Image by the future of petes via FlickrWhat you always hoped was just a local trend or an American trait is quickly becoming a Global Bias: Fat People Suck.
It's hard to blame the general public for coming to such a grand an overreaching opinion; after all, it isn't like the general public to make an informed decision on anything in the first place. Facts and research tend to be a distraction from popular culture and infotainment news consumption, and personal prejudice is easily supported when others are eager to laugh and point in solidarity.
It is such a hard stigma to argue against. Any attempt to counter such a broad bias is instantly met with mocking tones ridicule. "Are you defending people for being fat and lazy? How hard is it to eat a salad now and again? If you don't like it, lose weight?" Try to explain about varying metabolic rates, the globally skyrocketing prices of healthy & natural food, or the slow trend towards technology-centric jobs that have us spending more time at desks working and in cars commuting, and you'll simply be accused of making excuses.
Even worse, attempt to defend the dignity or worth (and what a sad state it is when a person's overall worth is brought into question because of their appearance) of an overweight person, and you might be accused of trying to create a new special interest group. "Should you get disability for being fat and lazy? Is telling a fat joke a hate crime now? Are you going to sue the airlines now because your fat ass won't fit in a regular seat?" Rationality and compassion no longer enter the conversation. With so few people left to hate on a socially acceptable level, discrimination against fat people has become the last refuge of the eager bigot.
This is the kind of insensitive grandstanding that began to regain popularity in the late eighties/early nineties with Rush Limbaugh and Morton Downey, Jr., only to increase in rabid intensity with every passing decade. The intolerance for those not meeting society's idealized standards is ironic (and, quite frankly, sad) when you consider that it is an increasing minority that actually lives up to those specifications. Fat people have become an easy target for the ignorant and cruel, as well as the dull and passive, another person to mock and ridicule to feel better about oneself, another kid on the playground to torment. The world is quickly becoming little more than one giant playground, and playground rules are now globally accepted: nobody likes a fat kid.
It is such a hard stigma to argue against. Any attempt to counter such a broad bias is instantly met with mocking tones ridicule. "Are you defending people for being fat and lazy? How hard is it to eat a salad now and again? If you don't like it, lose weight?" Try to explain about varying metabolic rates, the globally skyrocketing prices of healthy & natural food, or the slow trend towards technology-centric jobs that have us spending more time at desks working and in cars commuting, and you'll simply be accused of making excuses.
Even worse, attempt to defend the dignity or worth (and what a sad state it is when a person's overall worth is brought into question because of their appearance) of an overweight person, and you might be accused of trying to create a new special interest group. "Should you get disability for being fat and lazy? Is telling a fat joke a hate crime now? Are you going to sue the airlines now because your fat ass won't fit in a regular seat?" Rationality and compassion no longer enter the conversation. With so few people left to hate on a socially acceptable level, discrimination against fat people has become the last refuge of the eager bigot.
This is the kind of insensitive grandstanding that began to regain popularity in the late eighties/early nineties with Rush Limbaugh and Morton Downey, Jr., only to increase in rabid intensity with every passing decade. The intolerance for those not meeting society's idealized standards is ironic (and, quite frankly, sad) when you consider that it is an increasing minority that actually lives up to those specifications. Fat people have become an easy target for the ignorant and cruel, as well as the dull and passive, another person to mock and ridicule to feel better about oneself, another kid on the playground to torment. The world is quickly becoming little more than one giant playground, and playground rules are now globally accepted: nobody likes a fat kid.
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