Posted on 12/19/2023 11:08:06 AM PST by Red Badger
The Daily Mail has an article that should make you both sad and angry.
Sad, because, of course, almost anybody dying before their time is sad; angry because there is an ideologically-driven push to convince Westerners that striving to reach a healthy weight is “fatphobic.”
Eating disorders are rampant in the West, and when you add the unhealthy foods that our “food science” and marketing geniuses push on us, the result is an explosion in obesity. Not too long ago, anorexia was the problem du jour in the United States, and it still exists and needs to be taken seriously, but the most prevalent eating disorders in the West today are those tied to bad diets that make people extremely fat.
There is a movement that pushes hard to increase fat acceptance, and it has invaded every aspect of our culture. At base, the argument is simple: our culture and our healthcare industry have been captured by an ideology of fatphobia that tries to convince people that being thin and fit is superior to being obese, and that ideology is based on a pernicious lie.
This is, of course, totally absurd.
No doubt it is true that people can be horribly mean to people for being fat, and horribly mean people are despicable. But the problem in such cases is the nastiness, not the prejudice, behind this particular variety. Being nasty is wrong, but being obese is objectively unhealthy. And while people have varying propensities to become obese, being obese is linked to choices and behavior.
In other words, it sucks to be fat, it sucks to be more likely than others to become fat, and some people are blessed with a greater tendency toward healthy weights and a love of activities that are healthy that others don’t share. Such is life. We all have burdens and advantages, and we must deal with them to live long and prosper. Bitching about it doesn’t help.
One of my favorite follows on Twitter is Dave Danna, who has been on a weight loss journey. He is relentlessly upbeat, and it is fun to watch him drop the weight and see how many people are cheering him on. People love him because he always smiles–I have yet to see anybody make fun of him for being obese because everybody wants him to succeed.
He’s lost well over 100 pounds in the past year and, in that time, has been followed by over 75,000 people, all cheering him on. I would be willing to bet that almost none of them would cheer on the obese people who revel in their obesity. Dave knows he wasn’t “healthy at any size,” and he is doing something about it.
Fat influencers are now dropping like flies, being taken far too young because they have become immersed in the “healthy at any size” ideology.
Instead of following Dave Danna’s lead, they have instead become activists pushing back against “fatphobia.”
Branded Health At Every Size, or HAES, the philosophy has, at its heart, laudable goals. It aims to counter the multi-billion-dollar diet industry – which has a poor record when it comes to long-term, sustainable weight loss – and act as an antidote to the stigma encountered by people struggling with their weight.
The idea is that, rather than shame overweight people and force them to diet, they should be encouraged to embrace their bodies, find exercises they enjoy and eat more nutritionally. But some say those philosophies have been taken to extremes, particularly on social media, by celebrating morbid obesity while ignoring its serious health dangers.
The US edition of Cosmopolitan magazine was criticised for running covers featuring plus-size women in yoga poses under the headline: ‘This is healthy.’ As part of a drive to challenge beauty stereotypes, it also featured US plus-size model Tess Holliday – who at 5ft 3in and 300lb has a BMI of 53, more than double the healthy range – a decision condemned ‘as dangerous and misguided’.
Tess Holliday is one of the more pernicious media influencers in this genre, luring people into a lifestyle that will kill them far too young.
Yet, as bad as the “healthy at any size” influencers are, it is the intersectional ideologists who embrace fat activism and promote it that are the real villains. Fat activists, after all, are at least trying to justify to themselves their lifestyle; Cosmo, not so much. They just hopped onto an ideological trend for money or to virtue signal.
That people will wind up dying young is of no concern to them, apparently.
The truth of the matter is that being obese is bad for you.
A well-known activist, professor of ‘fat studies’ Dr Cat Pausé, who questioned the links between weight and health, lost her life aged 42. Based at Massey University in New Zealand, she also presented a ‘fat positive’ radio show.
She had said: ‘The science isn’t quite as clear cut as we’d like to believe and there’s not really quite a consensus yet about the relationship between weight and health.
‘Obese people, and even morbidly obese people, have just as good health or better health than someone in the normal weight range.’ She died in March 2022 from causes which have not been made public.
Obesity researcher Sarah Le Brocq, founder of charity All About Obesity, says that ignoring the health implications of excess fat is delusional.
‘People are always going to be different shapes and sizes,’ she says. ‘That’s OK, and we need to be more accepting of that, but you must be mindful of the health implications.
What we know is the more body fat you have, the more likely it is your body will be in an inflamed state. This means you might become insulin resistant and develop diabetes or end up with heart problems.
We all know this, and one major reason that people react negatively to morbid obesity is that we instinctively know that it is really unhealthy. If you can’t get up without getting out of breath or tie your shoes without being horribly contorted, it is time to do something.
Again, I can’t emphasize enough how wrong it is to make fun of others’ weight. But it isn’t wrong to challenge a “fat activist” when they make absurd claims about being the picture of health and criticizing people encouraging others to get or remain fat is an act of kindness to anybody who might get taken in.
It is a matter of life and death.
People I know had a 300-lb relative die. They had to pay extra for the cremation.
OMG GROSS!! These are the same damn people using ALL the scooters in stores when a REAL handicapped person needs one there are NONE available!! They NEED to walk around the damn stores and get some stinking exercise!!
Yeah, that one is painful to watch.
Push yourself away from the table three times a day.
sounds like this is an issue that time will fix
MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!
‘Next: someone dying of a heart attack while filming a dancing Jardiance diabetes commercial.’
the babe in that commercial looks like a hippo throughout, then changes into a bright yellow outfit and looks like a beached humpback...to say nothing of her greasy hair...
I guess what I said above could be classified as mean, though, so...
I must agree.
I was a great fan of the show This Is Us, but certainly part of their woke message of universal acceptance of all behaviors was featuring the otherwise beautiful and talented Chrissy Metz. I keep hoping that now that she has a income, presumably from residuals, that she will be able to sustain a recent weight loss. IDK, her face should be slimmer if she really weighs 182 lbs as claimed:
That commercial gets on my last nerve. The skirt-swishing... egads.
I think I read (here, probably) a while ago, that Victoria’s Secret finally had to lose their Crisco models due to poor sales. People were turned off by looking at them.
Yes................
Her face was probably very wrinkled after the weigh loss, I think she probably had implants put in her cheeks to correct the saggy skin on her face!! Once your skin is stretched out that way it doesn’t go back!!
I had a janitor that worked for me, and he had a part time job at a mortuary. He said when they roll the fatties in and turn on the burners you can hear the grease popping in the oven.
Oh, wow. Like a barbecue.
Hollywood even has their fat actresses to fill that niche today: Mellissa McCarthy, Rebel Wilson...
Fat acceptance is real!
And we of course do our usual pretending as if it’s all fine and good because hurting someones feelings is a crime.
Obesity is probably the #1 health risk in America but since someones self esteem and identity are more important than reality or functionality, we cater to even this demographic.
I hate that commercial.
It is annoying as hell.
I have relatives with diabetes and they don’t go around singing about it like it was a Broadway musical.
It is a serious and deadly disease, and this commercial trivializes it to the point of absurdity....................
Obesity among others is for most of us a good thing.
Early deaths of obese others decrease social security and Medicare payouts needed by normal weight survivors
“If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.