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I think the goal of the 'movement' is to try and get people to not be *******s towards the fat. Generally speaking it's OK to make jokes about Southerners, Republicans, fat people and substance abusers but anything else is off-limits
Quote:
Originally Posted by poletop1
While obesity can lead to serious health risks and this cannot be ignored, I cannot say that there is not a lot of unfair discrimination against the obese.
^^^These.
And I'll add: What difference does it make to you? Don't you have more important things to worry about, like your own health?
Idk. I think people are in denial of the obesity epidemic going on. Instead of doing something to reduce obesity, they're only making the problem worse by accepting an unhealthy lifestyle.
The same has often been said in the past about homosexuality.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lilamx
I understand a very tiny minority of people who suffer from obesity and overweight have almost no control over it- it's either genetics or a disorder that they can't do much about. But, that's a very tiny minority. I think of it this way- if I ever got overweight or obese, I sure wouldn't want people telling me, "It's ok....you look great!" I wouldn't feel good with myself, much less want everyone else to tell me that. Being that weight is not ok.
The thrust of the fat acceptance movement isn't about why people are obese. It's that being obese is not a moral failing any more than having a birth defect is. Being fat doesn't make a bad person or deserving of being shamed any more than being thin makes you a good person or deserving of being loved. And yet people will assume that fat people are deserving of being shamed for no other reason than their physiques.
And I'll add: What difference does it make to you? Don't you have more important things to worry about, like your own health?
From that website: "Encourage health care organizations to adopt a Health At Every Size (HAES) policy and include HAES in patients’ rights policies."
Considering that I am now paying for other people due to Obama's health care plan, I have a legitimate right to complain about obese people trying to rationalize their poor health. I wouldn't expect someone who abused alcohol to get a free liver, why should fatties expect the same level of medical care when they're actively increasing overall costs? If you want to be fat, that's fine, just don't make me pay for your fatness.
Fat acceptance is a double-edged sword. While an obese person does deserve dignity, they still should change their ways so they are not like that. Not because of how they look but because of their health. My problem with fat acceptance is the fact that most of the time that a person is extremely obese it is because they are lazy or have people enabling them. I know this is not always the case and I am not including people with thyroid problems or other health issues in this, or people who really are trying to help themselves.
From that website: "Encourage health care organizations to adopt a Health At Every Size (HAES) policy and include HAES in patients’ rights policies."
Considering that I am now paying for other people due to Obama's health care plan, I have a legitimate right to complain about obese people trying to rationalize their poor health. I wouldn't expect someone who abused alcohol to get a free liver, why should fatties expect the same level of medical care when they're actively increasing overall costs? If they want to be fat, that's fine, just don't make me pay for your fatness.
Obesity is not a primary driver of health cost increases. Use of advanced techonology in diagnosis and treatment, as well as rapidly increasing pharmaceutical costs, are much greater, and more principal, drivers of medical cost inflation.
And you'd be paying for other people's health costs regardless of Obama's plan. The increases in medical costs drive claims costs up in privately held insurance as well as Medicare/Medicaid.
High alcohol consumption also bears medical costs. Should other people be able to regulate how much you drink? Or should we treat you like an adult who is able to make his/her own decisions?
The thing is - there are very few obese people that are actually okay with being obese. Yes, I know - some are proud of their obsese physiques. But the majority of obese people are already ashamed. Many obsese people have eating disorders or mental issues that are extremely difficult to overcome. If it were so easy for everyone to have the perfect body - don't you think they all would?
I'm a little over sensitive to obese people because I'm completely neurotic about my weight. So I know that I may be a little too understanding - but I just hate to see people shamed and humiliated for something that they probably already feel horrible about.
From that website: "Encourage health care organizations to adopt a Health At Every Size (HAES) policy and include HAES in patients’ rights policies."
Considering that I am now paying for other people due to Obama's health care plan, I have a legitimate right to complain about obese people trying to rationalize their poor health. I wouldn't expect someone who abused alcohol to get a free liver, why should fatties expect the same level of medical care when they're actively increasing overall costs? If you want to be fat, that's fine, just don't make me pay for your fatness.
Well that's what happens with a society such as ours. My tax money goes to welfare programs, which sometimes subsidize people who have no intention of ever actually getting off the programs.
e: Dewdrop makes an excellent point as well. As a smoker I can tell you that nothing is LESS effective at motivating a smoker to quit than cries of "it smells bad! it gives you cancer! you're an idiot for starting it!" yeah we all KNOW that and telling us that does not make us want to quit. Likewise these candy-asses who are physically repulsed by obese people (I mean jesus grow a bit of a stronger constitution, I'd hate to see how you'd handle being an EMT or cop) and call them names are not helping the problem but exacerbating it.
Obesity is not a primary driver of health cost increases.
From the CDC: National Estimated Cost of Obesity
The medical care costs of obesity in the United States are staggering. In 2008 dollars, these costs totaled about $147 billion (Finkelstein, 2009).
The thing is - there are very few obese people that are actually okay with being obese. Yes, I know - some are proud of their obsese physiques. But the majority of obese people are already ashamed. Many obsese people have eating disorders or mental issues that are extremely difficult to overcome. If it were so easy for everyone to have the perfect body - don't you think they all would?
I'm a little over sensitive to obese people because I'm completely neurotic about my weight. So I know that I may be a little too understanding - but I just hate to see people shamed and humiliated for something that they probably already feel horrible about.
Yeah, I was obese as a child and the self-hate and misery is there to begin with; why add on with hate and contempt?
Fat acceptance is a double-edged sword. While an obese person does deserve dignity, they still should change their ways so they are not like that. Not because of how they look but because of their health. My problem with fat acceptance is the fact that most of the time that a person is extremely obese it is because they are lazy or have people enabling them. I know this is not always the case and I am not including people with thyroid problems or other health issues in this, or people who really are trying to help themselves.
That's entirely an assumption. Weight and obesity aren't simply a matter of "eat less, exercise more". Otherwise the diet and exercise industries would work far, far better than they actually do.
There are unhealthy thin people just as there are unhealthy fat people? Why are you insisting that fat people change their lifestyle, but not thin people?
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