Why it is acceptable to criticize smokers, but not fat people?

Jubeigah

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Aug 7, 2011
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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.
 

Scrimshaw13

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Jun 21, 2011
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Except there is only one level of reason and thought between my fact and conclusion whereas yours is relatively absurd. Not to mention, there are plenty of fat people that don't eat meat.
 

funguy2121

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(UN)
sravankb said:
funguy2121 said:
These people need to be ridiculed, for their own good.
(DEAUX)You see, this is the bullshit part when it comes to people "criticizing" fat people. This is not a justification. You don't give a shit about their health. The only reason you would do this is because you want to feel better about yourself. There's literally no way you can think that this will help them. If you do, then you haven't thought about it for more than a minute.

(TRES)
And hell, I used to be fat, but it was never because of the insults that I decided to lose weight. That never, ever, helped me. It only made me feel more miserable. My family and friends' support helped me out more than anything. Seriously, if you would like to help a friend or a close relative, then talk to them about it in a respectful manner and tell them how it could be a problem in the future, and how they can fix it. I say friend or relative because it would considered quite intrusive if you start this sort of a discussion with a mere acquaintance.

(4)
On the other hand, "fatty fat smelly fat bastard" is not exactly a great way of helping someone get over their problems.
(UN) How convenient that you only included one line out of a thoughtful and balanced expression of my beliefs. This allows you to, consciously or not, take a deceitful approach in your response. You seem to have conveniently forgotten that I was talking about people who eat like pigs in public and not anyone else who has a little extra weight.

(DEAUX) And yet you assume you know me, know my mind and how I view the world, from one statement in an online forum. When people behave in trashy ways it is perfectly just to criticize them. When some asshole (male or female) hits on me and doesn't take the hint after repeated rejections, and is telling me nasty things that I don't want to associate with them, or outright sexually harassing me, which has happened twice in the work place, then humiliation is in order. In this case, you bet your ass I'm doing them a favor. That kind of behavior is not acceptable and isn't good for a person's social life. And so it is with ruining the restaurant experience of everyone around you by being gross. But clearly you're committed to pretending that I'm talking about all overweight people and not just the people who eat like infants in public.

(TRES) "Eric participates in class but has difficulty paying attention!"

(4) Excuse me, I believe these are YOUR words in my mouth. I'm truly sorry that you're still angry, which I honestly don't understand. I've been through quite a bit in my life, but now that I'm finally successful and I'm on top of my game I'm proud. I'm glad I went through the rough times, because it's a testament to my character. And most overweight people remain overweight til their dying day, so you clearly have something to be very happy about, not angry.
 

101flyboy

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I disagree with the sole fact smokers are directly hurting people who inhale their disgusting smoke, they know this and many smokers couldn't care less and get defensive when you ask them to put out their cancer sticks. Fat people stuffing their face are directly only hurting their bodies and health.

With that being said, I DEFINITELY do not believe it is discrimination to discourage obesity. Discouraging something unhealthy is not the same as criticizing someone for being fat.
 

Iron Mal

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I personally think the biggest reason why weight is considered a more taboo thing to make an issue of than smoking is because, frankly, it makes you sound shallow and dickish to criticise someone's weight (especially because there are actual genetic and medical causes of obesity from gland disorders to the side effects of certain medications) and we all want to come off as nice, non-bigoted and foward thinking people.

Smoking, on the other hand, is free game because it's seen as a self-inflicted injury and it's (wrongly) percieved as being a hazard to others (apparantly the study that most of us base the 'second hand smoking' fact on wasn't actually comprised of reliable data and further studies also had similar issues) so not only did you choose this, but you're willingly killing me, you bastard!

I'd personally say judging a person by either of them alone is wrong since neither of them fully encompass who someone is as a person but by the same token if you're going to complain on a medical level then both are just as bad as each other. (as in both can do you serious harm but aren't realy more than a mild irritation to those nearby).
 

Helmholtz Watson

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Tree man said:
Volf99 said:
I think that of pc nonsense, its just another case of oversensitivity. Granted I don't support bulling little fat kids, I don't think it is helping them by stating that its ok to be fat (assuming they don't have a medical issue).
It's perfectly fine to tell children to be comfortable in their own bodies.
no, not when it effects their health, its not "ok", same goes for kids that are under weight.
 

k3v1n

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Sep 7, 2008
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you should look up the medical costs of people with smoking-related diseases...
 

StBishop

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Bobic said:
Yes, but you forgot to factor in how all the money spent on burgers stimulates the economy. Yeah, think about that.
I pay $6.00 for a burger. I pay $8.00 for a salad.

Healthy food is equally able to stimulate the economy.
 

Kuroneko97

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Aug 1, 2010
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I have both in my family.

Both my parents are constant smokers, as well as drinkers. They attempt to stop, but within a week or two they give up. They attempt to control their drinking, though, but if they suddenly stop that along with smoking they get really irritable and send that irritation at me and my older siblings.

My sister has some extra weight on her. She gets healthy food when she can, but she mostly eats junk food. She also occasionally throws up some of the food, which I cringed at learning. She's been bike-riding a lot every day recently, from what I've heard.

So from my experience, both habits/ways of life are partially voluntary. They enter that way of living, and then have a hard time getting out of it. That's probably why a lot of people want to change. However, I suppose since the only inconvenience fat people can give you is less space to move, you don't think so badly of them than smokers, whose smoke can blow into your face, and you hear all of those things about second-hand smoke, which makes people think "fuck, this guy's gonna give me cancer."

It could also be the idea that fat=jolly, which you mostly think about when you think of characters such as Santa Claus or the typical fat dad in shows like Family Guy.
 

LiquidSolstice

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Dec 25, 2009
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Dumb fat people choosing to be fat. How dare they.

It's not like they were teenagers at some point and thought it'd be cool to be fat with their friends who were also being fat, and then got addicted to being fat.
 

OneNooneKnows

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Jul 2, 2011
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you answered the post yourself. Smoking is 100% your own choise, being overwheight can have multiple causes, not all of them are the person's own fault, so uh, yeah...

That's why.

"Ahh yes, sorry i forgot the people who defend people for been overweight, unless you have a disorder there is no excuse for been a fat waste of time and taxes."

I'm sorry what? So without a medical condition, being overwheight is suddenly a sin worthy of not living anymore? Have you considered that there's people who doesn't care as well? Of course there are gluttons, but there are also very nice people who are overwheight and has no problem living that way. Yes there are expenses for being of a higher then average wheight (talking more extreme now) but as long as they pay for that themselves, then there's no problem.

Thin or fat, everyone has their space in the world, unless they do something that would strip that right, like murder. Being overwheight is not.
 

SinisterGehe

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Because people are idiots? And have double-standards?

MOST OF obese people choose to live a lifestyle that makes them obese, yes there are those who have some sort of medical condition, but that is a minority.

Also, I weight is not a good measure of health. I am bit fat myself, my belly has grown a bit and I have few kilos too much, about 7 kilos. And I got it by becoming depressed and in-active due to my severe neurological condition that severally limits my life, I can't swim anymore well, I can't ride a bike, I can't carry heavy object, so I got depressed and started to drink lot of Cola, because I was bored... I chose to do all of these and I know unless I stop (which I am doing, I only buy a cola bottle every 3rd day and make it last for 2 days, rest of the time I drink water/tea/light sodas)

Basically, if you have made yourself fat, you chose to be fat. If you are fat because you became fat or have a medical condition then you are just as bad as any smoker, drug user or basically anyone.

The issue is that we can't tell from people's looks if they made them self's fat or if they became fat*.

I think the biggest issue here is the fact that some people are too lazy to change their lives and want to get respect in the current form they are, this is why they build a curtain or a smoke screen to behind which they can hide, so they do not need to take responsibility over their actions. If you ate that burger meal instead of balanced healthy meal that I am sure you could have made cheaper or gotten from somewhere else for the same price as the burger (I don't know the prices of burgers in UK/America - so I just go with my local information) then you should carry responsibility over your decision.

I think the difference really between people who made them self's fat/obese and those who became obese is the fact that the people who became obese try and usually live healthy regardless of their condition.. But the people who made them selfs fat do not even try to live healthy...

I think this whole thing is about stupidity to begin with, from all parties involved, including me.
 

gphjr14

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vviki said:
Brawndo said:
Also, children with fat parents are less likely to have access to healthy foods and are more likely to be overweight themselves. Other people ARE harmed by you being overweight.
[citation needed]
Having worked 3.5 years in a hospital I can say they do cause more of a burden to staff as well as US medical system at large. You have some people who are just tall but overall all of the bariatric equipment and supplies the hospital has to purchase, and maintain cost extra and the patients rarely make up for those expenses.

Transported patients for the radiology department for 3 years. 2.5 years into I developed fluid around one of my knees and it was mostly due to transporting overweight patients. I did the smart thing and got the hell out but I can tell you first hand they can cause harm to those who have to take of them, unduly so.

In my apartment complex every other day I see a guy have a taxi pick him up and take him to Mc Donald's. He has to enter and exit the vehicle in phases. I've never seen him work so I can only assume he doesn't have any health coverage for when he'll inevitably have to go to the hospital for chronic knee and or back pain, or heart trouble, but hey at least he's happy. Right?

Smokers and overweight individuals shouldn't be chastised but they do need to know their unhealthy lifestyles are unnecessary, preventable and often times an undue burden to those around them.
 

vviki

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z121231211 said:
MelasZepheos said:
Or they don't have the money to go to the gym.
What about just running outside or doing push-ups or something?
Nice of you to mention running, jumping, push-ups and other, what I'm guessing includes stair climbing, squats and sit-ups. All those are done using your own body as weight. Think about it for a bit, muscles for a normal body, with a lot of extra dead weight. What will that do to your joints, bones and heart when you start running?

To make it easier to imagine, lets take a normal person 165 pounds 5 foot 10". Now strap a bag to his back, that weighs 50 pounds. Now make him sprint till his heart hits 170 beats per minute. Now make him continue doing that for 30min. Not sure if a marathon runner would last that. That is what happens when a 215 pounds person starts running, even the slow jogging style. Pulse goes from 80-100 (normal) to 170-180 (near the maximum) in about 30-60 seconds. And you would suggest, with your medical degree and years of expertise, that this person continues doing so for another 30min every day until he looses the 50 extra pounds?

I know what you are thinking: "Well if he can run for 30 sec, then run for 30 sec, diet meanwhile and it will all go way... this time next year probably." And do that while the surrounding people ridicule you, criticise the way you diet, how little you are exercising and eat like pigs around you.

I know what you are thinking: "To hell with those people." So you would make that person not see anyone and isolate himself from others, just so he could be normal again. Then you can pay less taxes and you can welcome him back in society without prejudice and he can join in on ridiculing all the fat people in his vicinity. Now who is being draconian?
 

Winterfel

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Feb 9, 2011
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Seriously.. I've somked a few times, it is relaxing and I don't plan to live aslong as possible being as bored as possible, that is my choice entirely.
I've never in my life had anyone else inconvenienced by me destroying myself. There however seem to be some strange trend going around as of late where everyone is up in arms because they don't want to inhale second hand smoke and whatnot, you do NOT have to HUG everysingle person that you see smoking, true story.

How can it be this HARD to simply avoid someone that smokes? I don't force you to come on over and inhale my second hand somke and neither do I expect your friendship if your against smoking.
This is the very same reason I don't expect a fat person to think for a second that I'm going to carry them ANYWHERE or listen to their bullshit about not being able to be as thin as they do obviously -NOT- want to be.
 

GameGoddess101

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Jun 11, 2009
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Well, it's because being overweight is so damn easy in this country.

Granted, I'm overweight, but that's because I have a very common but seldom diagnosed glandular problem called Hypothyroidism, which makes gaining weight shockingly easy, but losing it almost impossible. I try, though. Yes, my personal choices definitely factor into my weight, but I'm slowly starting to turn it around.

In the United States, fast food and junk is incredibly cheap, while healthy foods like fresh produce, organic and natural foods, and non-processed foodstuffs is incredibly expensive. To feed a family of four on that kind of diet, one would need to spend on the upward of $$200 a week being conservative, whereas with the processed crap, they could probably get away with about half that. So yeah.

Interestingly enough, my friend Yuri is an exchange student from Russia. Before he came here, he got a physical and he was perfect-- good blood pressure, good blood sugar, LDLs under control... But after a year in the states, HE DIDN'T CHANGE HIS DIET AT ALL, ate the same stuff here as in Russia, but his sugar was through the roof, his blood pressure was dangerously high, and his LDLs were out of control... Bizarre.