Think Big, Badly
In the comments, Mr Muldoon steers us to this item of possible interest:
As the fat-positivity movement has gained momentum, so, too, have debates around how fat folks should lead healthy lives. [Sonalee] Rashatwar, though, considers how sizeism is affected by racism, misogyny, classism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism, and she counsels people against intentional weight loss.
Well, we mustn’t be practical. That wouldn’t be woke. And regaining viable proportions, such that one’s health is not at risk and one’s lifespan needlessly shortened, sounds way too much like work and responsibility. Instead, attention is displaced to a more theoretical, and conveniently improbable, project:
Rashatwar traces contemporary fatphobia to colonial brutality and how enslaved people were treated. Citing researcher-advocate Caleb Luna, Rashatwar said curing anti-fatness would mean dismantling society’s foundation: “I love to talk about undoing Western civilisation because it’s just so romantic to me.”
Hm. Lose weight, or topple Western civilisation? It’s the fat person’s eternal dilemma.
Ms Rashatwar is a “community organiser” and “Instagram therapist,” a self-styled healer and woman of insight, and is therefore not at all grandiose, self-excusing or pathologically unrealistic. And so, her therapeutic endeavours include posting “really, really political and radical content” about how terrible capitalism is, how terrible the police are, and how righteous it is to be obese and consequently to live with needless limitations and increasing discomfort.
Ms Rashatwar has chosen to blame her own health issues, including high blood pressure, on “weight stigma” and “white supremacy,” rather than on her size and prodigious eating habits. When not equating routine health advice with eugenics and “Nazi science,” Ms Rashatwar, a self-described “donut queen,” claims that “diet culture and fat phobia are forms of sexual violence.”
The being named Caleb Luna, mentioned above, has cropped up here before. Readers are welcome to ponder said being’s credibility as a “researcher-advocate,” an authority to cite.
‘Rashatwar traces contemporary fatphobia to colonial brutality and how enslaved people were treated.’
I suspect that slaves of old [and perhaps to this day?] were not fed enough, were worked very hard with minimum medical care and hence did not become clinically obese using massive amounts of medical services, community resources and funding. Her future medical issues consequent on pathological obesity include cardio-vascular disease, peripheral circulation issues leading to gangrene, blindness and so on. How proud she will be in her wheel chair just like a lady who lives down the road from me who has lost all toes on one foot and half the other leg as well. I guess the only benefit of being so fat is that fat people don’t sink, whereas lean athletic types – high muscle mass, low body fat – have to keep on paddling to stay afloat if they ever fall overboard.
It’s as if leftist lifestyle advice were designed to result in misery and ruin. And exploitable resentment.
Well, we mustn’t be practical. That wouldn’t be woke. And regaining viable proportions, such that one’s health is not at risk and one’s lifespan needlessly shortened, sounds way too much like work and responsibility.
That.
I scrolled back (quickly) through 194 weeks of her Instagram posts and I’ve just got to say I’m feeling really good about myself at this moment.
I’m really hawt compared to that sack of potatoes.
That.
See also, “I shouldn’t have to get a job or pay my debts. That sounds like being an adult. Let’s topple capitalism instead.”
Why, it’s almost as if there were a pattern.
We are witnessing the bifurcation of the human species.
She could dismantle Western civilization just by sitting on it.
As I read through the article about Miss Rashatwar yesterday I resisted my natural tendency to fisk the whole mess, but as I was sufficiently gobsmacked at the latest excuse for being a member of the Brobdingnagian Community that I did skip past this that you quoted:
I guess it is just peachy with her and her crew at the Radical Therapy Center if you unintentionally lose weight because of cancer or other disease, being shipwrecked, in a gulag, or just being a Venezuelan these days. However, for a “Licensed Clinical Social Worker”, an ilk who have no particular real training or expertise in clinical manifestations and sequellae of morbid obesity, to encourage patients not to lose weight and reassure them that being so large that small children and cats tend to go into orbit around you is just fine, is malpractice, and any of her “patients” who suffer from problems secondary to having been encouraged to become or remain of zeppelinish size should sue her and the “Radical Therapy Center” into oblivion.
Got all the blocks checked, but in English I do believe this means the purported counselling boils down to, “nothing you do is ever your fault”.
Well, we mustn’t be practical. That wouldn’t be woke.
And we mustn’t be truthful either, practicality being forever nested with the common sense of an objective reality. Because if we were we’d not have co-opted a simple past tense of wake when we’re really passing off lies.
There’s nothing especially aware about society having an intermittent spate of supporting and coddling programmed unawareness.
At some point the endlessly, dangerously generous spectator normal should analyze the word in the context of the clinically false and frequently pathological mindset that co-opted it, and compare it to what had been – until it was destroyed both through activism and passivity – the nature of traditional truth, namely being the product of a mind reborn into a conscious and unrelenting pursuit of the objective reality of thoroughly accountable and responsible existence.
In other words, the abolition of self, which is the central tenet of any functional spiritual discipline, having preceded – and thoroughly debunking – the self-delusion of the contemporary, dysfunctional postmodernist who doesn’t just (re)create alternate realities out of willingly duping him or herself, but who supports the brazen lie of wokeness with whole institutions.
There’s nothing awoke about it – Get Woke is a grammatically cheap slogan at best – and it is instead the tired old programmed deception, one that true to its form will disguise itself as being not inferior to truth and knowledge, but actually possessing its higher form. Woke, for surely reality is itself a deception, which makes it a choice, and yours is asleep, QED.
Like personality disorder has never happened before. Anyway, some patient spectating normal with suitable credentials might want to develop that giant fib into a work exposing it for what it is because it’s a culture-killer and it’s a soul-killer and it is so by tacit admission, will, and desire.
On being put on a diet by her parents:
having my food consumption policed meant i developed creative and adaptive ways to continue being able to eat the foods my body wanted to be able to eat
OK, being forced to go on a diet by her parents probably did suck and was foredoomed to failure, but I find the phrasing interesting here: “to eat the foods my body wanted to be able to eat”. She was just following her body’s orders, folks.
to encourage patients not to lose weight and reassure them that being so large that small children and cats tend to go into orbit around you is just fine, is malpractice,
Ah, but in the unhinged world of ‘fat activism’, such sentiments are commonplace, and weight loss, even if done to avert a health crisis, is considered an affront to “social justice” and a form of betrayal.
The psychology in play is really quite twisted and degenerate.
I find the phrasing interesting here: “to eat the foods my body wanted to be able to eat”. She was just following her body’s orders, folks.
Infantilism as piety. It’s interesting how such articles – and they’re practically a staple now – boil down to some variation of, “I should be applauded and desired for my ineffectiveness, neoteny and lack of self-possession.”
Heh.
To be entirely fair, it *is* Western Civilization that leads to “fatphobia”; prior to the extraordinary wealth produced by Western Civilization, nearly everyone lived at the edge of starvation so the problem didn’t arise. Destroy Western Civilization, things will go back to historical norms, and there will be no more fat people to be “phobic” about.
Toppling western civilization does indeed sound romantic.
Right up until the government becomes despotic, grocery shelves become barren, water becomes undrinkable, power becomes sporadic, medical services become scarce, crime and homelessness become commonplace, and plague spreads. Then not so much.
It’s interesting how such articles – and they’re practically a staple now – boil down to some variation of, “I should be applauded and desired for my ineffectiveness, neoteny and lack of self-possession.”
Lack of self-possession indeed.
At Protein Wisdom dicentra observes:
It’s more useful to recognize the three main regions of the brain: the lizard brain, the mammal brain, and the frontal lobes. […] It’s not a matter, therefore, of refactoring society to refactor the mammal brain, because it can’t be done. We’re stuck with our mammal instincts. The best we can do is recognize that the instincts are there and through the use of reason behave in a more enlightened manner.
Persuasion, in other words. Convince people that the world is a better place if that mammalian instinct is overridden by reason.
The perpetual biological struggle up to or down from our various social and cultural apexes: we can reason or we can react like something less than our intuitively rational children, accept anything that comes down the pike to stir a malignant base whim, and become instinctive, projecting malcontents. For reason is dead and reality is open for interpretation, especially if we can tribalize it and/or leverage an inner pathology, framing it as a higher, awakened consciousness.
So again, thought cannot not be a choice – “I have no philosophy” is a philosophy – and just as politics are downstream from culture, society is downstream from morality and its institutions. Or in the case of progressive postmodern secularism, the dedicated, subverted, overturned want thereof.
Where does that class get its foundations? They’re mainlined from political media and its radicalized feeder academy. All the intervening structures are gone.
Having torn it all down, the fundamental aspect of our times can be reduced to the wanton impulse to then continue into openly normalizing the abnormal.
The being named Caleb Luna, mentioned above, has cropped up here before.
Which reminds me: I haven’t seen the Scold-O-Mat 9000 lately. Is it out for repair?
I haven’t seen the Scold-O-Mat 9000 lately. Is it out for repair?
It’s in the shop. After heavy use, the coils build up with clag.
Totally OT: I’m 150 miles due south of Ridgecrest, California, which experienced a 7.1 earthquake yesterday after the 6.4 on 7/4. I felt both but last night’s 7.1 was a long rolling one that lasted 40 seconds. Unnerving.
And while you hear mostly about how people in Los Angeles experienced it [“like wow, the chandeliers were swayin’, man!”] because that’s where the media is headquartered, Ridgecrest is a community of 29,000 people. My husband’s cousins live there and since the July 4 6.4, there’s been a swarm of quakes. About 4200 of them with at least 14 of 4.0 and above. Last night was rough as fires broke out in the north part of town. Houses not damaged on the 4th now might be uninhabitable. Please keep those people in your thoughts.
Lose weight, or topple Western civilisation?
Topple Western civ and you will lose weight. See: The Venezuelan Diet.
take it from me, a semi grown up kid who was emotionally manipulated into non consensual diets starting at ~ 9-10yo
First off, being an actual kid … not some adult who is PeterPanning her way through life … means your parents decide everything for you until you have demonstrated the maturity to take on things yourself. Food seems to be the weapon she’s using to get back at her parents — like a toddler smearing their feces on the wall above the crib.
having my food consumption policed meant i developed creative and adaptive ways to continue being able to eat the foods my body wanted to be able to eat
More childish rebellion. As a kid, when mom would say “two cookies, that’s all” … or … “no snacks this close to dinner time” … I used to think “just wait until I grow up! I can eat a whole bag of cookies at breakfast and no one can stop me!” Growing up I realized why that would be a bad idea and never did it.
Poor Sonalee, she’s still got mommy/daddy issues and that’s what makes her fat.
Rashatwar said curing anti-fatness would mean dismantling society’s foundation: “I love to talk about undoing Western civilisation because it’s just so romantic to me.”
Honk Honk!
Honk Honk!
‘Fat activism’ does seem to entail unrealism, dishonesty and some fairly contorted thinking. And exactly how much “dismantling” of civilisation is one woman’s neurosis worth?
See also Ms Stacie Huckeba, who told Guardian readers that obesity is “true beauty” and something to celebrate and encourage, while simultaneously admitting that her own obesity resulted in breathing difficulties, back pain and continual discomfort, along with fits of deranged screaming, and while admitting to great relief and a sense of “freedom” upon losing weight.
The word dissonance hardly covers it. So yes, honk.
like a toddler smearing their feces on the wall above the crib.
This actually happens? And the toddlers live?
Also regarding earthquake, still waiting to hear from a cousin there myself. We figured, him being the type, said f-it, did a once around, and went back to bed and slept in. It’s about 9:45 out there now. Hoping it’s just communication lines down.
Toppling western civilization does indeed sound romantic.
Stating the obvious, if Miss Rashatwar wanted to be both romantic and shut of the perils of western civilization she could hie herself with great dispatch to Pakistan or wherever on the sub-continent her obviously smarter ancestors left, probably because they were fed up with all the romance.
When you get down to the bottom, isn’t this really a global warming issue? Science tells us that heat makes things expand and an awful lot of people are getting really big.
Instalanche!
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/335237/
Instalanche!
Sshh. Everybody hide.
Hoping it’s just communication lines down.
Electricity has been spotty and internet, unless accessed via cell phone, has been down. Cell phone towers, too, have been overloaded.
There’s been no reported deaths or serious injuries. Most of the town has been built post-1940, so under building codes that address earthquake mitigation. Worst has been a mobile home park where the residences have been knocked off their foundations. Broken gas lines appear to be the main cause of fires.
Citing researcher-advocate Caleb Luna…
The bottom falls out there with a “whoosh!”, doesn’t it?
It’s like reading a serious article and coming across, “Citing researcher-advocate Benny Hill…”
The bottom falls out there with a “whoosh!”, doesn’t it?
It doesn’t help matters, that’s for sure.
obesity is “true beauty” and something to celebrate and encourage, while simultaneously admitting that her own obesity resulted in breathing difficulties, back pain and continual discomfort, along with fits of deranged screaming
Eating yourself to morbid obesity takes effort and is as much a form of self-destructive coping mechanism as cutting or drug use.
Unlike cutting, though, at least in the advanced stages it really requires the active cooperation of minimum one other person –when you get so vast that you are effectively house-or bed-bound the effort required to get the food necessary to maintain that bulk is often beyond what you can manage on your own, and an enabler becomes a prerequisite.
I had to decide very early if I was going to assimilate into a structure that hurt us all (white supremacists fatphobia), or whether I would try to exist outside that structure
The Beckies in 4th grade didn’t invite her to their birthday parties. In Sonalee’s retconned version (“It’s almost like I’m healing younger versions of myself by trying to find language to describe what happened.”) she’s the one in control and doing the rejection.
a semi grown up kid who was emotionally manipulated into non consensual diets starting at ~ 9-10yo
Her immigrant parents, unequipped to help her navigate American tween socialization, could address her food addiction but not its cause.
Rashatwar, now 31, endured an abusive relationship in her early 20s.
It doesn’t say, but I wouldn’t be surprised if her abusive partner turned out to be black. It would be consistent with racial differences in preferring a bit of meat on the bones, and it would explain some of the language about the internalized ancestral trauma of slavery.
Rashatwar traces contemporary fatphobia to colonial brutality
Indeed, it’s all interconnected. If you draw a diagram with circles and arrows, there’s going to be a big blob in the middle that everything else is connected to. What else could that blob be other than the British East India Company?
Shamelessly stolen, but appropriate…
I think it is worth pointing out that with our current system of transport, Western Civilisation can be escaped with a single flight to somewhere in Africa and likely a bus ride will grant you freedom from the oppression of Western Civilisation (as well as running water, power, etc).
Think Big, Badly
And think bad, bigly. 🙂
Thought this Harvard student’s estimate of SJWs being only 5% of the student population might cheer everyone up.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/07/what-conservatives-get-wrong-about-campus-wars-woke-culture/
There’s been no reported deaths or serious injuries…Broken gas lines appear to be the main cause of fires.
Good luck, Darleen.
Thought this Harvard student’s estimate of SJWs being only 5% of the student population might cheer everyone up.
So the other 95% are a bunch of pussies who let just 5% of the campus population make decisions on what they should do and what they should think? Yeah, I’m not feeling much cheer.
But if the percentages were reversed the SJWs would have set up re-education camps by now. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
If you really think only 5% of college kiddies are SJW you’re whistling past the graveyard. Now one, a sophist perhaps, might make the argument that only 5% are actively leading and/or engaged in daily efforts to further the SJW cause. Maybe. But 5% of a population does not control a culture without tacit support of a much larger segment of the population.
I don’t think that, the kid who wrote the article thinks that. Having only been on a campus twice in my life, I wouldn’t presume to guess.
In other news, the TERFWars just got more bitter:
https://twitter.com/NationalTheatre/status/1147248680724025349
but in English I do believe this means the purported counselling boils down to, “nothing you do is ever your fault”.
It’s the feminist ideal.
Some of that “really, really political and radical content.”
Today’s word is psychodrama.
Lack of self-possession indeed.
And so, rather than changing the situation that’s making them unhappy and neurotic, i.e., being very fat, the activists choose instead to shout at the rain. Because losing weight would require effort and a little self-discipline – and an admission of error – whereas shouting at the rain – in this case, demanding that Western civilisation be fundamentally unmade – only requires pretension and dishonesty. And so, rather than dialling back on the carbs and sugar, and taking an occasional brisk walk, they choose a lifetime of resentment, complaining about people who take selfies from above so as to avoid double chins.
Which is, we’re told, oppressive.
And when overweight Guardian columnists are claiming to be oppressed by how other people take selfies, I think it’s safe to say that reality is rapidly disappearing in the rear-view mirror.
To the general topic of fat people who just so happen to be annoying…My wife works the summers at a small, family run lakeside marina renting out pontoon boats, ski boats, Boston Whalers, etc. The Boston Whalers, being the smallest power boats are also the least expensive power boats. BWs are officially rated to carry six people but the marina limits this to four. TBH, more that two adults on one of those things is a bit cramped for me but four is OK. Anyway, an exceptionally fat lady reserved a BW for her and her two family/friends/whatevs for July 4. When she got there she discovered that seat-wise she would have to sit on what is effectively the built-in ice chest. Which is basically how the boat is rated for six people, on a small boat the ice chest is sufficiently reinforced to be used as a seat, normally to hold two people so one fat one shouldn’t be an issue and as the boat is officially rated for six, two normal sized people and one especially fat one is not a serious problem, nor should it be exceptionally awkward for just tooling around the lake with no particular place to go. Well the lady threw a fit, said that there was no way that she was going to ride on a cooler. This being July 4 and now at the last minute, there were no larger boats available to rent out. Eventually her friends went without her. She insisted that they get the rental for free. Eventually, just to shut her up and get her out of the office, and as it has been a good weekend money wise, the owner’s son gave her 1/3 off the rental price (they paid for all the fuel used) just to get rid of her.
Also, with the non-powerboats that they rent, kayaks, etc. there are weight limitations. Single kayaks have a weight limit of 250 lbs and the doubles at 500 lbs. Well, this creates awkward situations where people, obviously too large, come in and want to rent kayaks. I don’t know that they have ever come out and said, “No, you’re too fat” but my wife and her coworkers are put in the awkward situation of trying to casually mention the weight limitations (which are of course documented on the website and the various advertising flyers).
I don’t think that, the kid who wrote the article thinks that.
Of course, of course. And by “If you think…” the “you” I reference was the kid who wrote the article. Why would one think otherwise?
You are a brave man indeed for wading that far into her cesspit of an Instagram, I bailed after the video of her eating a carrot, probably as a revolutionary act of thus denying it to a thin supremacist.
Right, it is both just and good that I burn up time because the fatter you are, the harder it is just properly to examine you, I need the sonar off an Ohio class submarine to listen to you heart, lungs, or other innards because the sounds through my stethoscope are so muffled, and trying to find a vein for a simple blood draw is like trying to find the Lost Dutchman gold mine. Meanwhile, everyone else waiting can just suck it up as long as your feelz don’t get hurt because you want me to be both praising and encouraging your utter lack of self control. Speaking of which…
I’m going out on a limb and guess that is always. Stunning and brave.
Arrogant, entitled, and with your own zip code is no way to go through life.
Hi WTP,
I think, therefore I am.
I think.