In the Fatosphere, Big Is In, or at Least Accepted

The New York Times ^ | January 22, 2008 | RONI CARYN RABIN

[Eric Blair 2084]

For years, health experts have been warning that Americans are too fat, that we exercise too little and eat too much, that our health is in jeopardy.

Blogs written by fat people — and it’s fine to use the word, they say — have multiplied in recent months, filling a virtual soapbox known as the fatosphere, where bloggers calling for fat acceptance challenge just about everything conventional medical wisdom has to say about obesity.

Smart, sassy and irreverent, bloggers with names like Big Fat Deal, FatChicksRule and Fatgrrl (“Now with 50 percent more fat!”) buck anti-obesity sentiment. They celebrate their full figures and call on readers to accept their bodies, quit dieting and get on with life.

The message from the fatosphere is not just that big is beautiful. Many of the bloggers dismiss the “obesity epidemic” as hysteria. They argue that Americans are not that much larger than they used to be and that being fat in and of itself is not necessarily bad for you.

And they reject a core belief that many Americans, including overweight ones, hold dear: that all a fat person needs to do to be thin is exercise more and eat less.

“One of the first obstacles to fat acceptance is breaking down the question of whether being fat is a choice,” Kate Harding, founder of the blog Shapely Prose, said in an interview. “No fat acceptance advocate is saying you should sit around and wildly overeat. What we’re saying is that exercise and a balanced diet do not make everyone thin.”

[Eric Blair 2084]

Of course there has to be the obligatory comment from a grant junkie to remind the fat asses that Gubmint is engaged in a public social engineering experiment designed to shame, denormalize and change behavior to save the Gubmint and tax payers money to treat their diabetes...

But some experts say this sort of message is dangerous and undermines public health efforts to rein in obesity. “We do have to be careful not to put all the blame on the individual,” said Dr. Walter C. Willett, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. But he added, “The large majority of people who are overweight are overweight because of lifestyle.”

Any fat jokes or pics on this thread will be in honor of the 15 morbidly obese fat annoying women who waved their sausage like fingers in front of their face when I smoked in the bar. Then they put the cell phone back to their ear and dove right back into their plate of nachos and refried beans.

Shut up and get on the boxcar with the smokers. Don't worry, the drinkers will soon be there to keep you company in the camp for undesirables who displease the state.

Some of the comments on these blogs are pretty funny though.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Big Brother, Nanny State, Grant Junkie, Bogus Study, Junk Science, Social Engineering, Sheeple Control, Health Nazi

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[edcoil]

Fat maybe where it’s at but I’ll stay 6’ 185.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Don’t worry: “president” Huckabee will give all us fat people gastric bypass surgery like he had.

[cowdog77]

Sorry, but I worked for a surgeon who did stomach surgery for obese people. He stated that 99.9% of them had a eating problem....they just won’t put their forks down and they won’t get to moving. He’d done thousands of procedures. It always boils down to choices....nobody made them do it.

[kinoxi]

The fatospere... :)

[Lizavetta]

“One of the first obstacles to fat acceptance is breaking down the question of whether being fat is a choice,”

Ironic, isn't it, that the number of fat people have grown at the same time as sedentary computer jobs, nintendo, and movies on videotape, and endless sources of cheap fast food have come on the scene.

But of course, being fat isn't a choice. It's one's destiny. Keep eating that cheeseburger, sister.

[kinoxi]

That piece of chocolate got in my way, the fatosphere. It created negative space in my calculations after I ate it ;\

[utahagen]

I agree with you that obesity is a choice. I also think that obesity has much more to do with eating too much and less to do with exercising too little. However, I think fat people have a right to be fat.

[editor-surveyor]

"Gubmint is engaged in a public social engineering experiment designed to shame, denormalize and change behavior to save the Gubmint and tax payers money to treat their diabetes"

If the thugs would keep their noses out of 'health care,' they wouldn't have to pay for anything. Anyway, big people do live much longer.

[Eric Blair 2084]

I’m 5’10 165. But I’m doomed to die an early death like my grandparents at 83 because I smoke.

[Eric Blair 2084]

[Eric Blair 2084]

Sorry, but I worked for a surgeon who did stomach surgery for obese people. He stated that 99.9% of them had a eating problem

Bullshit. They don't have an eating problem. They are just "VICTIMS" of evil corporations like McDonalds that give them tasty cheap food everywhere they look. Gubmint must do something to combat the societal epidemic.

[ASOC]

“Fatgrrl”
Shudder...........(runs away, trying to erase that image in his mind)

[potlatch]

It’s gross seeing how fat many people are when you go to the mall now.

If you put Ann Coulter between two of them it would be like a toothpick between two pears, lol.

[Eric Blair 2084]

NY Slimes headline “fatosphere”. Not mine.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“...in the camp for undesirables who displease the state.”

Usually, I find you grating and annoying, even though I rarely disagree with you...but I have to give you credit; that was a good line. ;)

[Grunthor]

“Blogs written by fat people — and it’s fine to use the word”

Yes it is fine to use the word. I am FAT. I am not “overweight,” I am a fat man that probably ought to drop about 30 lbs.

[Eric Blair 2084]

What are you trying to say?

That people should get off the couch, stop eating potato chips and excercise? That if you take in more calories than you use during the day, you will get fat? The sheeple don’t get it.

They are too dumb. Warnings about diabetes and heart disease hasn’t worked. It’s time for more draconian measures and social engineering.

[dfwgator]

You have to ask yourself this question, how many fat people do you see who are 70 years old or more?

I would dare say, not many.