I am against fat acceptance

[Lord George]

EDIT: And, I am an anarchist. I believe a government is not needed for smooth workings of a society.

Yeah, right. You'll be an anarchist right up to the point when someone enters your house, has sex with your partner and takes all your stuff because hey, in an anarchic society, anything goes. Then you'll be screaming for a government to protect you and your stuff. Guess how many rights you'd have in such a society? If your guess is a positive number, you'd be wrong.

Every right has a responsibility associated with it. As a declared anarchist, that means you don't believe you have any responsibilities to the rest of society. Therefore, you have no rights. Go sit in a corner and shush. Hey, ya can't even get mad at me for saying that

I do have to agree with you on a minor point, the only people who seem to have been affected by anti-racism laws are white people. I know for a fact the asians who sell me dinner once or twice a month aren't saying nice things about me when they talk to eachother while I'm paying for my food (I can speak a fair amount of mandarin, russian and french, and understand a fair bit more). I see a hell of a lot of black americans using the word cracker to describe white people without any kind of recourse too (I don't really get that one. I thought a cracker was what you yanks called a savoury biscuit?).

Sure, government has its faults, and plenty of them, but without it, you wouldn't enjoy the life you have today. Now, can we bounce back on topic?

Just had to say that both of you are not talking about Anarchy but chaos, Anarchy is a society without a leader and a society where everyone has the right to freedom but order is still maintained

Now on topic Fat people do disgust me and I don't know why I should be forced to look at them they have clearly chosen to look like that out of laziness so its not like its a condition that is forced upon them, if people who become fat are ridiculed then it makes children not want to become fat so they all stay healthy, although it has to be balanced so that they don't all turn anorexic.

I blame our society constantly telling fat people that they're beautiful and fine the way they are, that's called lying. they're not fine there likely to die earlier and they look repulsive, we don't accept children smoking so why should we accept fat children.

 

[DeathQuaker]

YOU--ALL OF YOU HERE--STOP PLAYING VIDEO GAMES AT ONCE. It's EASY, all you have to do is shut off the controller, throw your computers away. Gaming keeps you from exercising (and we know what that leads to), causes eye strain and carpal tunnel, and often makes you socially isolated, leading to a number of other social and behavioral disorders. It keeps you from doing anything in a timely manner, and distracts you from chores. We know those with severe gaming disorders won't even go to work or interact with their family, all so they can play WOW, and thus slowly destroying their external lives. It's true; you know it's happened. And please, we all know that GAMERS ARE FREAKS anyway. Why do they engage in playing video games when EVERYBODY knows all they'd have to do is put the controller down to become accepted members of society?

You'll run off and do what I said immediately, right? Because it makes total sense from a health perspective, and make you more socially accepted by everyone at large. All you have to do is change a simple behavior, albeit one that gives you some kind of psychological gratification. But still, you should do it, because everyone will like you more and stop looking at you funny when you tell them what your hobby is.

Feeling defensive? Feeling like you need to assert that you choose gaming behaviors, even with their health and social risks, because that's YOUR choice?

The metaphor might not be exactly perfect (the point is the general idea of it) but that concept is to some degree where fat acceptance--and similar movements--come from. Folks have a lifestyle they see getting attacked and they get defensive about it and will demand to be treated better. Maybe you disagree with it, but treat them like crap for it, and they'll get more defensive about it and their cause will be further bolstered. Especially since you fail to understand that for those obese who are so due to behavioral issues that changing those behaviors is FAR from "simple."

And of course, with obesity in particular, we're dealing with a very, very complex issue, far more complex than say, deciding to be a gamer. I work for a public health institution; believe me, all sides of the obesity issue are looked at in depth. What a lot of you are saying here are parroting the gross oversimplifications about the issue tossed about in the media and society at large.

For the obese who are overweight because of behavioral issues, most of those behaviors come from a variety of factors, from cultural practices (certain local cultures preferring fried foods, for example--and where you may be made to feel like a bad guest if you don't eat offered unhealthy food), to economic issues (many unhealthy foods are cheaper; in city areas particularly fresh, healthy foods are hard to come by), to hard-to-control lifestyle issues (you work 2 jobs and have to go home to kids; who has time to hit the gym?), to a variety of deep-seated psychological issues (many more, but the simplest is probably the urge to eat when depressed--and of course, the more you're told you're a freak, the more you get depressed, the more you eat). And telling someone they're a freak and they "Should do better" and what they need to do to change "is easy" is not going to do a damn thing in making any of these factors go away (especially the more tangible issues like food cost and availability).

As touched on by a few of the more enlightened posters on this thread, better education overall by the media and other outlets needs to be spread. There's a lot of ignorance about what being healthy means, and what "healthy weight loss" is (it always pisses me off when I see stuff like "lose 20 pounds in two weeks!" because that kind of rapid weight loss is a rapid rail trip to a heart attack). There needs to be nutritional information posted about foods in restaurants. There needs to be even, perhaps, things like shifts in a work day so people can take time to exercise (frex, many places in Europe have a mid-day break for that kind of thing, or in Japan where they will have company exercise routines to get their desk workers on their feet and active). The cultural lifestyle at large needs to shift a little so that individuals' lifestyles can also shift.

And YES, I'm sorry to tell you, there does need to be a certain degree of "fat acceptance" -- not that people who really do need two airplane seats should demand a single one (but that THEY need to accept they need two), but the idea that you as a person should be acceptable regardless of your size. So many issues of behaviorally-related overweightness are related to self esteem, that the importance of "Fat acceptance" is really "Self acceptance"--and once you have a better respect for yourself, you're hell of a lot more likely to take care of yourself and do what you need to do to be healthy. Psychological and behavioral assistance needs to be made available for those who want help making these changes--without having a cultural stigma attached to getting that help (many overweight people DON'T seek help because they're too embarrassed to). Enforced discrimination and embarrassment might make YOU feel better about feeling superior to someone physically and psychologically different from you, but realistically it won't make the problem go away (and might make it worse).

Beyond that, the other, non-behavioral factors leading to obesity also have to be acknowledged and accepted. There are a LOT of physiological issues that can either lead to weight gain or make it difficult to lose weight. Some of you have touched on thyroid issues, but what about, say, polycystic ovary syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycystic_ovary_syndrome) in women? That affects 5% of women worldwide; sure, only 5%--that's only a mere 300 million women or so, but maybe we can find it in our shriveled hearts to lend a small amount of sympathy and support to that tiny number of people. The problem with people who have conditions like PCOS or thyroid issues, or genetic conditions like leptin receptor mutations--is that they are often lumped into the same category of "lazy overeaters" as those with behavioral problems related to eating. I have a friend with PCOS who was in tears because before she discovered she had this disease, she had doctors and family constantly railing on her for needing to lose weight, to diet and exercise more--when she WAS. She was probably exercising and eating better than MOST Americans, and the best she could attain was no further weight gain. But she was still constantly ridiculed and nagged about it, and she was absolutely miserable. Then she found out it was this endocrine issue--she was constantly made to feel like a freak for a problem entirely out of her control, and all the people who nagged her (including physicians) just kind of ignored the issue instead. That didn't help her or the health issues she was trying to deal with.

And society at large does that to people like my friend all the time. They see someone who's fat and assumes they're some kind of lazy freak--when a) even if in the minority, there's a good number of people who have difficult-to-control physiological issues, and b) even if it's a behavioral issue, assuming that those behaviors are easy to change is about the stupidest assumption you can make. You aren't helping anyone by jumping to the wrong conclusions and then beating up on them based on those conclusions.

The best thing you can do is be an example of good healthy behavior as much as you can (set a pattern based on your own life, not lecturing others), be supportive of anyone who wants to make changes in their life (be it losing weight or stopping smoking or cutting down on another bad habit), and never, ever make assumptions about why someone is the way they are. And get yourself educated. Obesity is something not even well understood by researchers with MDs and PhDs who've devoted their lives to studying it (people I work with), so don't talk about how easy it is to cure when you don't even have a fraction of their qualifications.

And perhaps if you engage in a behavior or pastime that others think is freakish or fringe, or even in fact unhealthy, think about how you feel about that before you treat someone else the same way.

 

[Cronhour]

There is a fallacy that thin equals Healthy and fat unhealthy. I don't know the statistics for the worlds population and even if statistics can be easily manipulated so I'll only talk on my own experiences.

I'm overweight. Thats my assessment of my health, I'm Six feet tall and weigh 18.5 stone as a 26 year old Caucasian male. Now lets consult my Bmi with a BMI of 35.1 I'm well inside the obese category, what makes me feel I'm not obese?

The way I feel for a start. I play rugby every weekend and train a minimum of twice a week as well as working on my feet for 10+ hours a day. I enjoy other sports such as skiing and football recreationally as well as hitting the rowing machine or the road once or twice a week as my schedule allows. I drink but not excess, I don't have a perfect diet but i don't live on junk food either, and will cook my own meals from scratch.

I work in a large chain workplace where I am required to wear a uniform that befitting my position as a manager is suppsed to represent their equivilent of smart business attire. as a 6 foot tall 18.5 stone (259lb) man you might be thinking I'm about to complain that it's tool small, no I think I'm the victim of fat discrimination. The largest shirt the company does 3xl doesn't allow me to button the top button of my collar which makes wearing a tie always look scruffy. But my biggest issue is with the rest of the shirt, whom ever designed it assumes that a person with a neck that size is straight out of an over eaters anonymous meeting. It' fits my shoulders pretty well but there is no shape to it i can fit six large inflated ballons in the shirt as well as my self and still button it up, now trying to fit into this shirt and look smart on a daily basis is impossible, with huge amounts of slack it makes me look like i have about 3 spare tires over the top of my pants. Every time a collegue meets me out of work who i haven't seen for a while they comment on my lost weight, I weigh myself every day and have not lost weight in over a year but being able to buy clothes that fit my lapsed athletes frame correctly makes a huge difference.

Now I'm sure people are just thinking to themselves I'm just some fatty whineing so I'll give you a little more background. I Previously Played rugby for my country between the ages 17 and 20, I was likly to be a professional rugby player before I blew out my ACL MCL and severed the tendons serving 3 of the fingers on my right hand when I was 20. Before my accident I was fitter than I am currently Weighing in at 16.5 stone (231lb) and trained twice a day 7 days a week bar Saturday (game day). Back then I even used to go for a run on Christmas day, my average weeks training would include 2 club training sessions a week ( 2 hours mixed fitness and drills, and a 20-30 min sprint training afterwards), one all day international squad training session (9am-5pm with lunch in the middle, mixed fitness and drills also) sprint training or swimming before college every morning in the week and 4 8-10 mile road runs a week, with the occasional gym session thrown in but building muscle was never really a problem for me.

So even though I was following that programme I would still be categorised as obese with a BMI of 32.4

Kids in school used to call me fat back then as well even though I had a flat stomach, and was ten times fitter then they were, It's the same now I work with $0 people and I'm fitter than all of them, but I'm also 'Fatter' then all of them. People put other people down to cover there own insecurities. It should also be noted that according to NICE (The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) those registering with an overweight BMI have a longer life expectancy then those classified as 'Healthy'

I feel that because I'm forced to a 'large person's uniform at work it presents me in a poor light, I have asked to be able to purchase my own work clothes ( a plain black Shirt as opposed to the company's plain black shirt with a half inch sq Logo on it) yet I have been denied. I'm not an idiot and can recognise the difference in peoples reactions when i meet senior manages in work while wearing the uniform and on training courses or meetings where for some reason we're allowed to dress in our own 'Smart business attire'. In one incident they are presented with a fat bastard, in the other a large powerful person. First impressions count for a lot and because I'm forced to dress in a manner that misrepresents me I'm already being discriminated against.

 

[SimuLord]

Dealing with fatties is a matter of accepting first that not everyone is supposed to look like a supermodel, then from there following that if a person is not making an effort to maintain their personal optimum weight then they have deeper issues in their lives. I'm 5'11 and 180, probably about 15 pounds over my optimum weight but you know what? If I were to try to keep myself at 165 I'd have to give up a lot of things that give me pleasure, whether it's a good gigantic cheeseburger the size of my head or, for that matter, the occasional lazy Sunday afternoon spent cuddling my wife in bed while we each play our Nintendo DS, neither of us with a care in the world. My brother's 5'9, 250, built like a shorter, whiter Charles Barkley and even if he went on a crash diet he'd still weigh two bills.

As for sex selection, call me crazy, call me amoral, call me whatever you want, but one of the biggest reasons I've opted not to have kids is that I do not want to raise a daughter. If I could be guaranteed a son I would start leaning on the wife to start a family.

 

[mipegg]

To the people who say 'I dont see how other people being fat impacts me' I have to say thats a short sighted view. There are 2 main reasons why it is my business

1) I have to pay a large portion of my taxes towards these people, rehabilitation if they have a mental illness or even just helping them loose weight i dont mind. Its when people easily can but cant be bothered to loose the weight ending up with angina, diabetes or any number of other problems that are associated with it and require thousands of pounds worth of surgery or drugs to keep them alive in a purely avoidable situation. (Same goes for smokers and drinkers but there we go)

2) By accepting this view of people are we surely not teaching our children thats its ok to be overweight. You wouldnt tell a kid that its ok to play with a loaded gun since it only might go off, you shouldnt tell a kid its ok to get extremely fat.

As I said before, some people have valid reasons for being overweight: Ill, elderly, just post pregnant. However, those who can be healthy should. By healthy I dont mean thin with a low weight, the healthy limit for many is not that. Weight and maintaining a normal healthy body are not directly correlated.

 

[Riicek]

I say all this because even if he got back down to his weight and size senior year (which... oh man, his shoulders *drool*), he'd still be twice my size and bigger than most average people. This isn't to say that every person who weighs that much (and I assure you, that's the weight he's supposed to be)

I have more to say on this thread, but I've got to run for out for the afternoon, but I just wanted to point out for now, that if it's the weight he's supposed to be, it's probably not who the OP is talking about. There are some people who are 275 at their healthy weight. My father is only 6 feet tall and when he was still a competitive cyclist, his prime weight was about 230 lbs.

I on the other hand, am quite underweight, which is unfortunate. I take in about 3000-4000 calories a day, and have a pretty physical job, but have a hard time putting on weight, admittedly, much of it probably has to do with what I'm eating, but I do try to get as many healthy meals as I can.

 

[RYjet911]

EDIT: And, I am an anarchist. I believe a government is not needed for smooth workings of a society.

Yeah, right. You'll be an anarchist right up to the point when someone enters your house, has sex with your partner and takes all your stuff because hey, in an anarchic society, anything goes. Then you'll be screaming for a government to protect you and your stuff. Guess how many rights you'd have in such a society? If your guess is a positive number, you'd be wrong.

Every right has a responsibility associated with it. As a declared anarchist, that means you don't believe you have any responsibilities to the rest of society. Therefore, you have no rights. Go sit in a corner and shush. Hey, ya can't even get mad at me for saying that

I do have to agree with you on a minor point, the only people who seem to have been affected by anti-racism laws are white people. I know for a fact the asians who sell me dinner once or twice a month aren't saying nice things about me when they talk to eachother while I'm paying for my food (I can speak a fair amount of mandarin, russian and french, and understand a fair bit more). I see a hell of a lot of black americans using the word cracker to describe white people without any kind of recourse too (I don't really get that one. I thought a cracker was what you yanks called a savoury biscuit?).

Sure, government has its faults, and plenty of them, but without it, you wouldn't enjoy the life you have today. Now, can we bounce back on topic?

The fact that you think if a government disappears, you will turn into a murderous rapist, shows how you've been institutionalized to believe that you are completely dependent on the state, which is barely present (unless it wants to steal from you) at all. Name one thing the state does better than privately, this applies to police; The state forces dependence, by passing laws that police, school etc must be public, along with taking away the means to protect yourselves.

Government cannot prevent rape, with their average time of 20 minutes to get to the scene of a crime. Just because I'm an anarchist does not mean I'm anti-police, on contrary I believe that they are almost vital to a society, however I believe that a police should be completely voluntary and not be monopolized, otherwise, well, it turns into a tyranny, a mafia.

EDIT: And, I am an anarchist. I believe a government is not needed for smooth workings of a society.

Yeah, right. You'll be an anarchist right up to the point when someone enters your house, has sex with your partner and takes all your stuff because hey, in an anarchic society, anything goes. Then you'll be screaming for a government to protect you and your stuff. Guess how many rights you'd have in such a society? If your guess is a positive number, you'd be wrong.

Every right has a responsibility associated with it. As a declared anarchist, that means you don't believe you have any responsibilities to the rest of society. Therefore, you have no rights. Go sit in a corner and shush. Hey, ya can't even get mad at me for saying that

I do have to agree with you on a minor point, the only people who seem to have been affected by anti-racism laws are white people. I know for a fact the asians who sell me dinner once or twice a month aren't saying nice things about me when they talk to eachother while I'm paying for my food (I can speak a fair amount of mandarin, russian and french, and understand a fair bit more). I see a hell of a lot of black americans using the word cracker to describe white people without any kind of recourse too (I don't really get that one. I thought a cracker was what you yanks called a savoury biscuit?).

Sure, government has its faults, and plenty of them, but without it, you wouldn't enjoy the life you have today. Now, can we bounce back on topic?

Just had to say that both of you are not talking about Anarchy but chaos, Anarchy is a society without a leader and a society where everyone has the right to freedom but order is still maintained

Now on topic Fat people do disgust me and I don't know why I should be forced to look at them they have clearly chosen to look like that out of laziness so its not like its a condition that is forced upon them, if people who become fat are ridiculed then it makes children not want to become fat so they all stay healthy, although it has to be balanced so that they don't all turn anorexic.

I blame our society constantly telling fat people that they're beautiful and fine the way they are, that's called lying. they're not fine there likely to die earlier and they look repulsive, we don't accept children smoking so why should we accept fat children.

I'd like to point out that I know what anarchy is, but thanks for explaining that to the other person. ^_^

 

[SecretTacoNinja]

I can't believe this thread. I just... can't believe it. Striving for physical perfection? Overweight people should be shunned? I weigh 150 pounds, making me overweight for my height of 5'8". Does that make me fat? Am I to be shunned, too?

So much for the all of the Escapist being a haven of intelligent, open-minded individuals- this thread disgusts me.

-_o A couple of people might be going over the top but they have a point. I think they're only talking about the really fat people, the ones who eat an extra 1000 calories a day and the only excercise they get is to get up to go to the kitchen. Those kind of people I'm happy to give a kick up the arse.

As for the 'striving for perfection' thing: that's exactly what I'm trying to do, I'm sick of being a clumsy, thick, fat slob and I'm trying my best to be better.
Not perfect but better.

I'm not sure about you.

 

[EeveeElectro]

I'm fat, but I'm happy.
I hate fast foods, but love sweets, so that's probably why. I walk everywhere and even took up Tae Kwon Doe, yet I'm still fat, even when I diet.
Life is unfair like that, you see.
Size 12 is classed a fat now a days, I'm a size 16, so I must be classed as morbidly obese.

Saying that, I did work in Evans, which goes up to a size 34, and I did wonder how they let themselves get so big. It's their lives, though.
Please, just try see it from a young girls point of view. People saying that fat people should be shunned, or that they're disgusting does nothing for my self esteem.
If it was changed to offend you, I don't think you'd be happy.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

The government can't force people directly to eat healthy, but it can legislate so that it's possible and more attractive to chose a healthy solution over an unhealthy one.

Yet despite current government intervention people still persist to smoke, drink, and use illegal drugs.

Personally I find it scarry that anybody would think that a government has any right to play around with the personal habits of its society.

 

[Frizzle]

How is it ignorant? We've become a society of lazy animals.

...

Why shouldn't everone strive for their potential?

The greatest potential for a human being is by developing their mind. There's nothing lazy about getting fat because you scarf down fast food because you don't have the time to eat any other way because you spend your whole day on your fat ass in a library or a laboratory.

Of course balance is good for humans, but let's not pretend that a person who ignores exercise for learning has necessarily realized less of their potential, or that only lazy people get fat. From Pavarotti to B.B. King, there are plenty of fat people that work hard.

The real question is why we are so concerned with how people look when just about everything we consider to be the goal of humanity--morality, intelligence, creativity, philanthropy--can only be found by looking inside a person, past their appearance?

Granted, if we had natural selection amongs humans, it would be a lot easier for this problem to get worked out, but we don't.

Actually, natural selection is working just fine: The latest study tested the gene theory by taking two characteristics that seemed unlikely to be associated with each other - intelligence and sperm quality. They found a small, but statistically significant link, and were able to show that this could not be explained by unhealthy habits, such as smoking or drinking alcohol. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7767877.stm]

Also, don't forget--natural selection isn't a result of pressures that eliminate those who don't live long, happy, healthy lives. Natural selection is a result of pressures that eliminate those who can't breed. That means it doesn't matter how unhealthy you are, just as long as you live long enough to breed and raise your kids to their sexual maturity--you can drop dead the next day, or live to 100, won't make a bit of difference as far as natural selection.

I mean, natural selection has led to the development of moths with no mouth in the adult stage. All they do is mate and die of starvation. Healthy? No. Biologically viable? You betcha!

Like some other moths (see below), the adult Luna moth does not have mouth and does not eat - it lives for only about one week, with the singular purpose of mating! [http://www.neatorama.com/2007/10/15/worlds-weirdest-moths/]

I read the first article, it basically says that healthy sperm come from healthy people. being "smart" is a by-product of having good genes, and therefore when you pass those on, your sperm is better because of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection

Natural selection is not getting rid of those who can't breed, naturally. Natural selection is living beings chosing a mate based on desireable traits. For example: in predatory animals. Traits that make you bigger, stronger, faster, *smarter*, and more powerful are desireable so they can hunt prey more efficiently. Their prey develope in more the same way, but for the opposite reason. They are helped along this rout because the prey lose the "weakest" ones to the hunt, usually.


Also, just because a species is alive (and i'm not saying this applies specifically to the moths), doesn't mean that it's meant to go on, or is improving. It could be on it's way out. Some species don't evolve as well as others.

The fact that all humans breed (with few exceptions) and all of their offspring make it to adulthood to do the same (again, with few exceptions) means that we aren't evolving or adapting as a species. the only change we get, now, is when different races breed; and even this will fail to change after a period of time. Our bodies aren't changing for the better from generation to generation, and neither are our minds. we are product of randomness in breeding between two people for the most part.

 

[Random Argument Man]

If they want to stay fat, let them be.
If they want to lose some weight for health reasons, support them.
If they want to lose some weight for the way they look, make them work hard.

 

[Reaperman Wompa]

I'm fat and admit that I am because I eat lots of food and do not exercise. I hate all these people who can't take responsibility and at the least say "I am fat because I am a lazy prick" not hide behind "It's my genes" or "I'm just big boned" (unless they really are) and letting these lazy idiots try to make it illegal to make fun of fat people is just (apologies) fucking retarded. Make it the other way around. Anyone without an acceptable excuse for their weight will be told so and told that they lost their right to be offended when they stopped taking care of themselves.

 

[Brockyman]

There should NEVER EVER be a law that bans any food prodcut or lifestyle in the name of "keeping people healthy".

However, I don't believe that there should be measures taken to accomodate the morbidly obese. If your ass can't fit in the airline set, you need to buy an extra seat (unless the flight isn't full and you have room to spread out. If your ass can't fit in a rollar coaster car, you won't be riding the ride.

There are also sometimes your job can be effected. If you work in an office or in retail, weight really isn't an issue, but if you want to be Hooter's waitress, or a Chippendale's dancer, or an Airforce Pilot, or a Speedo Model, or a stripper, or working in specialized industries, then by all means you should be banned if your overweight.

I'm an overweight guy, so I have a unique perspective on all of this. I have trouble losing weight, but I'm perfectly healthy and can do and fit in normal clothes and normal activities. You have to have a MAJOR problem or be MAJORLIY lasy to get SO LARGE you can't fit, and it's not the publics responsibility to bend over backwards for them.

 

[PatientGrasshopper]

Theres some new study that says that some cases of obesity could be caused by a virus. So be against them all you want till some fat guy coughs on you then BAM you'll be one of them!

I also heard some about it being a mental disease.

 

[joystickjunki3]

If they want to be fat, let them; it's their lives. But they shouldn't expect special treatment or to have people say they're still beautiful even if they are fat or anything like that. They should also be prepared to face the truth that they may be excluding themselves from roller coasters and what not because they might not be able to fit, as well as health problems and other people telling them that they're fat.

~tommy

 

[Random Argument Man]

I'm fat and admit that I am because I eat lots of food and do not exercise. I hate all these people who can't take responsibility and at the least say "I am fat because I am a lazy prick" not hide behind "It's my genes" or "I'm just big boned" (unless they really are) and letting these lazy idiots try to make it illegal to make fun of fat people is just (apologies) fucking retarded. Make it the other way around. Anyone without an acceptable excuse for their weight will be told so and told that they lost their right to be offended when they stopped taking care of themselves.

Not sure about the genes part, but the big bone argument is actually a myth and proven that's it's not true.

 

[SimuLord]

Incidentally, someone in the thread mentioned that some people are severely overweight because their metabolism went to hell in a handbasket due to something like an inactive thyroid/virus/whatever. That is nothing more than just another sorry excuse.

"But SimuLord," you say, "how can that be? They have a disease that makes them put on weight!" Well, I happen to be quite closely related to one such disease sufferer. Very closely, in fact. So closely that I came out of her vagina 31 years ago.

My mother has hypothyroidism. The condition causes weight gain, lethargy, and a host of other energy-draining symptoms. Here's the kicker, though---she's in better shape than I am (and I'm not in bad shape at 5'11 and 180), and she's 52 years old. When she got her diagnosis she immediately changed her eating habits, bought recipe books for healthier cooking, bought a treadmill and a small TV to watch while walking on it, and took charge of her life. She's on medication for the condition but if she were to eat the way she did when she was my age, she'd probably weigh 300 pounds rather than weighing roughly half that like she does now. She taught my brother and me that "this is why you shouldn't believe anyone who tells you that something that should be controlled is 'not their fault' because that's bull."

As an added "fuck you" to all the whiners, my mother has benefitted from one noteworthy side effect of hypothyroidism; the reduced metabolism also means reduced wear and tear on the body---at 52 she looks like she's in her late thirties or early forties. Fatties of the world, my mom can pwn your ass at life. Adapt or perish.