Originally posted by
McNutty
And this is sort of a side note, but since it's being taken as a given that hating on fatties is super bad, I feel I should mention it: I do happen to think some contempt for overweight people is healthy. The whole "fat acceptance" movement annoys me and I don't think we should pretend fat people are just as attractive as thin people. People should feel crappy enough about being obese that they're motivated to do something about it, in my opinion. Granted, you shouldn't just go around insulting fat people or using it as a crutch for your inability to argue on a message board, but I don't think pretending there's nothing wrong with being fat is a very good idea.
I dunno, I think the "fat acceptance movement" is just an attempt to provide a little balance, given the prejudice and scorn that fat people face regularly. I seriously doubt that in American society today there is a single obese person who (a) doesn't feel crappy about it; (b) doesn't realize that the vast majority of people have an aesthetic preference for a slimmer figure; and (c) doesn't understand the health consequences. There's really no need for any outside party to remind them of anything - the mirror, parents/SOs, media and doctors are already sending all necessary messages.
For the rest of us, our energy is probably more usefully spent being on guard against unreasonable prejudice that hurts everyone. I think there are a number of studies showing that fat people are less likely to get hired, have lower salaries, etc. Now MAYBE that's an appropriate outcome based on lower health/energy levels associated with being fat, but it seems a lot more likely that unfounded stereotyping is at work.
The image I always think of is when two people are seated next to each other on an airplane, one an overweight not-especially-attractive woman and the other a handsome man with a perfect body weight. Knowing nothing about either one of them, people will make assumptions that the woman is a lazy slob and the man is a competent, intelligent go-getter.
But it is perfectly possible that the woman has lost 50 pounds over the past year and is continuing her admirable progress, while the man sitting next to her is embezzling funds from his company and two-timing his pregnant wife. We really can't be sure which of the two is the morally superior simply by looking at them.