Food chain sounds appealing at this point. To make one of those horribly incorrect comparisons... It's okay if I decide to not do anything about being fat even though I'm capable, and maybe even wear clothing that flaunts my gut instead of wearing concealing clothing. If I have a long enough string of setbacks and decide to give up on being more like a decent human being because it's turning out to be impossible, I should still try to hide that part of myself or face ridicule. I have plantar fascist with a bit of tarsal tunnel. Losing weight is one of the things I can do to stop injuring those tendons.
Something else to remember: even if you only levy your attacks on people who have no ~legitimate reasons~, they're still going to be heard by everyone else, and as a general rule, that's going to make them feel like shit about themselves. Also, just to reiterate, making people feel like shit doesn't help them lose weight, even if they don't have any economic/practical/medical obstacles in the way. Just a general fact of human psychology. Actually, there was an interesting piece of research a couple years back - iirc - that found that after getting involved in the fat acceptance movement, people tended to lose weight, specifically because they stopped feeling horrible about themselves. When you don't feel horrible, you're fundamentally better-equipped to look after yourself. So regardless of why someone is fat, body positivity and acceptance are still much healthier things to promote - yes, physically healthier - than shame and mockery.
on top of that.... it's just. straight up not anyone's business what someone else does with their appearance. life's too short to waste time takin' the piss out of others when you've got your own stuff to focus on.
Just speak plainer. Add emotional qualifiers before and after anything you say. Instead of saying just "Thanks for that" say "I appreciate that. Thanks. That's not sarcasm, I am being sincere." It's cumbersome, but for topics so emotionally fraught I think it's best to avoid any ambiguity. Since you can't intuit how to say things just be super extra careful
You're right, that IS horribly incorrect. It IS ok to exist as a fat person! It is MORE THAN OK to wear clothing that "flaunts" your body, because seriously fuck beauty standards! Neither of those things hurts anyone! (Arguably, not "doing anything about" being fat can have health complications, but the six previous pages of this thread have already covered how fat does not always equal unhealthy.) Being a "decent human being," on the other hand, is about how you treat OTHER PEOPLE. Giving up on not being a jerk to everyone has consequences for everyone you interact with. It hurts people. The solution is still not to hide that part of yourself, of course, because that does nothing to address the problem. TL;DR "being fat" and "not being a decent human being" are in no way comparable. One only affects you, and then not even necessarily negatively. The other always negatively affects others.
You knew the comparison was horribly incorrect, and yet, you made it anyways. What did you expect would happen? The only one telling you to give up is you. Weight is not actually correlated with virtue, no matter how much r/fatpeoplehate and friends say so, and the analogy does not make sense.
The problem is that I don't hate fat people. It means that I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. Awesome. This should be helpful. Thanks for laying that out, I appreciate it. I wish I hadn't been reminded about healthcare workers who do get injured when dealing with fat people. Otherwise I agree that most people aren't hurt by other people being fat. (That one lady that got crushed during a trans-atlantic flight was harmed more by no one taking steps to prevent the situation.) Thanks for explaining things. It was very helpful and I'll try to use this knowledge. They actually explained the difference in a helpful manner. What I should have expected was your response, though.
Hi I'm a healthcare professional and wow. okay. you successfully actually offended me. You're getting real good at offending new segments of the forum every day here. There are two reasons for healthcare workers to get injured dealing with bariatric patients: lack of institutional support and poor judgment. Neither of those things are the patient's fault. It offends me as a provider to suggest that patients are responsible for people who either don't have the equipment they need to perform their jobs safely, or make a decision to do things in an unsafe manner. There is no circumstance where someone being heavy should put providers at increased risk, with adequate equipment, training, and basic common sense.
Now you see, the problem that I have with you -- and I think the problem that a lot of people have with you -- is that you say things like this, but then immediately express opinions that directly contradict the sentiment. You have shown a consistent lack of respect for fat people's choices and bodily autonomy, and saying you don't hate them doesn't change the fact that you're actually acting in exactly the same way and saying exactly the same bigoted and hateful things as a person who does, in fact, dislike fat people. Especially the appeals to healthism, which is classic concern troll behaviour, used specifically to derail the fact that all people are intrinsically worthy of respect, even when making choices you personally do not believe are correct.
I'd like to ask anyone considering playing the health card about fat people; do you also spend page after page arguing with smokers, or people who have dangerous hobbies like mountain climbing? Those are endangering their health too.
Hi. While you do say some useful things amidst the snark, are you sure that snarking at me is good for you(specific)? (Stares at can) (Stares at can again) If you want to dance, you'll have to lead. However, I think at this point I could say "I like pie" and have it turn into a debate about homophobia in the Supernatural fandom. I was going to ask if "of course they deserve to be treated like human beings" is a dogwhistle. If it were as easy as throwing my brain into a flea dip, I'd do it. The thing about smokers is that barely anyone feels the need anymore to tell them it's bad for them. Usually the response is along the lines, "I know." Smokers aren't out there trying to tell people that their habit is healthy, and barely anyone even mentions that it raises the stress threshold or other "benefits" that don't outweigh their cancer risk. Smokers pressuring other people to smoke was pretty much a dead trope by the time it appeared in Star Wars. On the other hand, Sophie Hagen was a hot target to the point where the mods didn't want to see her on fatlogic for a while because of her response to the British cancer risk ad. These sort of people are the ones dragging everyone else down.
If this is your way of saying that you don't know where Vierran's response came from, then I'll show you. It's a direct reply to this comment: What do you mean by "can", btw?
@Greallan there is a vested interest in keeping the multi billion pound diet industry going by making media use of junk science soundbites much like the one used in that particular campaign. Scientific studies can be flawed, they can be falsified, they can be twisted even at a data level, and the media and marketing divisions will always take the most sensationalist and lurid take on any research, which results not only in nuance being lost, but in various cases the public perception being diametrically opposed to the actual conclusions of the research. Edit: forgot to mention the sneaky little bastard habit known as confirmation bias. As long as you keep parroting the crap about certain "bad fatties" (my paraphrase) dragging everyone else down, I think I'm actually done here.
Literally none of the problems people have with you are about something that innocuous and you fucking know it.
