Fat Acceptance...

[GoofyWaterCoaster]

That is no different than one of those sticks saying you should eat less than a dozen donuts a day.

And there it is. Just because your neighbors are thin doesn't mean they "eat one grain of rice a day." How would you like it if I said she "obviously eats a box of dounts a day"? It has to go both ways.

I know that the people that are extraordinarily thin in my class that are the ones that make fun of me and others of a perfectly acceptable size do not eat much. I am not saying that for all people, just the ones that make fun of me

 

[cats7494]

Respectfully, I think the point some people have (myself included) is that while it is OK (actually fine I guess) that overweight people have a "positive body image", it is not HEALTHY. In any way, shape, fashion or form. None. The adverse health effects are numerous, proven & undeniable.

If a "large" person believes that their lifestyle is good, they are fooling themselves. Denial of an unhealthy lifestyle does not make it ok. I link them into the same category as smokers, alcohol & substance abusers.

The thing is that, in most (but not necessarily all) cases, this is due to a sedentary lifestyle & an unwillingness to make the right decisions for a healthy lifestyle. It's easier to cry for "acceptance" than it is to lose the weight. That would take work.

Respectfully - you may want to read the latest research...

"By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer
Tue Aug 12, 7:47 AM ET

CHICAGO - You can look great in a swimsuit and still be a heart attack waiting to happen. And you can also be overweight and otherwise healthy. A new study suggests that a surprising number of overweight people — about half — have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while an equally startling number of trim people suffer from some of the ills associated with obesity...."
read the rest of the article here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080812/ap_on_he_me/med_healthy_obesity

 

[MonicaInFlorida]

I can tell you that the last form of absolutely widely accepted discrimination is against fat people.

Nope, us smokers have to deal with it as well. People think it's somehow OK to walk up to perfect strangers and make a comment, even if that stranger is in a clearly-marked DSA.

Example: I was in the DSA in the MK near BTMRR, next to where the boats leave for Tom Sawyer's Island. A woman actually wheeled her child's stroller through the smoke to tell me I wasn't entirely in the DSA (My butt, heels and back were, but my toes and chest were barely, technically outside the area - it was extremely crowded, and that was the only spot I could find). Plus I was way creeped out that she was apparently eyeing my chest in relation the the DSA demarcation.

She then proceeded to wheel her kid through the smoke again and back onto the walkway above me. She obviously didn't give an airborne rodent's posterior about her child's health... she just got her jollies off of chastising a stranger. She just had to make a special trip just to be rude to me.

As far as I'm concerned, that's the same thing as if I chastised someone who is obese and consuming a bacon-double cheeseburger and fries and a Coke.

Moral of the story: as long as somebody isn't hurting you, don't go out of your way to be nasty. Because you just might be a recipient someday.

 

[cascarlet]

And yes, I am a little digusted by the obese, because by and large there is something that they can do about it but lack the motivation and/or self control to do it.

It's a nice feeling to know people are disguested by us. I'm not shocked by anything that has been said in this thread as I have been overweight all my life. It just goes to prove how most that have never walked in our shoes view obese people. It's too bad you know nothing about me or my circumstances yet you can look at me and judge me and be disgusted by me.

 

[cascarlet]

Name ONE overweight person who does NOT know that. They know it more than you ever will.

It's assinine and ignorant to assume that anyone with this albatross has no clue, they get told it by society MINUTEly. Not daily, not hourly, every single minute of the day.

Acceptance is not an acceptance of just dealing with it, it's being accepted for being a human being. They may be working on it, they may work on it in the future but they deserve the acceptance of being a human being.

God forbid lets not forget to remind them again so they can straighten up and fly right...

Thank you!!

 

[GoofyWaterCoaster]

Moral of the story: as long as somebody isn't hurting you, don't go out of your way to be nasty. Because you just might be a recipient someday.

OT: Actually, smokers are hurting us... Second hand smoke

Also, I start severely choking when I encounter cigarette smoke.

 

[MonicaInFlorida]

OT: Actually, smokers are hurting us... Second hand smoke

Also, I start severely choking when I encounter cigarette smoke.

Yes, that's why I stay in a designated smoking area.

If you object to DSAs, don't take it out on me... take it up with the entity that designated it to be a smoking area.

And don't make a special trip into the area in order to yell at the hapless inhabitants of their particular purgatory.

 

[GoofyWaterCoaster]

Yes, that's why I stay in a designated smoking area.

If you object to DSAs, don't take it out on me... take it up with the entity that designated it to be a smoking area.

And don't make a special trip into the area in order to yell at the hapless inhabitants of their particular purgatory.

I don't do that... And I am a strong supporter of banning smoking in WDW. I can STILL smell that foul stuff across the path

 

[MonicaInFlorida]

I don't do that...

So you agree that the woman who made a special trip with her child to an out-of-the-way area was ill-mannered. Cool!

It was totally uncalled-for on her part. It's not like I don't want to quit smoking. I tried easing off, I tried cold turkey, I tried Chantix (yeah, that stuff made me ca-razy), and I still can't quit. Being excoriated by strangers in a designated smoking area certainly doesn't help... it only makes the person being snotty feel better at someone else's expense.

Sound familiar? It's kinda like overweight people having problems with diets, eh?

Compassion for me but not for thee.

 

[jrmasm]

I don't do that... And I am a strong supporter of banning smoking in WDW. I can STILL smell that foul stuff across the path

This is exactly what I'm talking about. It's amazing to me that you can be so hurt by the comments others make about your size but feel it's ok to make rude comments about skinny people and smokers.

 

[jrmasm]

So you agree that the woman who made a special trip with her child to an out-of-the-way area was ill-mannered. Cool!

It was totally uncalled-for on her part. It's not like I don't want to quit smoking. I tried easing off, I tried cold turkey, I tried Chantix (yeah, that stuff made me ca-razy), and I still can't quit. Being excoriated by strangers in a designated smoking area certainly doesn't help... it only makes the person being snotty feel better at someone else's expense.

Sound familiar? It's kinda like overweight people having problems with diets, eh?

Compassion for me but not for thee.

Hit the nail on the head with that one.

 

[MushyMushy]

I am so not getting this correlation between smoking and dieting.

Having been both a smoker (pack and a half a day) and a fattie, let me tell you, it was 1 bazillion million times easier to put that pack down than it has ever been to stay on a diet. When you quit smoking, you can go through life without ever putting another cigarette in your mouth, but you can't stop eating.

 

[jrmasm]

I am so not getting this correlation between smoking and dieting.

Having been both a smoker (pack and a half a day) and a fattie, let me tell you, it was 1 bazillion million times easier to put that pack down than it has ever been to stay on a diet. When you quit smoking, you can go through life without ever putting another cigarette in your mouth, but you can't stop eating.

The correlation is both smokers and people that are overweight are groups that society looks down on. Both groups should have more compassion for the other and their respective struggles.

 

[DawnCt1]

Respectfully - you may want to read the latest research...

"By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer
Tue Aug 12, 7:47 AM ET

CHICAGO - You can look great in a swimsuit and still be a heart attack waiting to happen. And you can also be overweight and otherwise healthy. A new study suggests that a surprising number of overweight people — about half — have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while an equally startling number of trim people suffer from some of the ills associated with obesity...."
read the rest of the article here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080812/ap_on_he_me/med_healthy_obesity

Here is the same article from the Hartford Courant.

In the study, about 51 percent of overweight adults, or roughly 36 million people nationwide, had mostly normal levels of blood pressure, cholesterol, blood fats called triglycerides and blood sugar.

Almost one-third of obese adults, or nearly 20 million people, also were in this healthy range, meaning that none or only one of those measures was abnormal.

Yet about a fourth of adults in the recommended-weight range had unhealthy levels of at least two of these measures. That means some 16 million of them are at risk for heart problems.

In the first paragraph on can deduce that 49% did not have normal parameters.
In the second paragraph, one can deduce that 66% did not have normal parameters.

In the third paragraph, it says that 25% did not have normal parameters.

You can sugar coat the article all you like, but the there are diminishing returns, the heavier you are. In addition, heart and cardiovascular disease is not the only problem. Obesity leads to diabetes, which leads to kidney disease. Abdominal fat predisposes people to cancer. Joint and musculo-skeletal problems are associated with weight.

 

[darlak]

And don't make a special trip into the area in order to yell at the hapless inhabitants of their particular purgatory.

Very well said.

 

[MushyMushy]

The correlation is both smokers and people that are overweight are groups that society looks down on. Both groups should have more compassion for the other and their respective struggles.

I understand that, but I guess I just don't get where a smoker came in and pointed fingers at a fat person or vice versa. It's just weird to me.

 

[rie'smom]

I have only read a few pages of the replies but feel I must respond.

As an obese person, (yes, medically, I'm considered obese) I can tell you that the last form of absolutely widely accepted discrimination is against fat people.

I am a smart, friendly, outgoing person. I am treated as a leper in most social circumstances based on the fact that I am fat. People view me differently because of my weight. I have seen it and I have felt it.

I am the same person whether I weigh 125 lbs, 200 lbs or 300 lbs. People judge me by looks alone and have no problem staring or watching what I eat or put in my shopping cart.

It still bothers me but I figure I can lose weight at some point, but those people that judge me will be ignorant forever.

I agree that fat people are discriminated against but so are smokers and that's acceptable too. I've read many many posts where DISsers hold their noses or they fake coughs and give smokers dirty looks. Some have even posted that they think it's ok for their kids to do it too.
How would it be if people told their kids to fake throwing up or making sounds like a pig when they see overweight people? One is as bad as the other. But there would be more outrage on behalf of the overweight people.
BTW, I smoke 1-3 cigarettes a day and I don't want to quit because I enjoy it.

 

[MonicaInFlorida]

I understand that, but I guess I just don't get where a smoker came in and pointed fingers at a fat person or vice versa. It's just weird to me.

I'm not sure if you're referring to me, but if you were, I don't point fingers at anybody... I'm a size 14. I get the best of the fatty and smoker cracks! Yay, me!

Seriously, though... if we could all just leave other people be, then we'd all be happier. If there isn't mutual respect, then there should at least be mutual MYOB. If I don't ride somebody else's behind, I'd hope they wouldn't ride mine.

 

[jrmasm]

I understand that, but I guess I just don't get where a smoker came in and pointed fingers at a fat person or vice versa. It's just weird to me.

I believe I was the first one to mention smoking on this thread. I was simply asking if smokers would receive the same acceptance that people are over weight are asking for. It was that simple.

 

[darlak]

I think it was inevitable that the comparison would be drawn between the two groups, as these are the only two remaining groups that is still socially acceptable to ridicule and publicly degrade.