Fatties

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Tao_Equus

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BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Why are fat people abused?
Have to admit whilst having never insulted nor abused anyone for it I am a fattist. Am I really just afraid of flab? I think not, I am naturally slim without ever having dieted. I just find flab like all outward signals of excess off-putting. So I unfairly stereotype... but is it like a prejudice such as racism?
 
When I was a carpenter, out there swinging a hammer, liftin trusses, hauling shingles and material to and fro... I kept slender, ate like a pig, drank like a fish and had no weight issues.

With time and climbing the perverbial ladder of success, my tastes in food and alcohol improved (degenerated?) and my activity lessened as my butt became glued to a chair... my excess did not stop and over the past 20 years my girth has detailed it accordingly.

20-25 pounds over the suggested BMI is obese...and even if it weren't I are. While I don't have issues with airline seatbelts, I know I do infringe on others in seats adjacent.

There is a predjudice, I personally don't encounter much of it, but some of it. Maybe if it affected me more I would be more inclined to do something...about my weight that is. It isn't as if anyone can do anything about gender (not really) or hair or skin color or national origin. So while it is insensitive, I don't see it the same.

Truth is, like smoking, excess drinking, extra weight is in fact a burden on society and health care systems. So I will expect some regulation at some point in time (airlines have already been charging for two seats and buffets are making some folks weigh their food).

Weight is fairly cut and dry, burn less calories than you eat, you gain weight, to me the only folks with an excuse are those with disabilities that infringe on their ability to exercise. (I don't fit in that category).

In the name of complete disclosure I do prejudge people that are overweight or have long hair as lazy and slovenly (since I have both, two negatives equal a positive)
 
wil said:
When I was a carpenter, out there swinging a hammer, liftin trusses, hauling shingles and material to and fro... I kept slender, ate like a pig, drank like a fish and had no weight issues.

With time and climbing the perverbial ladder of success, my tastes in food and alcohol improved (degenerated?) and my activity lessened as my butt became glued to a chair... my excess did not stop and over the past 20 years my girth has detailed it accordingly.
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Could be worse.... you could have been nailed to a post ;)
 
Sure it's a prejudice - certainly in the West it appears that anyone who is different for any reason will be treated as socially inferior, and treated as such.
 
I said:
Sure it's a prejudice - certainly in the West it appears that anyone who is different for any reason will be treated as socially inferior, and treated as such.
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Someone with deeply pigmented skin has no choice. The fat woman that is taking up two seats on the bus, stinking it with the odour of her lard, and disgusting everybody by cramming custard doughnuts into her gob does have a choice. This is not an uncommon sight on a bus. I am given to understand that such a woman may have a disorder/compulsion that makes her so, and that I should exercise, if not sympathy, understanding. I try. I would not insult or deride, but I still squirm at the sight.
 
I've never seen anyone take up two seats on the bus, but even if someone is stuffing their face with doughnuts, does it really matter what they look like? Why are we offended by what other people put in their mouths and not their own? Especially when we're certainly not threatened with starvation in this country.

It seems that social groups form to exclude those who are different physically in some way - by skin colour, by weight, by height, by hair colour.

Heck, I'm sure if none of those existed we'd find a way to discriminate by eye colour!
 
People often assume that since eating is a behavior, then it must be a person's fault if they are fat. Evidence shows that there is a genetic predisposition to store fat more readily in certain individuals. Much of our modern society's food was not eaten by our ancestors. People with the disposition are not necessarily more at fault or less disciplined, they just have a smaller margin of error than the rest of us and we tend to take that for granted.

The fact remains that eating well and being physically active are beneficial lifestyle choices for anybody regardless of their genetic makeup. I notice that many people are given the impression that exercise cannot be fun or that healthy food cannot taste good. When these incentives are covered up and then replaced with slogans like "Fat people are a burden to society" don't be surprised when there is no progress.

I think we live in a culture where people are still learning how to balance the extremes of trivializing an other's struggle to over-sympathizing with it to the point of pity. If I were a fat person, I wouldn't want either.

My writing probably isn't very articulate right now because its 3am, so I hope this made sense.
 
It just goes to 'show' how our perceptions rule our consciousness. What if we were all blind for a week and how that would change our thinking on such things. I find making remarks about externals by others superficial but it is so pervasive in society it has become acceptable to judge on appearances.
 
Anyone care to tell me why they think I am fattist? I clearly am. Perhaps you never take the bus Brian? .... but the scenario I described above is not at all uncommon. And it does fill me with revulsion. Why? I do not feel comfortable having a prejudice like this... I want rid of it.
 
nativeastral said:
It just goes to 'show' how our perceptions rule our consciousness. What if we were all blind for a week and how that would change our thinking on such things. I find making remarks about externals by others superficial but it is so pervasive in society it has become acceptable to judge on appearances.
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Lets face it you can tell a lot "on appearances". Who does not form some instinctual evaluation based on appearances? Of course they are not always right....but they usually are.
 
Tao_Equus said:
Lets face it you can tell a lot "on appearances". Who does not form some instinctual evaluation based on appearances? Of course they are not always right....but they usually are.
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I don't think so. Sure you can sit back and prejudge someone and as long as you stay away from knowing them as a human being your suspicions will remain correct.

Are you to tell me there are no 'fatties' in your life, no friends, no family, who you've come to respect or love despite their girth?
 
You know what's kinda funny and disturbing at the same time? I'm what you could call fat. But I don't eat tons, or just sit around on my duff all day long... actually, I eat less than a lot of people I know. But I have PCOS. And It predisposes me to fatty status.

The funny thing... In antiquity, and in some parts still today, a slow metabolism, or any ability to use less calories, move more with less fuel, would be a good genetic trait. A trait that quite possibly has been selected for by evolution. And now, in the west, we have an abundance of food, and crazy slow metabolisms. Lol, wow. That sucks...

Anywho, I kinda still have a prejudice against fat people... even though I could be considered among their ranks. I don't have a problem with all of em. Just the ones that I know for a fact do nothing but stuff their faces all day. If someone is fat just because that's the way they are, I'm fine with it. But when I see someone that clearly could stop being fat if they'd just put in a modicum of effort, and know they clearly don't, I find myself shying away from them. I find the kind of lifestyle that produces that kind of excess disturbing. Maybe I just hate it that they could stop being fat so easily, and actually are making an effort to stay that size, when I would have to try so hard to be thin... I dunno...

I guess I'm in the same boat as you, tao, lol...
 
Tao_Equus said:
Anyone care to tell me why they think I am fattist? I clearly am. Perhaps you never take the bus Brian? .... but the scenario I described above is not at all uncommon. And it does fill me with revulsion. Why? I do not feel comfortable having a prejudice like this... I want rid of it.
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I don't actually think you're fattist, but I wouldn't be surprised if you sometimes felt repulsed by other people - such as on the bus - for a whole range of reasons: physical, mental, emotionally.

I think we have a natural instinct to surround ourselves with people we consider similar in looks, social standing, and level of education. As a social animal it's a normal part of our biological programming.

Where it goes wrong is when we let that view turn into action which seeks to harm others for reason of them being strange to us - whether physically or emotionally.

Of course, the complete irony is, once you have a positive social connection with anyone you might have normally perceived as different, any sign of difference becomes easily overlooked. You no longer define them by their weight, height, skin/hair/eye colour, education, physical attractiveness, or similar - but primarily as "friend". We should do that more as a species.

Just thoughts.
 
the problem with being fat is that its visible for all to see, although you can hide a surprisingly big belly under some baggy clothing.

I'm getting a bit chubby in my old age and I have no valid excuse its down to inactivity and gluttony,

Psalm 51:3 (New International Version)


3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
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as is my belly
 
I was watching a show a couple of days ago, on obesity and stomach stappling procedures and this family of 7(?) who have each had this procedure. The interviewer was talking to the youngest fellow (17) who was about to have this proceedure performed. I found it interesting that the entire family did indeed look and appear healthier after their operations, (some months had passed), and were excercising etc.

They had all professed to hadtried every type of diet etc before having their surgerys. The young fellow had his operation, and after about 5 months had made a great effort of weight reduction. I was impressed......... until..... the interviewer asked him what kind of food could he eat now....... his reply floored me..............
" oh, i can eat mashed potatoe, a few roast potatoes, and I have tried a carrot., and chippies, i can eat chippies....."

FAIR DINKUM...... no wonder this family was obese,!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I do believe much of the prejudice against overweight people today has less to do with appearance and more to do with economics. It is an established fact that obese people require much medical attention, that many chronic diseases are a direct or indirect consequence of overindulgence or self-indulgence, and that the result is a genuine strain on both the medical profesion and on the insurance companies, who have to pay for all that obesity-related treatment, and do not hesitate to pass along the cost of it to us. Obesity is one, though not the only, cause of high insurance rates, and the problem is increasing as the "fattening" of America progresses.

Jai Ram
Art
 
immortalitylost said:
The funny thing... In antiquity, and in some parts still today, a slow metabolism, or any ability to use less calories, move more with less fuel, would be a good genetic trait. A trait that quite possibly has been selected for by evolution. And now, in the west, we have an abundance of food, and crazy slow metabolisms. Lol, wow. That sucks...
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I think Mort has hit the nail on the head. We have a change of conditions that has transformed what was once a desirable survival mechanism into a negative one.

I wonder how Intelligent Designers would explain that one.
 
Tao_Equus said:
Anyone care to tell me why they think I am fattist? I clearly am. Perhaps you never take the bus Brian? .... but the scenario I described above is not at all uncommon. And it does fill me with revulsion. Why? I do not feel comfortable having a prejudice like this... I want rid of it.
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I guess I'm a fattist as well. Here in the States there are ginormous fat people everywhere you look. Everything at the grocery it seems is low fat and chocolate flavored. It's an odd message. I didn't do anything to merit being slim, male, white, and American. I was lucky enough to be born that way. I really feel guilty about my superiority complex and my revulsion at people who I consider different and physically unappealing. I can't seem to think my way out of that box, though.

Chris
 
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