Land Of The Giants
For those who missed it in the comments, behold Guardian World, where all things are possible:
I’m sensing mixed messages.
And so, on one page we’re reminded of some unhappy realities:
Prof Jamie Waterall, Public Health England’s national lead for cardiovascular disease, said: “It’s worrying that so many people are at risk of dying unnecessarily from heart attack and stroke. [But] I was unsurprised … given that we have a population that’s becoming more obese and we have major problems with things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, alcohol and physical inactivity.” […] 80% of heart attacks and strokes are preventable, he stressed.
To summarise. Hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, gallbladder disease, stroke, osteoarthritis, joint failure, incontinence, sleep apnea, breathing problems, depression, anxiety, and cancer.
I know. Let’s call it “body positivity.”
However, elsewhere in the Guardian, we’re informed – by “an 18-stone woman who refuses to diet,” a self-styled “feminist killjoy” – of much more pressing matters. Specifically, that obesity tends to limit one’s access to a flattering wardrobe, which is a form of oppression; that taking selfies from above, to minimise double chins, is a form of “fatphobia” and therefore oppression; and that restaurants often fail to provide widened, armless, reinforced chairs in order to accommodate their more girthful customers. Which is, obviously, a form of oppression. The oversized author, Virgie Tovar, helpfully instructs the non-obese in how to change their wicked ways.
Presumably, then, we must avoid becoming heavily overweight while acting as though we’re doing it for no reason whatsoever.
[ Added via the comments: ]I don’t generally care about how big someone is and I manage to get through the day without making gratuitous remarks about other people’s size. But I have noticed a recurring dynamic, whereby someone will get fat and obviously be unhappy about it, while being intensely reactive to even the most cautious acknowledgement of either their size or its effect on their mood and health. And this defensiveness can lead to all kinds of mental contortion and some quite bizarre behaviour. Not least among self-styled “fat activists.”
And so we see endless articles in which activists bemoan their unhappy lot and the seemingly life-ruining difficulties of being obese, while the most practical solution, the one over which they might exert some leverage – losing weight – is either not mentioned at all – as, for instance, here – or is disdained as both a personal affront and a betrayal of The Cause, i.e., of whatever martyrdom drama the activists in question imagine themselves engaged in. As one unhappy lady put it, “Intentional weight loss goes against everything that I stand for.”
And so rather than changing the situation, they choose instead to shout at the rain. And complain about people who take selfies from above so as to avoid double chins. Because the drama must go on.
Via Holborn.
a self-styled “feminist killjoy”
Clue.
Let’s call it “body positivity.”
This is what real beauty looks like bigots!
that taking selfies from above, to minimise double chins, is a form of “fatphobia” and therefore oppression
Ah the Guardian.
As I’m sure I’ve said before, I don’t generally care about how big someone is – I tend not to regard it as being any of my business – and I manage to get through the day without making gratuitous remarks about other people’s size. But I have noticed a recurring dynamic, whereby someone will get fat and obviously be unhappy about it, while being intensely reactive to any acknowledgement, however careful, of either their size or its effect on their mood and health. And this defensiveness can lead to all kinds of mental contortion and some quite bizarre behaviour. Not least among self-styled “fat activists.”
It’s not so much the fatness that interests me, as the psychological baggage that often goes with it.
As you know David, our superiors must be made immune from the consequences of their actions, no matter how obvious they are, or how easy they can be solved by their own hand. It is up to us mere peasants to bend and contort our minds (and wallets) to accommodate their inflated egos (and bodies.)
So advertisements of hot women in bikinis on the London Underground are banned, yet we allow women to bask in their fat glory. Yet to demonise said fat women is to degrade them and fatshame them. I am no Adonis but fuck me this is getting more ridiculous by the hour.
…I tend not to regard it as being any of my business…
Except, as HD points out, and as you have frequently mentioned, you will be made to care, and sometimes it can become your business. You know one of these semi-ambulatory Hesco bastions isn’t going to stand aside so you can go through the emergency exit they can’t fit readily through, or spring for two airplane (or ground conveyance, for that matter) seats so that a) they are not overflowing into yours, b) not causing a two or three seat assembly to be so overloaded that it fails in an otherwise survivable crash.
Granted, those are extreme cases, but having been stuck between two seriously overloaded mobility scooters in a narrow store aisle, there are plenty of minor nuisances with which one might have to contend because of the entitled Brobdingnagian Brigade.
P.S., regarding the photo above, when you have to have a thigh gap poorly Photoshopped in, you might need to cut back a tad.
this is getting more ridiculous by the hour.
Some people will find losing weight more difficult than others, whether for reasons of biology – leptin deficiency, insulin conditions, some prescription drugs, etc. – or for psychological ones – for instance, relying on food for comfort. But the vast majority of fat people are simply too sedentary and consume far too much sugar and carbohydrates. Both of which can be corrected, or at least greatly reduced, with a little diligence.
In diets, however, diligence is not included – you have to provide it yourself. And apparently, it’s easier to not care if your children can’t climb a flight of stairs without sweating and wheezing, and blaming restaurants for failing to provide reinforced seats.
This is what real beauty looks like bigots!
Hmm…nope, not even a chub. Ironic?
Some people will find losing weight more difficult than others, whether for reasons of biology…
True, but only in the rarest of cases do any of those causes lead to the levels of morbid obesity the “body positivity” crowd wants us to believe is just a normal variant. Further, as every dictator, chain gang, and military basic training course that has ever been has proved, anyone can lose weight by using more calories than consumed.
Related, speaking of psychological derangement…
I can imagine the Cosmo woman making a killing at a reverse strip club. She struts out on stage naked. The audience then throws her dollar bills for every article of clothing she puts on.
I suppose it’s no surprise that people like the “fat positivity” crowd exist. What’s astounding is that they find people willing to play along with their delusions.
P.S., regarding the photo above, when you have to have a thigh gap poorly Photoshopped in, you might need to cut back a tad.
Um, that’s not the Zapruder film we’re looking at.
Or in this case, “Look you’re just too big to fit in society. Goodbye.”
The “population that’s becoming more obese” applies to proles waddling around supermarkets feeding their children sugary snacks. The fat girl cover-model belongs to a more elevated realm, where the rules of human nutrition are subordinate to the principles of how
Brad is going to be sorry that he ignored me for that simpering Sandra Dee lookalike, erm, we as a culture need to Have a Conversation about our socially-determined beauty standards.True, but only in the rarest of cases do any of those causes lead to the levels of morbid obesity the “body positivity” crowd wants us to believe is just a normal variant.
Getting that fat is a subconscious form of self-destructive behaviour no different from cutting or copious visible tattoos and piercings.
You know, tall women don’t fit in airplane seats and cars either, they’re not on fashion show runways, but I don’t see anybody out there agitating for -their- rights.
True, but only in the rarest of cases do any of those causes lead to the levels of morbid obesity the “body positivity” crowd wants us to believe is just a normal variant.
When I pull out my high school year books – 1969-72 – there is a variety of body types but almost no one on the scale of the Cosmo or Guardian gals. Some skinnier, some a little overweight, but morbidly obese?
Look at the crowds of youngsters at Woodstock. Same thing.
Then, most of us of that era grew up with parents who were kids during the Depression & WWII and things like snacking between meals was almost unknown. And one would never ever give lip to one’s mom in a supermarket in demand of eating snacks off the shelf while shopping. Not if one wanted to live until dinner.
And we mustn’t forget the endlessly charming Lindy West.
And this defensiveness can lead to all kinds of mental contortion and some quite bizarre behaviour.
I know a few people who are morbidly obese, with a wide range of reactions to being so. Some of it is preventable, but some really is is genetic. It differs from person to person.
One friend in particular, whose entire male family follows this trend, changed diet and exercise considerably 15 years ago as his weight started to creep up. He takes his doctor’s advice, he took up karate to keep in shape, and he’s now a black belt. He’s definitely not sitting on the couch all day feeding his face, but he’s still significantly overweight, despite all efforts. I sympathize, because he really is taking it seriously, and I can only imagine what he’d be like if he wasn’t exercising and eating right.
Conversely, others I know are… less committed to addressing the issue. Not surprisingly, the ones who take zero responsibility for it are also the least healthy. Imagine that.
Regardless of the cause of their frame, none of them celebrate being 50 pounds over their healthy weight, let alone advocate becoming such.
There’s a big difference between not mocking those with disabilities and advocating becoming disabled. One is common (or should be) courtesy, and entirely sane. The other is howling at the moon insanity. It’s really not difficult to confuse the two, and yet the people manage.
We’ve come a long way, baby.
Another opinion about plus size women is sung by Doctor Feelgood in 1962.
“Now you talk about women
I love em all
I love em big and
Then I love em tall
But if you don’t weigh
What I want, baby
Don’t come around at all”
“Hey, all of you women
Now, don’t come around
Unless you weigh around
Four-hundred pounds”
And here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=46&v=KcGsWVKtiuM
There’s a big difference between not mocking those with disabilities and advocating becoming disabled
That.
Tall women are on fashion show runways. Most models are 5’9” or taller.
https://www.whowhatwear.com/average-model-height/slide26
There’s a big difference between not mocking those with disabilities and advocating becoming disabled.
I have a friend who wouldn’t wish her rheumatoid arthritis on any one — she just wants people to know that even if someone appears obese, don’t be that person making snide comments in the checkout line because you don’t know that the weight isn’t a result of medication.
OT … but holy crap … the incivility of our age continues with Serena Williams being the Hillary Clinton of Tennis.
Not surprisingly, the ones who take zero responsibility for it are also the least healthy. Imagine that.
Which reminds me of the Guardian’s former fat person Stacie Huckeba, whose screaming fits and elaborate rationalisations proved somewhat entertaining. And who now spends much of her time excusing obesity as wholesome and beautiful, while admitting to great relief and a sense of “freedom” since losing weight herself and regaining a normal size, due to the chronic discomfort and breathing problems that plagued her when she was larger.
The word dissonance comes to mind.
“P.S., regarding the photo above, when you have to have a thigh gap poorly Photoshopped in, you might need to cut back a tad.”
Thanks, Muldoon, I had missed that during my initial ¼ second viewing of the image. Helpful of you.
If anyone has trouble with comments not appearing, email me and I’ll make an offering to the spam filter.
“Related”
https://twitter.com/OrwellNGoode/status/1038823178099990530
https://www.studyfinds.org/study-quarter-college-students-diganosed-mental-health-condition/
I have wondered if high-fructose corn syrup affects the mind as well as the body. It’s been about 35 years since HFCS has become very difficult to avoid in the U. S., and during that time the population has grown not only steadily fatter, but steadily crazier. I have also wondered if the emasculation of men in the developed world has something to do with birth-control pills, which most women will continue to take for the first 4-8 weeks of pregnancy because they do not yet know they are pregnant. No one knows the effects of saturating a developing male brain with extra female hormones, but I intuitively suspect they can’t be good. For that matter, no one knows the effects on a woman of walking around in a state of pseudo-pregnancy for 20-30 years. Again, I suspect that suddenly jumping from (pseudo) pregnancy to menopause can’t be good. And suppose HFCS + injudicious hormone use is a double whammy. And then you have the antibiotics and hormones in the food supply (in the U.S., at least), which may raise the problem to a triple whammy.
It would be nice if it were pooitically possible to research these questions.
It would also be nice if I could type the word “politically” correctly.
However, elsewhere in the Guardian, we’re informed … of much more pressing matters.
Whether this is the kind of sloppiness common amongst self-appointed political officers of the people such as Virgie Tovar or whether this is the handiwork of a mischievous sub-editor after a liquid lunch, Item 4 on the list of ways to avoid “fat discrimination”, provides a moment of unintentional comedy:
4. Romantic discrimination
We chalk up a lot of our romantic decisions to evolutionary biology, but the truth is our partner choice is highly influenced by social expectations and ideals. If we lived in Mauritania, for example, where fatness is the beauty ideal, we would have no difficulty finding “biological” rationalisation for that attraction. We are taught who is beautiful, and get social cues about who to avoid choosing as a partner.
Rather than taking you through to a page explaining the alleged Mauritanian preference for larger-sized ladies, clicking on “Mauritania” in that paragraph instead takes you to a full list of Guardian articles on the country which include the following:
Women’s rights and gender equality Jail fear prevents women in Mauritania from filing rape complaints, study finds
Modern-day slavery in focus The unspeakable truth about slavery in Mauritania – Though outlawed, slavery persists in Mauritania.
Modern-day slavery in focus US warned Mauritania’s ‘total failure’ on slavery should rule out trade benefits
Women’s rights and gender equality Threat of marriage hangs over young Malian refugee girls in Mauritania
Women’s rights and gender equality Child marriage in Mauritania: ‘When it has ended, I will be so happy’ – video
Given such a heavy and consistent focus on on Mauritania’s issues with human trafficking, slavery, and the exploitation of girls and women in The Guardian‘ own pages over the last few years, it does seem to be a spectacularly poorly chosen example of a culture where “body positivity” is praised …
it does seem to be a spectacularly poorly chosen example of a culture where “body positivity” is praised
Our betters at work.
A song.
Darn you, Farnsworth, darn you to Heck! You made me click back to the photo and look between her legs!
When one’s skin color is no protection from the Social Justice Inquisition.
In the first picture the woman appears to have a string of apples around her neck. Is this to tide her over between breakfast and brunch perhaps.
We went from the compound clauses and casual wordplay of 1947’s songs to “She a ho She a ho, she a ho, fuck that shit” in less than a century. Ain’t progress great?
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that not one of the ‘ten ways’ involves actual weight loss.
Also, that is some Drudge-level juxtaposition, Grauniad.
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that not one of the ‘ten ways’ involves actual weight loss.
Losing weight, while by far the most practical option, is either not mentioned at all – as, for instance, here – or is disdained as both a personal affront and a betrayal of The Cause, i.e., of whatever martyrdom drama they imagine themselves engaged in. As one activist put it, “Intentional weight loss goes against everything that I stand for.”
Well, OK, I guess I am a narrow minded bigot then, Dan, you don’t mind if I call you Dan, do you ?
Back to the main topic, this brings new meaning to heavy mechanized brigade.
Via Ace’s ONT and strangely apropos: Let’s dance!
I like “pooitically”. It should be a word.
…our superiors must be made immune from the consequences of their actions
“That didn’t happen.
And if it did, it wasn’t that bad.
And if it was, that’s not a big deal.
And if it is, that’s not my fault.
And if it was, I didn’t mean it.
And if I did…
You deserved it.”
He takes his doctor’s advice, he took up karate to keep in shape, and he’s now a black belt. He’s definitely not sitting on the couch all day feeding his face, but he’s still significantly overweight, despite all efforts. I sympathize, because he really is taking it seriously, and I can only imagine what he’d be like if he wasn’t exercising and eating right.
Is he taking his doctor’s advice on diet as well? That could be the problem.
Instalanche!. Sound “Stand To” stat!
“She weighed two hundred and three
but that was OK by me, it was lots of … action”
Steve Harley.
Heavy Mechanized brigade
The phrase “useless eaters” takes on a new resonance, I find.
In the first picture the woman appears to have a string of apples around her neck.
I doubt fruits and vegetables are her food of choice.
FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY DON’T CLICK THE LINK!!
“Related”
https://twitter.com/OrwellNGoode/status/1038823178099990530
Posted by: sH2 | September 09, 2018 at 18:02
=========
I do not hold with the safe spaces idiocy but this is a case where a decent human being would have provided a TRIGGER WARNING.
Expect a bill from the sizable team of therapists I now need to employ. Be advised that 50 gallons of eye bleach does not come cheap.
The phrase “useless eaters” takes on a new resonance, I find.
Indeed. A bit of searching reveals that bariatric scooters, which this lot would need, have a top speed of around 3.4 MPH, or slower than a brisk walk, so as a fighting force of extraordinary magnitude, they fall a bit short.
David, it looks like you also got a SmallDeadAnimals-alanche.
Is he taking his doctor’s advice on diet as well? That could be the problem.
He’s seen a number of doctors and dietitians over the years. I’m not privy to the details, nor have I asked. He has mentioned that there’s an issue with insulin response, but that’s all.
I’m inferring that you mean that this could be a manifestation of bad medical dietary advice, but that’s unlikely. As mentioned, the male side of his family tree all have (or had, for those deceased) had similar issues, and numerous doctors have been consulted by various family members. The likelihood that it is bad diet is possible, I imagine, but I think it’s highly unlikely.
Adam, maybe we should form the Pooitical Party!
Notice also the other headline about scallops. So with the great 2018 Scallop War between France and Great Britain where primacy in the English channel is being contested, the Guardian is firmly in the camp of abject surrender with the suggestion that we shouldn’t even be eating them.
“…maybe we should form the Pooitical Party!”
But,by definition, it would be crap…
As one unhappy lady put it, “Intentional weight loss goes against everything that I stand for.”
There’s your problem.
@Farnsworth
They were off date-wise, but not by much
“Intentional weight loss goes against everything that I stand, very briefly, for.”
FIFH(er)
The contradictory headlines regarding obesity remind me of philosophy professor Stephen Hicks’s book Explaining Postmodernism (this very blog introduced me to Hicks). Hicks notes that from Aristotle to the Englightenment the leading thinkers rejected contradictions as a sign of, well, contradiction and a poorly-thought-out argument. In contrast, postmodernsim and the radical left tend to _embrace_ contradictions. Hicks traces this trend centuries back, to Hegel. But one modern day result of this pattern is a radical-left newspaper condemning obesity _and_ condemning anti-obesity — all at the same time, as if there were no contradiction.
Once you see the pattern, it’s everywhere on the left. There are 50 genders vs. there is a gender pay-gap between men and women. Gender is a social construct vs. transgender people have different brain structures from non-trans. and from Hicks’s book: All cultures are equal and deserve respect vs. western culture is uniquely bad.
You’re kinder than I am, Tom. I was thinking something along the lines of, “Intentional weight loss goes against everything that I sit in a motorized scooter for.”
Fascinating what one finds when doing random headline chasing . . .
Military To End Fat Shaming, Embrace Full-Bodied Warriors
Military To End Fat Shaming, Embrace Full-Bodied Warriors
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Are you allowed to eat jelly doughnuts, Private Pyle?
Private Gomer Pyle: Sir, no, sir!
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: And why not, Private Pyle?
Private Gomer Pyle: Sir, because I’m too heavy, sir!
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Because you are a disgusting fat body, Private Pyle!
Private Gomer Pyle: Sir, yes, sir!
(Sniff)
https://youtu.be/5NP8y63Ms4o
Fighting anorexia since 2005.
The good fight continues.
http://www.heartattackgrill.com/