Is Fat Shaming A Problem In America?

@stinky: I haven't seen my girlfriend in months since being shipped to Cali, it's a big weekend for me.

@jking47: I missed you too bitch.

I'd say that obesity is a bigger problem. Still, there's no need to be a dick to other people, unless it's to tell off parents who raise their children to be fat little tubs of lard. Those people deserve to be scolded for being bad parents.

There is no fat shaming in America.

There is only Zuul.

Shaming....

Zuul Shaming. Because she deserves it. Vigo said so. And he was a Carpathian, so he knows his shit.

@TrafalgarLaw said:

@KaosAngel said:

I'll make another blog about my amazing weekend with my girlfriend

Stopped reading here.

Yeah - there is no reason to be an asshole. Most people who're overweight, realize that it's a problem and they want to change - I mean, who wants to die young? It's more than likely that they feel bad about it and themselves already, so nothing will improve by having strangers insult them on top of it. But parents that are feeding crap to their kids and dooming them into a life of obesity - they should definitely be shamed into doing better.

The most recent documentary I watched had some interesting discoveries regarding the "hunger and fullness" hormones. I forget the real names. But basically - for a thin person, those hormone levels function as they should, while for obese people they're not quite doing what they're supposed to.

The point being that thin people get really hungry when they don't eat, but when they eat the hunger goes away and they feel really satisfied. But for obese people, they're always a little bit hungry and even when they stuff themselves, they don't get satisfied like thin people do. So that leads to eating behaviours where you keep stuffing your face with food constantly and keep trying to scratch that small itch that never goes away. It's really hard to fight something like that with just willpower.

@DoctorWelch said:

Fat people should be shamed because it's a sign of laziness and inability to care enough about yourself to stay healthy. There are obviously some cases where it's not their fault because it's medical, but that is very few and far between. Sometimes it's actually a kid's parents fault for letting the kid get fat, but the point is there is always someone to blame when it comes to being overweight. I am the only person in my family that has stayed in any kind of shape and it is purely out of self motivation. I see no problem in the ridicule of fat people because their weight is fully in their control.

That's like saying, "let's burn all the Jews, because they choose that lifestyle, and I think it's incorrect." Moron.

I don't understand why people are so bothered by people that are overweight, in what way does it affect them? I honestly don't understand.

Most of America's fat. Ridicule is not a motivator.

lol @ thinking reddit is not well known and "underground" and that all the memes are invented there. I'm guessing you have no idea what 4chan is.

I hat skinny people more than fat people. There I said it.

Hold on, I'm confused about something.  Was your girlfriend there?

@MonetaryDread said:

@HatKing said:

@DoctorWelch said:

Fat people should be shamed because it's a sign of laziness and inability to care enough about yourself to stay healthy. There are obviously some cases where it's not their fault because it's medical, but that is very few and far between. Sometimes it's actually a kid's parents fault for letting the kid get fat, but the point is there is always someone to blame when it comes to being overweight. I am the only person in my family that has stayed in any kind of shape and it is purely out of self motivation. I see no problem in the ridicule of fat people because their weight is fully in their control.

That's like saying, "let's burn all the Jews, because they choose that lifestyle, and I think it's incorrect." Moron.

Man that is a bad comparison. Unlike issues of race or gender, for most people being overweight is generally a choice that has been made in the past.

@Simplexity said:

I don't understand why people are so bothered by people that are overweight, in what way does it affect them? I honestly don't understand.

Tell that to the man I had to sit next to on the airplane a couple of months ago. He was so obese that his gut folds established its spot on top of my arm rest. This man could no longer breath through his nose anymore so his mouth breathing was so loud I could hear it over my headphones; and he was overheating so much that he had cool air coming down at all times. That mans obesity genuinely affected me the entire trip home. If you want another example of how obesity affects me, I live in a country with socialized medicine, since obesity related illness accounts for over 50% of medical bills, obesity is directly affecting my nations ability to treat healthy people in a reasonable amount of time.

I hope you are not referring to America, because America dose not have socialized medicine.

The truth is it should be commen knowledge that being fat is all about being lazzy or love to eat junk, or that is what we are told.  So I am an overweight person who was really skinny when I was young and then I got the taste of coke or soda and started drinking that like a crazy person. So now, the only liquid I get in me is variouse sodas and almost no water. 
So you can see how I am a fat person. I do not really care about it because if I would care I would probably start to run like a madperson. or not eat any food and see how long that lasts and the reason for that is because I am addicted to soda and the sugar. 
 
But when I started reading about som interesting stuff about fat and some of the really fat dudes do have a bigger stomach and the brain dose not get the signal that he/she should stop eating. Kinda like a pleassure thing to it also. and there have been some really bizzare research into it also. 
Like the one where you are going to be fat within the first month before you are being born. when the mother is not eating proper so that the brain in the fetus and the future anatomy is telling it to have bigger hunger or something like that. 
Either way it was really werid reading it.

Who gives a shit? It's their body, why do you have to shame them to lose weight, why do you care? I'm sure they know its unhealthy but people do stuff that is "unhealthy" all the time, drive a car, downhill ski, smoke, drink, drugs, ect....

Obesity is a major issue in North America, but as it's often the case with widespread problems its source can't be reduced to the will of the individual. The whole food industry is to blame, the 50 hours a week desk job economy is to blame, the ''nautilus machine as the only viable fitness activity'' mentality is to blame. They conjointly produce an unhealthy system which traps a lot of poor/misinformed people into obesity. All of these should be addressed in order to fight said system -- being a total dick to an overweight stranger is incredibly stupid and shortsighted.

I'm 6'1'' 160lbs, to get that out of the way (I know this is ridiculous, but I have a rather mediocre opinion of the supporters of this phenomenon and personal attacks wouldn't surprise me).

@HatKing said:

@DoctorWelch said:

Fat people should be shamed because it's a sign of laziness and inability to care enough about yourself to stay healthy. There are obviously some cases where it's not their fault because it's medical, but that is very few and far between. Sometimes it's actually a kid's parents fault for letting the kid get fat, but the point is there is always someone to blame when it comes to being overweight. I am the only person in my family that has stayed in any kind of shape and it is purely out of self motivation. I see no problem in the ridicule of fat people because their weight is fully in their control.

That's like saying, "let's burn all the Jews, because they choose that lifestyle, and I think it's incorrect." Moron.

You're right, because you're born fat...oh wait, you're not. Being fat is not a good thing, in fact, it is an extremely horrible thing that does nothing but hurt the person who is fat. Being fat effects every single aspect of your life, and it shows a lack of self respect and motivation to be healthy. I never said we should kill all the fat people, so thanks for being an adult and putting words in my mouth. If fat people want to be fat, than let them be fat, but that doesn't mean it isn't something that should be looked down upon. Unless of course you are in favor of inherently negative things like laziness, poor health, and the degrading human condition.

Comparing being fat to a race of people or a religion is the most immature, ignorant thing I have seen anyone do in a while.

I've had people shame me about my weight before, but I just fire right back about something wrong with them (acne, height, ugly in general, job, girlfriend, intelligence), yea it's shallow but it shuts them up.

As long as you don't "fat-shame" all the lovely BBWs so much that they become orange stick ladies. Then we're fine.

"Fat shaming" is certainly not a good thing, as it relies on bullying to coerce others into acting more like you would like them to act. It relies heavily on people's inflated egos and feeds into a false perception that some people are simply better than others. If a friend or family member is concerned about someone's weight, that is one thing, and they should certainly attempt to convince the person to change and possibly even help them in some way. But random individuals in society "shaming" others is simply untoward and destructive. Victimizing people is more likely to cause them to stay as they are than to empower them to try new things.

Encouraging people you care about is good and helpful, while shaming people you don't know is almost always wrong and counter-productive.

Fortunately, I haven't seen a big interest in "fat shaming" in the US, and I think there is more common "shaming" for other issues with an individual, especially amongst women. People have always found various reasons to shame others, and it is often a result of people attempting to justify personal prejudice as something helpful. Shaming, regardless of intent, is generally counter to long-term progress, and if people are truly concerned about issues with someone else, they should seek ways to encourage or help them rather than pursue means of inflicting shame.

@DoctorWelch said:

@HatKing said:

@DoctorWelch said:

Fat people should be shamed because it's a sign of laziness and inability to care enough about yourself to stay healthy. There are obviously some cases where it's not their fault because it's medical, but that is very few and far between. Sometimes it's actually a kid's parents fault for letting the kid get fat, but the point is there is always someone to blame when it comes to being overweight. I am the only person in my family that has stayed in any kind of shape and it is purely out of self motivation. I see no problem in the ridicule of fat people because their weight is fully in their control.

That's like saying, "let's burn all the Jews, because they choose that lifestyle, and I think it's incorrect." Moron.

You're right, because you're born fat...oh wait, you're not. Being fat is not a good thing, in fact, it is an extremely horrible thing that does nothing but hurt the person who is fat. Being fat effects every single aspect of your life, and it shows a lack of self respect and motivation to be healthy. I never said we should kill all the fat people, so thanks for being an adult and putting words in my mouth. If fat people want to be fat, than let them be fat, but that doesn't mean it isn't something that should be looked down upon. Unless of course you are in favor of inherently negative things like laziness, poor health, and the degrading human condition.

Comparing being fat to a race of people or a religion is the most immature, ignorant thing I have seen anyone do in a while.

I still don't see how it justifies being an absolute prick to someone. Why on earth would you ever find it okay to look down on someone for any reason? You don't have to be in favour of something in order to be accepting of other people. You concede that you should let fat people be fat, but if you're going to insult them for it, that is not letting them be.

@Dunchad said:

Yeah - there is no reason to be an asshole. Most people who're overweight, realize that it's a problem and they want to change - I mean, who wants to die young? It's more than likely that they feel bad about it and themselves already, so nothing will improve by having strangers insult them on top of it. But parents that are feeding crap to their kids and dooming them into a life of obesity - they should definitely be shamed into doing better.

The most recent documentary I watched had some interesting discoveries regarding the "hunger and fullness" hormones. I forget the real names. But basically - for a thin person, those hormone levels function as they should, while for obese people they're not quite doing what they're supposed to.

Eats/Doesn't eat	Thin person	Fat person
Eats	Hunger levels drop to nothing / Fullness increases high	Hunger levels drop a bit / Fullness increases a bit
Doesn't eat	Hunger levels climb really high / Fullness drops really low	Hunger levels climbs a bit / Fullness drops a bit

The point being that thin people get really hungry when they don't eat, but when they eat the hunger goes away and they feel really satisfied. But for obese people, they're always a little bit hungry and even when they stuff themselves, they don't get satisfied like thin people do. So that leads to eating behaviours where you keep stuffing your face with food constantly and keep trying to scratch that small itch that never goes away. It's really hard to fight something like that with just willpower.

I work at a healthcare software company, and some of our consulting physicians gave a presentation on the effects of diet at one of our staff meetings. They pretty much said that starch and sugar heavy foods screw up your insulin sensitivity, causing your body to start storing more of your caloric intake as fat and switching you to sugar burning rather than fat burning mode. This results in you feeling like you are starving, because all that food you're taking in is being turned into inaccessible fat stores. It's also one thing that can eventually cause a person to become diabetic. The doctors spoke out in favor of low carb diets, with large amounts of vegetable and protein intake. They also said that if you are on a low carb diet, your fat intake stops really mattering, so long as you don't overdo things calorie-wise. The 'naturally' thin vs. 'naturally' fat thing comes down to your base insulin sensitivity, with the exception of people who truly have glandular issues.

I was lucky enough to be one of the thin people, while my sisters both tend towards being overweight. Despite being raised on the same awful diet of pizza, McDonald's, etc. my sisters weighed nearly twice as much as me since we were in elementary school. They've been trying to turn that around though, and they've each lost around 40 or 50 lbs in the last year by eating better and exercising regularly, which is pretty impressive. So even if you tend towards gaining excess weight, it is still possible to make a significant impact through lifestyle.

@KaosAngel said:

When I was a the Del Monte Center with my girlfriend, we went to Cold Stone Ice Cream before we went to watch Prometheus, while in line there was a heavier girl holding up the line with ordering many cups of ice cream for her friends, the girls behind her started to make comments about her not needing to buy more than one. The girl looked upset and hurried out after she got her ice cream cups.

The people in our line laughed and didn't think anything less of it. My girlfriend just stayed on my phone reading through the random news and looking at Google Maps to find what else we could do before I had to head back to the base.

If this is true, they're all assholes. Plain and simple. Yes, obesity is a problem in the US, but that doesn't give any "fit" person the right to publicly ridicule someone that isn't.

I'm overweight because I'm lazy. True story.

When the fuck did I miss Kaos coming back.

@DoctorWelch said:

@HatKing said:

@DoctorWelch said:

Fat people should be shamed because it's a sign of laziness and inability to care enough about yourself to stay healthy. There are obviously some cases where it's not their fault because it's medical, but that is very few and far between. Sometimes it's actually a kid's parents fault for letting the kid get fat, but the point is there is always someone to blame when it comes to being overweight. I am the only person in my family that has stayed in any kind of shape and it is purely out of self motivation. I see no problem in the ridicule of fat people because their weight is fully in their control.

That's like saying, "let's burn all the Jews, because they choose that lifestyle, and I think it's incorrect." Moron.

You're right, because you're born fat...oh wait, you're not. Being fat is not a good thing, in fact, it is an extremely horrible thing that does nothing but hurt the person who is fat. Being fat effects every single aspect of your life, and it shows a lack of self respect and motivation to be healthy. I never said we should kill all the fat people, so thanks for being an adult and putting words in my mouth. If fat people want to be fat, than let them be fat, but that doesn't mean it isn't something that should be looked down upon. Unless of course you are in favor of inherently negative things like laziness, poor health, and the degrading human condition.

Comparing being fat to a race of people or a religion is the most immature, ignorant thing I have seen anyone do in a while.

I see, apparently laziness is immoral. If I ever find out you're playing video games, or having a sit down, I'm going to write posts on the internet about how you're a horrible person who is somehow degrading the entire human race.

@mandude said:

I still don't see how it justifies being an absolute prick to someone. Why on earth would you ever find it okay to look down on someone for any reason? You don't have to be in favour of something in order to be accepting of other people. You concede that you should let fat people be fat, but if you're going to insult them for it, that is not letting them be.

Is this a joke? You're telling me you shouldn't look down on people for any reason? That is so incredibly stupid. I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but people make choices. A choice can be defined as: An act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities. In other words, people can make a choice to kill someone, people can make a choice to donate to charity, people can make a choice to steal something, people can make a choice to stay physically fit, people can make a choice to smoke cigarettes, and people can make a choice to be fat. Each of these choices are different in their own way, and should be either praised, or looked down upon bases on the effects and consequences of the particular choice. Some of these effects and consequences are positive, some are negative. Each person should be held accountable for their choices they make in life, and you're argument that no one should be looked down upon is the exact reason that we as humans are putting ourselves in a terrible position in history. No one wants to take any responsibility for their actions and choices. Everyone wants everything they do to be accepted and praised just as much as anything anyone else does. Well that's simply not how reality works, and until you, and everyone else out there realizes this, we are pretty much fucked as a species. If you make a negative choice, you should be held accountable and ridiculed to the extent of that choice. So if you choose to be fat, so be it, but don't go crying to anyone when you get made fun of or laughed at because of your shitty choice. Don't act like everyone should except you for being fat simply because you want your choice to seem just as good as an alternative, because in reality it's not, and you're just going to have to live with that.

@KaosAngel said:

Anyways, I'll make another blog about my amazing weekend with my imaginary girlfriend coming here and the sex we had, but that's for my blog...for now I wanna talk about something that ills me.

@Brodehouse: Thanks again, for being mature and placing words in my mouth. If you actual choose to read (there we are, another one of those choice things) what I wrote, you will never see me say that being lazy is immoral...and that's because I would never say that. No, laziness is simply an inherently negative word. Negative things are just that, negative, and negative is the opposite of positive. So if you want to hold a choice that is mostly negative in its effects to the same standards as the opposing choice that is mostly positive in its effects, than that's fine with me. But if that is the way you choose to live, you are saying that anything anyone chooses EVER should not be looked down upon, even if the outcome is completely negative, such as a crime.

@mandude said:

@DoctorWelch said:

@HatKing said:

@DoctorWelch said:

Fat people should be shamed because it's a sign of laziness and inability to care enough about yourself to stay healthy. There are obviously some cases where it's not their fault because it's medical, but that is very few and far between. Sometimes it's actually a kid's parents fault for letting the kid get fat, but the point is there is always someone to blame when it comes to being overweight. I am the only person in my family that has stayed in any kind of shape and it is purely out of self motivation. I see no problem in the ridicule of fat people because their weight is fully in their control.

That's like saying, "let's burn all the Jews, because they choose that lifestyle, and I think it's incorrect." Moron.

You're right, because you're born fat...oh wait, you're not. Being fat is not a good thing, in fact, it is an extremely horrible thing that does nothing but hurt the person who is fat. Being fat effects every single aspect of your life, and it shows a lack of self respect and motivation to be healthy. I never said we should kill all the fat people, so thanks for being an adult and putting words in my mouth. If fat people want to be fat, than let them be fat, but that doesn't mean it isn't something that should be looked down upon. Unless of course you are in favor of inherently negative things like laziness, poor health, and the degrading human condition.

Comparing being fat to a race of people or a religion is the most immature, ignorant thing I have seen anyone do in a while.

I still don't see how it justifies being an absolute prick to someone. Why on earth would you ever find it okay to look down on someone for any reason? You don't have to be in favour of something in order to be accepting of other people. You concede that you should let fat people be fat, but if you're going to insult them for it, that is not letting them be.

The world is full of bullies and assholes who make other people feel bad to make themselves feel better. Most people grow out of it after middle school and don't talk shit to someone's face and harass them but some people are just super shitty.

@rebgav said:

@DoctorWelch: I smoke and I'm overweight but I am going to look down on you largely for your choice of being an abrasive moron. We cool? Cool.

Well if you want to look down on me because I look down on your choices to completely and totally negatively impact your ability to live your life, than that's fine with me.

@runcrash: Did you ever think that maybe there are certain choices people should actually feel bad about? Or maybe you would just rather every choice anyone makes be accepted, no matter what it is, because those are your two options. Either every choice is okay, or choices vary in their correctness by the weighing of positive and negative effects.

Approximately 120% of America is obese. So, no.

@DoctorWelch said:

@rebgav said:

@DoctorWelch: I smoke and I'm overweight but I am going to look down on you largely for your choice of being an abrasive moron. We cool? Cool.

Well if you want to look down on me because I look down on your choices to completely and totally negatively impact your ability to live your life, than that's fine with me.

@runcrash: Did you ever think that maybe there are certain choices people should actually feel bad about? Or maybe you would just rather every choice anyone makes be accepted, no matter what it is, because those are your two options. Either every choice is okay, or choices vary in their correctness by the weighing of positive and negative effects.

Who do you think you are to make choices for other people.

@rebgav: In fact I did not. By my choice of weighing positive and negative effects of choices and then determining whether those choices should be accepted or not, you somehow see me as an "abrasive moron". So in other words you tried to twist what I was saying about choices in on itself by using a fallacy. You are weighing my choice of weighing choices, and the outcome you see is negative, but by doing this you have actually done what I have been talking about the whole time. Therefore you essentially did what I have been doing all along. You looked at a situation, weighed the positives and negatives of a choice, and decided whether that choice should be taken as correct, or incorrect. This is the essence of my argument, which you have just done by trying to make a "cleverly" immature remark.

@Dunchad said:

Yeah - there is no reason to be an asshole. Most people who're overweight, realize that it's a problem and they want to change - I mean, who wants to die young? It's more than likely that they feel bad about it and themselves already, so nothing will improve by having strangers insult them on top of it. But parents that are feeding crap to their kids and dooming them into a life of obesity - they should definitely be shamed into doing better.

The most recent documentary I watched had some interesting discoveries regarding the "hunger and fullness" hormones. I forget the real names. But basically - for a thin person, those hormone levels function as they should, while for obese people they're not quite doing what they're supposed to.

Eats/Doesn't eat	Thin person	Fat person
Eats	Hunger levels drop to nothing / Fullness increases high	Hunger levels drop a bit / Fullness increases a bit
Doesn't eat	Hunger levels climb really high / Fullness drops really low	Hunger levels climbs a bit / Fullness drops a bit

The point being that thin people get really hungry when they don't eat, but when they eat the hunger goes away and they feel really satisfied. But for obese people, they're always a little bit hungry and even when they stuff themselves, they don't get satisfied like thin people do. So that leads to eating behaviours where you keep stuffing your face with food constantly and keep trying to scratch that small itch that never goes away. It's really hard to fight something like that with just willpower.

I work at a healthcare software company, and some of our consulting physicians gave a presentation on the effects of diet at one of our staff meetings. They pretty much said that starch and sugar heavy foods screw up your insulin sensitivity, causing your body to start storing more of your caloric intake as fat and switching you to sugar burning rather than fat burning mode. This results in you feeling like you are starving, because all that food you're taking in is being turned into inaccessible fat stores. It's also one thing that can eventually cause a person to become diabetic. The doctors spoke out in favor of low carb diets, with large amounts of vegetable and protein intake. They also said that if you are on a low carb diet, your fat intake stops really mattering, so long as you don't overdo things calorie-wise. The 'naturally' thin vs. 'naturally' fat thing comes down to your base insulin sensitivity, with the exception of people who truly have glandular issues.

I was lucky enough to be one of the thin people, while my sisters both tend towards being overweight. Despite being raised on the same awful diet of pizza, McDonald's, etc. my sisters weighed nearly twice as much as me since we were in elementary school. They've been trying to turn that around though, and they've each lost around 40 or 50 lbs in the last year by eating better and exercising regularly, which is pretty impressive. So even if you tend towards gaining excess weight, it is still possible to make a significant impact through lifestyle.

I don't see how fat people affect my life, therefore I see no reason to affect theirs.

@DoctorWelch said:

@mandude said:

I still don't see how it justifies being an absolute prick to someone. Why on earth would you ever find it okay to look down on someone for any reason? You don't have to be in favour of something in order to be accepting of other people. You concede that you should let fat people be fat, but if you're going to insult them for it, that is not letting them be.

Is this a joke? You're telling me you shouldn't look down on people for any reason? That is so incredibly stupid. I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but people make choices. A choice can be defined as: An act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities. In other words, people can make a choice to kill someone, people can make a choice to donate to charity, people can make a choice to steal something, people can make a choice to stay physically fit, people can make a choice to smoke cigarettes, and people can make a choice to be fat. Each of these choices are different in their own way, and should be either praised, or looked down upon bases on the effects and consequences of the particular choice. Some of these effects and consequences are positive, some are negative. Each person should be held accountable for their choices they make in life, and you're argument that no one should be looked down upon is the exact reason that we as humans are putting ourselves in a terrible position in history. No one wants to take any responsibility for their actions and choices. Everyone wants everything they do to be accepted and praised just as much as anything anyone else does. Well that's simply not how reality works, and until you, and everyone else out there realizes this, we are pretty much fucked as a species. If you make a negative choice, you should be held accountable and ridiculed to the extent of that choice. So if you choose to be fat, so be it, but don't go crying to anyone when you get made fun of or laughed at because of your shitty choice. Don't act like everyone should except you for being fat simply because you want your choice to seem just as good as an alternative, because in reality it's not, and you're just going to have to live with that.

If you look at history, humanity has constantly become far more accepting of other people. It is a trend that has been continuing for hundreds and hundreds of years and it will continue to follow this trajectory despite the fact that you and people like you tenaciously hold on to an obviously archaic mentality that history itself is proving will no longer be widespread in a number of years to come. That is reality and you're just going to have to live with that. I don't understand your seemingly black and white approach with 'everything can either be ridiculed or praised.' I am sure you would be hard pressed to find a fat person who wants praise for being the way they are, so I have no idea why you bring it up as if they do. You can still be accepting of a negative thing. I would not like to become fat, or be restricted to the lifestyles thereof, but I know some fat people and nothing they are doing is lowering the quality of my life, and I do not try to lower the quality of theirs either. I don't see how you see anything wrong with this situation as long as everyone is happy.

Have you ever considered that people can enjoy their lifestyles, though? Some people are happy, either with or, despite their weight, because it allows them to lead a certain lifestyle. They are happy people and they lead full lives. If there would be any negative aspect to it, it would be people like you who ridicule them for extremely misguided reasons pertaining to "the good of humanity". How exactly are these people shirking responsibility as you say? They know exactly who is responsible for their weight, and they don't deny it. Why would you need to hold them accountable when they already know their situation well?

I don't care if you're fat ,but if you say it is a lifestyle choice you're an idiot.

*sigh*...I miss being fat. I miss deep fried foods. I miss chocolate. I miss insanely huge portions.

Guys, I think Imma get fat again. I'll just destroy all my mirrors and I'll be good to go.

Honestly, it's not exactly smart or the proper thing to do when referring to people who are overweight, fat, etc. It's their choice, their lifestyle and it should be left at that. Personally, I spent my entire life up until last August being severely over-weight and I was completely unhappy with it. But you know what, I sacrificed all garbage food, sugar, the works to lose weight, started body-building and I've never been in better shape. Motivation and dedication, that's what the world needs.

@Dagbiker: I never said I am making choices for other people. They can make those choices, and I'm fine with that. All I'm saying is that choices can have negative and positive effects, so don't expect every positive choice, and every negative choice to be reacted to in an equal way. This is why I'm completely fine with the choice of being fat as something our society looks down upon. It's what separates us from other animals. Our ability to understand the positive and negative effects of our actions and make detailed value judgments because of that. It's what allows us to govern ourselves for the betterment of mankind. So if you want to be fat, that's fine, but don't expect it to be accept in the same way the choice to stay fit would be accepted.

This is the first time I've ever heard the term "fat shaming". When I grew up, we just called it being rude.

@mandude said:

If you look at history, humanity has constantly become far more accepting of other people. It is a trend that has been continuing for hundreds and hundreds of years and it will continue to follow this trajectory despite the fact that you and people like you tenaciously hold on to an obviously archaic mentality that history itself is proving will no longer be widespread in a number of years to come. That is reality and you're just going to have to live with that. I don't understand your seemingly black and white approach with 'everything can either be ridiculed or praised.' I am sure you would be hard pressed to find a fat person who wants praise for being the way they are, so I have no idea why you bring it up as if they do. You can still be accepting of a negative thing. I would not like to become fat, or be restricted to the lifestyles thereof, but I know some fat people and nothing they are doing is lowering the quality of my life, and I do not try to lower the quality of theirs either. I don't see how you see anything wrong with this situation as long as everyone is happy.

Have you ever considered that people can enjoy their lifestyles, though? Some people are happy, either with or, despite their weight, because it allows them to lead a certain lifestyle. They are happy people and they lead full lives. If there would be any negative aspect to it, it would be people like you who ridicule them for extremely misguided reasons pertaining to "the good of humanity". How exactly are these people shirking responsibility as you say? They know exactly who is responsible for their weight, and they don't deny it. Why would you need to hold them accountable when they already know their situation well?

Yes, society has come a long way in accepting choices that aren't negative, but have only been rejected because of preconceived notions about right or wrong. I am doing none of that. I am not talking about right and wrong, moral or immoral, I am simply talking about positive and negative effects of choices. So unless you want to start debating whether or not terms with connotations are actually meaningful because "is there really any such thing as a negative or positive", than you should stick to the things we are talking about now. You go on to act like being fat is some kind of life style choice that has its positives and negatives. Yes, people can be happy when they are overweight, they can even be happy and accepting of being overweight, but that doesn't mean that being overweight is a good thing in any way. Factually, we see that the outcomes of being fat from a health perspective are negative physically, mentally, and emotionally because of its detrimental impact on every part of the body. So fine, be fat. Be happy and be fat. Love being fat. But realize that your choice of not being healthy and in shape is completely negative, and you will be judged according to the choices that you make and their positive/negative effects.

@rebgav: So murder and theft aren't choices? Being obese as well as smoking are choices that have countless negative effects on others directly and indirectly. It's not my fault you have a failure to see that.

@DoctorWelch said:

Yes, society has come a long way in accepting choices that aren't negative, but have only been rejected because of preconceived notions about right or wrong. I am doing none of that. I am not talking about right and wrong, moral or immoral, I am simply talking about positive and negative effects of choices. So unless you want to start debating whether or not terms with connotations are actually meaningful because "is there really any such thing as a negative or positive", than you should stick to the things we are talking about now. You go on to act like being fat is some kind of life style choice that has its positives and negatives. Yes, people can be happy when they are overweight, they can even be happy and accepting of being overweight, but that doesn't mean that being overweight is a good thing in any way. Factually, we see that the outcomes of being fat from a health perspective are negative physically, mentally, and emotionally because of its detrimental impact on every part of the body. So fine, be fat. Be happy and be fat. Love being fat. But realize that your choice of not being healthy and in shape is completely negative, and you will be judged according to the choices that you make and their positive/negative effects.

I would say the negative emotional effects of being fat are in large part due to people like you. Any living person can attest to the fact that being ridiculed on a constant basis is not emotionally healthy, so how can you endorse the ridicule of others for something because it is, among other things, emotionally unhealthy?

You are against emotional negativity in one form, but for it in another form?

Everyone should be polite and try to respect other people until they give them a reason not to. Being fat is not a good enough reason. End of story.

@DoctorWelch: All I'm saying is that mocking someone to their face and trying to hurt them is a shitty thing to do. No one says you have like fat people but there's no need to be a jerk.

@mandude said:

@DoctorWelch said:

Yes, society has come a long way in accepting choices that aren't negative, but have only been rejected because of preconceived notions about right or wrong. I am doing none of that. I am not talking about right and wrong, moral or immoral, I am simply talking about positive and negative effects of choices. So unless you want to start debating whether or not terms with connotations are actually meaningful because "is there really any such thing as a negative or positive", than you should stick to the things we are talking about now. You go on to act like being fat is some kind of life style choice that has its positives and negatives. Yes, people can be happy when they are overweight, they can even be happy and accepting of being overweight, but that doesn't mean that being overweight is a good thing in any way. Factually, we see that the outcomes of being fat from a health perspective are negative physically, mentally, and emotionally because of its detrimental impact on every part of the body. So fine, be fat. Be happy and be fat. Love being fat. But realize that your choice of not being healthy and in shape is completely negative, and you will be judged according to the choices that you make and their positive/negative effects.

I would say the negative emotional effects of being fat are in large part due to people like you. Any living person can attest to the fact that being ridiculed on a constant basis is not emotionally healthy, so how can you endorse the ridicule of others for something because it is, among other things, emotionally unhealthy?

You are against emotional negativity in one form, but for it in another form?

Yes, you make a very very good point. The only problem is, that point wouldn't exist if the person was not fat. So let's just say that everyone accepts fat people for what they are, and the world is the way you want it to be. No ridicule and no looking down upon. Then the emotional health of fat people everywhere is now positive. The only problem is, that choice is still grossly negative when compared to the other choice. Everything about them being fat still has a negative impact on their lives, and the lives of others/the society they live in. So the choice is still largely negative in the same way that it was before.

Now I hope that everyone reads this part because I am making a bit of a concession here. As a person, I am generally very philosophical, analytically, and scientific about everything. But the one thing I pride myself on is trying to see both perspectives. In this very case there are two extreme perspectives, two extreme philosophical points of view that make all the difference. The one is the point of view of the entirety of all people, and the other is on an individual basis. My view is of that of the whole of humanity, but I completely understand the personal 1 on 1 level of thinking. In fact, in reality, I would probably be fairly offended if I had a fat friend that was upset because people made fun of him/her. On a personal, 1 on 1 level I would not want to hurt the persons feelings or make them feel like less of a person because of the choice that they have made. This is basically the definition of the human condition. What may be a good choice for the whole, may not be a good choice for the individual, and reconciling the philosophy we take can be a very very hard thing to do because neither choice is 100% correct.

In a somewhat similar way I want to be able to make the choice of whether or not to wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle (not a situation I have ever been in but even so), and if I don't I would rather not die because of that. On a larger level though, the decision as a government is weighing the rights of the individual to do something stupid that could easily take his/her life out of sheer idiocy, or the interest of protecting it's citizens from harming themselves. It's a very interesting and complicated philosophical dilemma.

@runcrash: Read this.

I don't think it's nice to ridicule people just in general. But I don't really understand why people would stay fat other than laziness or because they just don't care. If you can't lose weight, it's because you don't try hard enough.

It's nice and all to say that we're all different and that physical attractiveness is subjective, but I think we can all agree that being healthy is good for everyone. If the rate of obesity was significantly lower, we'd be better off.

EdIt: And don't think I'm ignorant, I have a very good friend who had to take medication after getting chemotherapy when he was a kid, and it made him gain a lot of weight, but he's not exactly trying to lose it either. The amount of people with medical conditions that stop them from losing weight is clearly way lower than the amount of obese people overall.

Edit 2: I must clarify that I believe in people's liberty to do whatever they wish, as long as it doesn't hurt/affect others in a significant way, to a certain extent. So if you're happy, who am I to judge. I just don't get it.

This topic brings to mind another odd 'quirk' of society. It's funny how hypocritical people are when it comes to who we can insult, dehumanize, demoralize, and altogether treat like crap, and who we are forbidden to ever say an even implicitly unkind thing about. We're all in this together friends, no person is an island no matter how much we try to treat him/her like they are, literally in this case.

@DoctorWelch said:

Yes, you make a very very good point. The only problem is, that point wouldn't exist if the person was not fat. So let's just say that everyone accepts fat people for what they are, and the world is the way you want it to be. No ridicule and no looking down upon. Then the emotional health of fat people everywhere is now positive. The only problem is, that choice is still grossly negative when compared to the other choice. Everything about them being fat still has a negative impact on their lives, and the lives of others/the society they live in. So the choice is still largely negative in the same way that it was before.

Okay, now compare that scenario with the current model. People are still fat, only they're not as happy. Despite the fact that both have negatives, one is still clearly better than the other.