Fat Shaming is a big
deal these days. Quite a few young, active people who are not overweight don't see
what's wrong with it. Isn't being fat directly the fault of the
lazy-ass chip-crunching couch potato they're shaming?
One day these people
will enter that stage of their lives when they are too busy at work and at home to exercise, when they spend days or weeks
hungry, their light meals unable to sate their appetites, when they
exercise three times as much, lose a little weight, but will not be
able to maintain that lifestyle and put those pounds and a little
more back on in less than half the time it took to lose it. What
lardbuckets they'll be!
People who are
overweight know it. They have mirrors, friends and family who
occasionally show disdain for their bodies and eating habits, and
strangers delighted to make them feel disgusting. It seems to be to
be an extension of that juvenile stance of building up one's own
self-esteem by being critical of others.
I'm not saying it's
okay to be fat. Being more that somewhat overweight is bad for your
health in all kinds of ways. What I'm saying is that another person's
weight is none of your damned business. Keep your ugly opinion to
yourself.
Today's Twitter feed
included people criticizing two different politicians, both of whom
obviously struggle with their weight. Someone remarked how one looked
like he wore an overnight diaper under his trousers. But had we seen
this other man, who looked like a beached whale? Or like he'd eaten a
whale! Three people I know to be decent and kind to others thought
this was okay, even funny.
My political opinions
directly oppose everything these two politicians are attempting to
legislate, but I still found criticizing their appearance both
abhorrent and pointless. Who cares what they look like? Let's judge
our politicians on their platforms and actions.
Every time you
criticize the body of a public figure, your unkind words remind every
overweight person what you think of them, too, even if you're too
polite to say it.
