I am always interested in those who people with bullying tendencies use to sate their need for a target; For some time now, fat bashing has served as the last bastion of government approved bullying. From the obsession of obesity, the media loves nothing more than a self-righteous, condescending poke at the pudgy, with plenty of baying humans to join in the abuse! A seemingly constant stream of ‘belly’ camera angles, the faceless fatties wander through the streets, apparently on the hunt for any food they can find. We are led to believe they are keeping Greggs in business and the discourse trajectory implies that after the purveyors of pastry have closed their doors for the day, organised gangs of the willfully unhealthy congregate to go through the bins, such is the desperate and uncontrollable gluttony of which they are so proud.
If this is not the case and such abusers of the overweight simply want the world to be a happier, healthier place, one would imagine an article in the news about Adele, suggesting she may have lost weight, would be met with congratulations and support. Curiously, this was not the case and the anti-obese comments continued to be hurled, like this one:
At her age she should be ashamed of the size she is. Pure laziness. We could all get like that. Just because she is Adele does not excuse it. She looks way older than her age because she dresses to accommodate her size. Her hair is bouffant like Diana Dors had in the 60’s. At her age she should be at her physical prime.
This judgmental type of comment not only hints at the nasty mind of the commentator, it is no longer rare and the ‘Joan Rivers’ brand of spite is more common nowadays, which could go some way to explaining why we don’t see her on TV as frequently. Despite that fact that Adele has been described as ‘hard working’ by those who know her, such ignorant bystanders use the acceptability of abusing those who do not fit into a very specific body type and size, to feel superior, but why? The answer may lie in the reduction of targets available to the abusive with nothing better to do than presume they know everything about everyone else. Racism and homophobia are off the table, sexism is frowned on and all other ‘isms’ are dangerous ground on which to walk. Humiliating fat people, however, is not only social acceptable, it is encouraged by the media, the NHS and the government who have run out of scapegoats on which to blame their failings. By drawing the attention of mindless taunters, policy makers can run rife with all then important things such as back door privatisation of the NHS, screwing the UK’s reputation in the EU and freezing everyone’s wages to meet their austerity targets, whilst continuing their own lavish lifestyles unhindered. It did not take long for the government to work out that a neck down shot of a fattie was like a shiny object to a magpie for a certain section of society, freeing them to do what they like to out health service as they now had an easy target to blame for everything since the smokers have become a bore! The NHS are the least culpable in many ways, given their need to appease the party trying to privatise them, sycophancy is a small price to pay, however damaging to one group of people.
Such absolutism in society, that does not allow for imperfection and anything coming outside of ‘average’ being treated with suspicion and contempt is worrying. British society seems to thrive on the mundane and the mediocre, with no-one wanting to take a risk. In addition, the comments like those above, have nothing to do with current research yet they are just accepted by the masses with a moronic nod; when did people stop understanding how to debate an issue and seek the evidence to back up the standard mantra of an organisation? The user name ‘sayithowitis’ from the quote also shows the arrogance of people who believe they have the right to state any ridiculous, spiteful opinion or thought because of a false sense of being in the right. Of course, they do have free speech, but I guarantee that such people begin most sentences with “I don’t mean to be rude but” and mistake clumsy, ill-manners for ‘honesty’. Where does this leave the freedoms of people who wish not to be dictated to and preached at by bullies and the narrow minded? Internet loudmouths who probably live lifestyles equally or more questionable as those they attack for issues that are personal, private and none of their business? They claim, mainly, to be bullying in the name of protecting the NHS due to spiralling costs, however the latest report from the Commonwealth Worl Fund shows the NHS as the most cost effective and the least wasteful, coming number 1 of the top 11 developed countries in the world.
My concern is, that for every loudmouth ranting about what they think they know regarding obesity issues, most comments are ill informed, rehashed quotes from certain right wing tabloids. Encouraged by the accepted freedom of expression toward the obese, however damaging, their lazy beliefs focus purely on BMI which has already been dismissed as a sole indicator of health. In addition, the lack of attendance at meetings or protests for protecting the NHS from the fat haters speaks volumes.
Of course, such people, who regularly see obesity as a target for their psychologically questionable pastime, do not appear to have the impetus to research what they say. They are not interested in the boring articles about ‘metabolic health’ and ‘skinny obesity’ or the KSR2 gene and are too busy griping at the images on ITV news to switch over to BBC and watch, for example, Michael Moseley’s Horizon programme, ‘The Truth about Exercise’, which shows how their assumptions about fat=lazy are questionable at best; Determining who is fit and healthy has never been more difficult it seems. In addition, evidence that women are evolving to be shorter and plumper but also healthier and more fertile sees the western cultural view of women and size being shown the door by natural science itself!
Of course, there are those who are so obese it is life threatening and this points to a serious psychological and/or medical issue. Certainly nothing to snigger at there, one would hope, on a purely humanitarian basis if notheing else. However, this is nowhere near where the Adeles of the world are, whose smoking habit is by far the more serious health risk. It would be interesting to know how many of those shouting loudest about obesity are smokers, drinkers, eat junk food, don’t exercise properly and don’t clean their teeth properly, all of which are serious health risks, fat or thin.
The key point is that whatever those squeaky clean bullies, who are as fit and healthy as it’s possible to be, think and say, it’s rarely factual and is not important when considering the realities of obesity. That they choose not to provide any evidence other than the outdated information on NHS Choices, shows the level they are working from and the lack of interest in the truth. Their raison d’etre is merely to deflect their dissatisfaction onto others, in true psychoanalytical style, projecting means they do not have to reflect. This inability to stay out of the business of others, do any research or get on with their own life should be pitied, it’s just difficult to pity a blowhard with nothing to say, just noises to make! Maybe prescription vuvuzelas could help reduce their pointless pontificating. The beautiful irony here, is that the level of hatred they feel causes such stress to the body, their mentality is the least healthy of all the issues mentioned; It’s a mental sickness, an egotistical imbalance which makes them feel superior due to body shape, which equates to eating every Greggs sausage roll on the planet.
Ultimately, most people with obesity issues want to lose weight, to feel better, to be more healthy and so on. The weight loss industry makes millions of pounds a year, not from people wanting to remain obese, obviously. That the success rates of dieting is so low, with weight regain being a serious issue, it is clear that obesity is a complex physical and psychological issue. Whether the everyday bully chooses to accept this, it is clearly evidenced and becoming more accepted that there are numerous causes of obesity and even more complex reasons for not losing weight.
Therefore, my advice to the psychologically questionable who hate every obese person on this basis alone, is to get help as soon as possible and don’t lazily abuse the physically obese to try and get out of it; hearing your excuses for remaining unstable and mentally lazy just really annoys those with fit, healthy and ‘normal’ sized egos!
http://guardianlv.com/2013/11/obesity-and-health-have-a-complex-relationship-according-to-research/
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/bmi-drawbacks-and-other-measurements
http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2010/08/obesity-complex-problem-simple-solutions.html
http://drlwilson.com/ARTICLES/HATRED.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/skinny-fat_b_1799797.html
http://time.com/14407/the-hidden-dangers-of-skinny-fat/
http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/011211p14.shtml
http://blogs.denverpost.com/fitness/2013/11/23/is-your-cardio-routine-making-you-fat/13461/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01cywtq
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17997-meet-future-woman-shorter-plumper-more-fertile.html
http://www.gilead.net/health/mindsick.html
kali justice 