this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2024
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Unpopular Opinion

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I started noticing people hating fat people on social media and disguise it as just science.

It's like they would point at certain person and mock him for his fatness and when someone point out their behavior, they just say something along the lines of he is fat which means he is not going to live for so long if he went on like this, so I am just pointing facts for him

Poeple should show the science of being fat and point out the bad effects of it has on body, but they should not show the science on a living human to mock him, the purpose should be education for the the uneducated not mocking with the shield of science.

I almost had never seen people mocking smokers for example or even people who are addicted to drugs, while it's normalized to mock fat people, despite the fact that it will make them more vulnerable to weight loss products that is either harmful to the body or scamming them of their money.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You’re right. Let’s not make jokes at their expanse.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

But we certainly shouldn't sugar coat the facts or they'll eat them too.

  • A fat guy
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I almost had never seen people mocking smokers for example or even people who are addicted to drugs, while it's normalized to mock fat people

I feel this is because things like smoking, drinking, and drug use are all immediately recognized as addictions people can struggle to overcome, but the same isn't true for over eating. Even anorexia is clearly thought of as an eating disorder, but do obese people have an eating disorder? I'd say they do. I think the only reason it's not thought of as a disorder is because it's so common.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

OP is trying to make himself a unique victim

claiming people don't slag junkies and smackheads is the wildest claim I've read on the internet this week

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Addicts are one of the most marginalized groups in the world. Because their situation is self-inflicted, very few people will offer them a helping hand. It's the same with the homeless - the prevailing opinion is that they got themselves into it so they should get themselves out.

I don't agree with those opinion but it's crazy to pretend they aren't made fun of

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

OP is trying to make himself a unique victim

I had never mentioned myself in the post.

claiming people don't slag junkies and smackheads is the wildest claim I've read on the internet this week

I guess we don't have the same experiences.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I had never mentioned myself in the post.

You didn't have to.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Poeple should show the science of being fat and point out the bad effects of it has on body, but they should not show the science on a living human to mock him, the purpose should be education for the the uneducated not mocking with the shield of science.

Not that I’m condoning making fun of people who are overweight (I am overweight, after all but currently working on it) but this is done in some cases and it’s still seen as a form of mockery to many people today. It’s getting to the point of doctors not feeling comfortable being able to tell someone that what’s happening in their body is harmful to their health and they need to reconsider their current lifestyle.

Which I think the body positive movement has been good in terms of getting away from the jokes and mockery but at the same time has been a detriment to many people in making them think that there’s nothing wrong and they can and should continue on the path they’re going down. Even going as extreme as to say that doctors, health professionals, and family and friends who genuinely care and are not being disrespectful are actually mocking them just for pointing out an unhealthy lifestyle. Not everyone in the body positive movement is this way, but I see what I want to believe is a very vocal minority of people who are trying to shift things in that direction in this movement.

When you think about it, honestly, we’re probably in a better place than we were a few decades ago in terms of the mockery and jokes at someone’s weight. The movies and TV shows of the 80’s and 2000’s were often filled with these jokes and it was common place in general in society. Seemed like every TV show had a dedicated “fat person” who had fat jokes about their weight and overeating, or at least was centered around this like The King of Queens (which I love, by the way, but the fat jokes at Doug can get repetitive after a while). Speaking anecdotally, I remember kids getting made fun of for being fat growing up in those decades, but even though I’m not young in this current generation, judging based off of popular social media, it seems like they don’t condone that anymore among themselves like previous generations had. Our entertainment doesn’t seem to have these as jokes any longer. I’m sure they exist in some specific shows and movies, and the ones that immediately come to mind seem to be ones that were from those times (Simpsons, Family Guy) but just not as prevalent as they once were which seems an indication of a change in society as well.

All in all to say, I agree that mocking people for their weight is horrible and often actually does the inverse of making those same people turn towards more overeating in depression over their constant treatment, but things seem to be getting better, while at the same time, we may be crossing from one unhealthy extreme into another on the polar opposite and should be careful about that. Careful not to go from the extreme of making fun of people who are overweight to the extreme of accepting it so much so that we don’t take time to allow people to provide actual constructive criticism to someone who is going down a dangerous path.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

I generally live by the adage that everyone makes their own personal choices for their own reasons so I try not to make fun of people for their choices, or in a few cases genetics. I especially try to avoid making fun of people for something they actually have no choice in such as genetics. I'm a bald man, but when I was a kid I used to make fun of my dad for being bald until he sat me down and explained to me how horrible it was to make fun of a person's genetic situation. In general the rule I try to keep myself to is that I won't joke about it unless the person in question would joke about it as well.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Well it's good you realized this, fucking wild it took till 2024...

I almost had never seen people mocking smokers for example or even people who are addicted to drugs,

Baby steps I guess tho, both those groups are mocked too.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Fat people are just unsightly and have been shown time and time again to be a drain on community resources. We are so far past the start of the obesity crisis to not rationalize most fat people as uncaring (of others) gluts who can't keep their hand out of the cookie jar

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

We need to bring back the pre-colonial law where having a big belly was punishable: http://ravensgard.org/prdunham/irishfood.html

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Or just do what Japan does and tax the shit out of the obese. Or like Europe and normalize public mockery of them. America is by and large (no pun intended) the safest place for fat people.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

why not hate them for both scientific reasons and viscerally?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Why hate them? Is it too much to offer them good help to make them improve their body?