Isn't it dangerous that fat Americans view obesity as empowering?

[zinfamous]

While I don't think people should be outright shamed for being fat, I think empowering them for being fatties is far worse.

Encouraging them to live a healthier life is far greater than shaming them into better health. B/c, well, shame doesn't work. it will only inspire greater indulgence.

 

[AreaCode707]

I think there is a factual standard for a healthy weight and that is what should, by and large, be celebrated and held up as the standard. Significantly over or under that weight beyond what is standard for various body types shouldn't receive recognition as superior, but that's never really going to happen.

 

[marincounty]

Hey it worked for Rush and Oprah, two of the richest and most powerful Americans.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Haha, I came here to post this .

Seriously though, I think it's more of a see-saw effect. We've gone from idolizing size 0 anorexic strung-out models to celebrating obesity; from one extreme to another.

Like so many other cultural phenomena changing over time, it will take a few years before we level out and many people realize that a more balanced outlook is necessary (i.e. celebrate being in a "healthy" weight range, perhaps based on body fat %)

 

[TruePaige]

You know why they feel they have to shout that?

BlahBlahYouToo?

 

[InflatableBuddha]

While I don't think people should be outright shamed for being fat, I think empowering them for being fatties is far worse.

Encouraging them to live a healthier life is far greater than shaming them into better health. B/c, well, shame doesn't work. it will only inspire greater indulgence.

^^This too.

 

[waggy]

i don't know anyone who finds it empowering to be fat.

 

[waggy]

a picture of af at women? and? am i missing something

 

[Regs]

I usually just stop them in the hallways at work or on the streets at home and tell them, " I want to help you".

 

[sandorski]

You say the food industry is partially to blame.

How about those people blame themselves for puchasing and consuming these foods. No one's forcing them to eat chips and cheeseburgers and drink soda.

Some of it might be outside of your control, such as food fed to you by your parents, or if you're some low income with free or reduced school lunches, you don't have that much of a choice.

At the same time though, kids are not taught and people are not educated about eating healthy foods, especially the ghetto low income people and others that tend to be less educated. It's not fair to shelter individual people from blame, as they could take their time to learn about health and nutrition in the same way I could be spending my time learning new skills as opposed to wasting the workday on ATOT.

I think Cheap Junk Food is a Luxury for most of these People. A Luxury they can Afford. If they could Afford it, they might use Drugs or take Vacations or something else. Cheap Food is a crutch to Happiness.

 

[slackerinabox]

You say the food industry is partially to blame.

How about those people blame themselves for puchasing and consuming these foods. No one's forcing them to eat chips and cheeseburgers and drink soda.

Some of it might be outside of your control, such as food fed to you by your parents, or if you're some low income with free or reduced school lunches, you don't have that much of a choice.

At the same time though, kids are not taught and people are not educated about eating healthy foods, especially the ghetto low income people and others that tend to be less educated. It's not fair to shelter individual people from blame, as they could take their time to learn about health and nutrition in the same way I could be spending my time learning new skills as opposed to wasting the workday on ATOT.

Well, I'm going to agree and personally feel that playing the blame game is defeatist as well, but there's kernels of truth to saying that the food industry is, not responsible, but an influence that's not helping... (Unemployed) I sit here for 9 hours a day, sending resumes and watching tv in the background - I'm literally bombarded with advertisements for cheap, trashy, and easily available convenience foods. I sometimes crave some of the strangest things in the middle of the day, "fishsticks? I hate fish! Why do I want fishsticks!?!" Bombarding us doesn't help. I get that that's their job - to make their products appealing, but it's a little maddening, especially if you have a kid. I'm not a parent but was raised by hard working middle class parents - they simply didn't have the time to filter what I was watching or to be those ideal parents - a five year old shouldn't have Stouffers' salisbury steak for dinner every other night, but their ignorance mixed with the availability of tv dinners lead to all of my family having lifelong battles with weight. The cereals that they peddle to kids during cartoons are pretty grotesquely unhealthy, though I firmly believe that it's a parents job to say "No." But it's really hard when both parents are working and are ignorant of good nutrition themselves.

I'm not blaming my parents, the food industry, or anyone else for where I am now, as an adult, but it all traces back to something, right?

 

[ShawnD1]

Watching daytime tv and another obese celebrity it going on about how she's a "real woman,' implying that people who watch what they eat and exercise are not real- or that we shouldn't have ideals to work towards.

Don't worry, bro. Evolution. Women who choose to be ugly and smell bad won't get as much cock as the ones who look attractive and smell nice. This might take a few years since it took several thousand (million?) years to evolve bodies that try to build fat as quickly as possible to survive through winter

Being a fatty might be fashionable at some point, but they'll still smell really bad. Imagine your balls sweating nonstop 24/7. That's probably the #1 reason not to sleep with a fatty.

 

[CraigRT]

I think Cheap Junk Food is a Luxury for most of these People. A Luxury they can Afford. If they could Afford it, they might use Drugs or take Vacations or something else. Cheap Food is a crutch to Happiness.

Are the random capital letters some sort of morse code?

 

[slackerinabox]

Haha, I came here to post this .

Seriously though, I think it's more of a see-saw effect. We've gone from idolizing size 0 anorexic strung-out models to celebrating obesity; from one extreme to another.

Like so many other cultural phenomena changing over time, it will take a few years before we level out and many people realize that a more balanced outlook is necessary (i.e. celebrate being in a "healthy" weight range, perhaps based on body fat %)

This is pretty un-PC, but is it really all that terrible to idolize the coke-head models? Of course it's not an obtainable goal, but shouldn't our goals be higher than we can possibly meet (vs. not having goals at all)? I remember the 80s and 90s and don't remember a anorexia crisis in this country.

 

[gaidensensei]

Just go to another country or a few for some years. You'll adapt to their lifestyle and slim down considerably.

It's the "freedom" ideology that the US has, as a result has caused obesity, anarchists, people to say whatever they want and what have you's.

 

[theflyingpig]

These fat disgusting slobs are all congealing together, attempting to make themselves feel better by coming up with ridiculous bullshit about how their fatness is somehow a natural and good thing. Obesity should not be seen as a disease, or a disablilty; instead it should be seen as failure. Failure to be a productive and worthy human. Failure to reach even the lowest levels of mediocrity. There is nothing empowering about being a fat disgusting failure. Everyone knows this.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

This is pretty un-PC, but is it really all that terrible to idolize the coke-head models? Of course it's not an obtainable goal, but shouldn't our goals be higher than we can possibly meet (vs. not having goals at all)? I remember the 80s and 90s and don't remember a anorexia crisis in this country.

Am I missing the /s ? Of course it's bad to idolize the coke head models. It's unhealthy on numerous levels (anorexia, malnutrition, drug addiction), unrealistic (many of the photos are photoshopped to appear even thinner than the models can actually attain, so their figures are impossible to achieve by anyone), and just plain unattractive. As a heterosexual man, I'm sorry but those strung out models just don't do it for me at all.

Children cannot discern that these images are falsified and unhealthy; I think we have an obligation not to deceive our youth in this way.

Of course we need idols to aspire to, even if most of us by definition won't achieve the same level of success. But we need to aspire to idols in healthier pursuits (science, artists, literature, etc).

From a purely physical, eye candy perspective, even idolizing athletes is a vast improvement over models since their bodies are at least a healthy, if difficult to attain (putting aside athlete/celebrity scandals, etc.)

 

[AreaCode707]

These fat disgusting slobs are all congealing together, attempting to make themselves feel better by coming up with ridiculous bullshit about how their fatness is somehow a natural and good thing. Obesity should not be seen as a disease, or a disablilty; instead it should be seen as failure. Failure to be a productive and worthy human. Failure to reach even the lowest levels of mediocrity. There is nothing empowering about being a fat disgusting failure. Everyone knows this.

I would have thought it impossible to come up with an avatar as ugly as your posting personality and yet you managed it. Kudos.

 

[IEC]

Obesity is one the reasons why health care costs per capita in the US are so high! Obesity and smoking predispose you to expensive-to-treat chronic diseases.

 

[nageov3t]

Obesity is one the reasons why health care costs per capita in the US are so high! Obesity and smoking predispose you to expensive-to-treat chronic diseases.

healthy people ultimately drain the system more because they live longer and older people use far more health care than anyone else.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

healthy people ultimately drain the system more because they live longer and older people use far more health care than anyone else.

But then the obese people are living longer too, thanks to medical advances. So the ones with the biggest drain are the moderately overweight ones who get problems associated with being overweight, but also live long enough to get problems associated with old age?

 

[Dumac]

Huh? Where have you been? Being Overweight has been looked down upon in the US more than anywhere else.

bullshit

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/realitycheck/blog/more-to-love.jpg
http://www.limcollege.edu/images/realwomen.jpg

There are plenty of shows that celebrate obesity. The obesity rates in the US should show that this country is not an enemy of obesity.

So many women excuse their fat figure by saying that they are "real women". "Real women have curves". No, a real woman does not mean a unhealthily obese woman.

Even men excuse this behavior, saying that true women are chubby, and shrugging off skinnier, attractive women as "unappealing" simply because they are (most likely) unobtainable. Then they tell their overweight SOs "Oh no, she's way to skinny. It's gross."

As if he really prefers a 250 pound heifer.

 

[Dumac]

Am I missing the /s ? Of course it's bad to idolize the coke head models. It's unhealthy on numerous levels (anorexia, malnutrition, drug addiction), unrealistic (many of the photos are photoshopped to appear even thinner than the models can actually attain, so their figures are impossible to achieve by anyone), and just plain unattractive. As a heterosexual man, I'm sorry but those strung out models just don't do it for me at all.

This point is always over exaggerated. Sure, pretty much every publication does touch ups, but rarely is the figure modified so much that it becomes a ridiculous example. Such an image would be cause a disconnect between the material and the reader.

Plus, where models truly thrive, the fashion world of runways and galleries, there is no photoshop.

There is no anorexic epidemic in this country, but there is an obesity epidemic. Compare the obesity and anorexia related death rates and get back to me.

Children cannot discern that these images are falsified and unhealthy; I think we have an obligation not to deceive our youth in this way.

What kind of children are we raising that the lack basic functions of common sense? I, as a child, was not incapable of separating fantasy and reality.

Of course we need idols to aspire to, even if most of us by definition won't achieve the same level of success. But we need to aspire to idols in healthier pursuits (science, artists, literature, etc).

The body is the essence of true health, and is greatly underemphasized in today's world, when one is expected to sacrifice bodily health for financial, educational, or other measures of success.

From a purely physical, eye candy perspective, even idolizing athletes is a vast improvement over models since their bodies are at least a healthy, if difficult to attain (putting aside athlete/celebrity scandals, etc.)

I agree, models should not be idolized. I can't see how anyone would want to be, or date, a model. But what I don't agree with is the angry perception the public holds the fashion world, or the world of all non-overweight people.. People are always upset at models for causing self-esteem issues, yet no one is mad at obese celebrities for putting a much less healthy image into the world.

 

[ShawnD1]

There is no anorexic epidemic in this country, but there is an obesity epidemic. Compare the obesity and anorexia related death rates and get back to me.

If I did my numbers correctly, both of them die almost 100% of the time

What kind of children are we raising that the lack basic functions of common sense? I, as a child, was not incapable of separating fantasy and reality.

I could take the low road and say "lol jesus" but I won't do that. How many people in the world honestly believe they will get to deflower a bunch of underage virgins if they fly planes into buildings simply because that's what they've always been told? How many people are scared shitless of strangers because that's what they were told as kids? How many people in the future will think being obese is ok because that's what they've always been told? You can see through this bullshit because you grew up when people were skinny. A kid growing up today with a set of fat parents might have a very distorted version of reality where obesity is "normal" and these skinny people are the freaks.

 

[Colt45]

This is pretty common end result of cognitive dissonance.

They want to be skinny, but don't have the will to get there; In their heads they decide that they want to be fat, so they don't have mental struggle.