spewing out at people. That's a task equivalent to filling in the Pacific Ocean with Mars one spoonful at a time, but oh well.