Tissues At The Ready, People
The word has done incredible damage to my body.
In the pages of Slate, Emily Duke, a woman who “loves carbohydrates,” shares her sorrows as a professional person of girth:
When New York state announced that Phase 1B of vaccinations would include those who are “obese” or “severely obese,” I knew I would qualify. My heart sank into my stomach. I am fat. I am a fat activist. Like a lot of larger-bodied people, I have embraced the word fat. Doing so allows me to buy clothes that fit, rather than those that could fit if I changed.
The last three words of that sentence are perhaps worth keeping in mind.
It allows me to exist.
Which, we’re to assume, the word obese does not. It being less fluffy. With the power to send a fat woman into an emotional tailspin.
Among all the radical self-love coffee mugs I’ve seen, “I love being obese” has never been one of them. The word obese elicits an unparalleled grief in me.
Well, recognition can do that, especially if belated and previously avoided. And incidentally, if your world is one in which “radical self-love coffee mugs” feature prominently, I’d suggest something may be awry.
When I heard the [vaccination] announcement I had been waiting for, I spent three hours in the grocery store trying to figure out what I “should” have for dinner that night.
Three hours. One might call that a telling preoccupation. Ms Duke then detours, at length, into recollections of being in therapy, parental divorce, the “trauma” of dieting, and the woes of being told she is an “emotional eater.”
When I heard the good news about my eligibility for the vaccine… I panicked that I was a bad fat activist. I felt like I was just one weigh-in away from losing my chosen identity because I can’t face a number on a scale… I’d need to know my BMI to ensure I qualified, and I wasn’t sure if I could handle it.
No emotional issues there, thank goodness.
I am, right now, healthier than I have ever been. And I also weigh more than I ever have… I can own being fat, because I have internalised that regardless of my weight, it is my chosen identity,
As to whether Ms Duke’s fatness is being “owned” successfully, free of mental complication, I leave that to the reader.
an identity that ultimately gives me more freedom than it takes away.
Well, I suppose that rather depends on how one feels about the attendant risks of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, gallbladder disease, stroke, osteoarthritis, joint failure, incontinence, sleep apnea, breathing problems, depression, anxiety, and cancer. Compared to which, a form with the word obesity seems fairly trivial. Not the most obvious cause of “incredible damage.” But this, remember, is Slate, where our progressive betters howl about how crushing and unfair everything is. And so, being given priority for a vaccine during a pandemic, while others must wait, is actually, and obviously, a form of oppression. Because words.
It’s also perhaps worth mentioning that Slate’s “community manager” – i.e., comment moderator – has announced that,
I will remove comments that insult her, insult fat people, or contradict the author’s understanding of her own situation.
Which seems to somewhat narrow the scope for meaningful discussion. And in light of which, readers may wish to ponder the following statement by Ms Duke:
As far as I’m concerned, I was fat with BMIs ranging from 14 to 40.
Just ignore the little red warning light. It does that sometimes.
The word obese elicits an unparalleled grief in me.
Today’s words are ‘sense of proportion’.
On Twitter, Ms Duke is emphatic:
But hey, to be clear, Ms Duke is “all for promoting healthy habits,” provided she doesn’t have to do the one thing most likely to achieve that end.
I’m going to take a wild guess and say that the Twitter avatar photo was not taken recently in which case her stated pride in her chosen identity would be somewhat compromised.
I’m going to take a wild guess and say that the Twitter avatar photo was not taken recently in which case her stated pride in her chosen identity would be somewhat compromised.
[ Slides single discoloured peanut along bar. ]
On the house.
the risk of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, gallbladder disease, stroke, osteoarthritis, joint failure, incontinence, sleep apnea, breathing problems, depression, anxiety, and cancer.
You left out amputation of peripheral limb sections and blindness.
As for the BMI, it’s a rough measure. There are very many highly muscular and very fit athletes whose BMI scores would suggest they’re clinically obese, but that’s because muscle is denser than fat while such athletes also tend to be very lean – they cannot afford to carry extra avoirdupois when competing. Whereas this rotund lady/blob would float high out of the water leading to cries of ‘Thar she blows!’, muscular athletes whose body fat scores are under 10% measured more accurately by other means, e.g. under-water weighing or skinfold calipers, actually sink like a rock; they cannot simply lie back in the water and float.
“People can be healthy at any size.”
To an extent, yes. But how is it she recognizes the unhealthiness of anorexic people but not fat people? What if an anorexic person adopts as their “chosen identity” the look of an Auschwitz victim and that makes them feel good?
Where are the anorexic/bulimic activists?
But this, remember, is Slate, where our progressive betters howl about how crushing and unfair everything is.
^ That. I find myself wondering how some of these news sources stay in business. Or conversely, that enough people buy and read their tripe to keep them in business is an indicator of how much of the populace spend their lives wallowing in emotional distress themselves? I got my own issues, Lady – and when my poor-little-me (or maybe not so little, in her – or my – case) glands start acting-up, I hum a stanza from the Eagles to myself:
“You don’t wanna work, you wanna live like a king,
But the Big, Bad World doesn’t owe you a thing,
Get over it!”
And speaking of “buying tripe”, ping!
But this, remember, is Slate, where our progressive betters howl about how crushing and unfair everything is. And so, being given priority for a vaccine during a pandemic, while others must wait, is actually, and obviously, a form of oppression.
Takes a lot of nerve to be a ‘progressive’.
And speaking of “buying tripe”, ping!
Bless you, sir. May you know the simple pleasure of perfect eggs.
But how is it she recognizes the unhealthiness of anorexic people but not fat people?
Because she was anorexic. Her issue isn’t obesity, it’s the unresolved anorexia. Obesity is the self-destructive coping mechanism staving off the even more self-destructive coping mechanism. In her mind, being fat is the thing keeping her from killing herself.
I’ve known a handful of anorexics and it’s very common for them to balloon up to morbid obesity once they start getting treatment. It’s swapping one form of eating disorder for another, and while that’s often a stage of recovery – think of it as climbing down a ladder from very dangerous coping mechanisms to less dangerous ones – failing to address the underlying issues means never getting off the ladder.
So, she’s nuts.
Next?
Her issue isn’t obesity,
As I say whenever this topic crops up, I don’t generally concern myself with other people’s weight. But when self-styled fat activists claim, quite emphatically, to be okay with their size – while clearly not being okay with it – the temptation to pass comment is harder to resist. It’s not the fatness that’s interesting; it’s the mental convolution.
I will remove comments that…contradict the author’s understanding of her own situation.
They said the quiet part out loud.
It’s not the fatness that’s interesting; it’s the mental convolution.
“The human brain is the world’s most powerful computer – and it’s NOT USER-FRIENDLY!” – Anthony Robbins
OK, BMI is not the most useful tool in the world, 200lbs of depleted uranium and 200 pounds of pillow feathers stacked six feet high have the same BMI, however…
I felt like I was just one weigh-in away from losing my chosen identity…
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that this is a question that didn’t require a verbal answer and the “chosen identity” is safe.
…or contradict the author’s understanding of her own situation.
Which is remarkably lacking.
Risks associated with a weigh in ? What, you’ll fall off the scale ? Blyad. Other than the fact that some medications are prescribed by weight, and weight is used to estimate renal function which affects how and what can be prescribed, and to add to the longitudinal history, yep, totally unnecessary. Just suck some blood, always tells the whole story, that whole history and physical thing is a total waste of time.
Yes, whenever I have a patient who wants a second opinion, I always refer him or her to “Grey’s Anatomy”. For anyone curious, “obese anorexics” is a garbage term and in the DSM-V under Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder called “Atypical Anorexia” (an understatement) and made up because it, oddly enough, doesn’t meet the criteria for real anorexia.
Therein lies the problem for which she needs help.
Wait, what ?
Is it an insult to remind Ms. “Healthiest Ever” Duke that her obesity allows her to jump to the front of the vaccine line–ahead of people twice her age–for a reason?
And that reason utterly demolishes all that “obesity is healthy” baloney?
Is it an insult to remind Ms. “Healthiest Ever” Duke that her obesity allows her to jump to the front of the vaccine line–ahead of people twice her age–for a reason?
And that reason utterly demolishes all that “obesity is healthy” baloney?
So yeah, she’s nuts.
And kinda speaks for the average “Salon” folk as well.
A glutton for punishment?
Listen fat lady: no amount of sophistry or whining is going to make me physically attracted to you.
It’s not the fatness that’s interesting; it’s the mental convolution.
Interesting, yes…and dangerous when adopted as government policy to be taught in schools and enforced by police.
Previously in Slate, this delightful piece.
This too.
And the second item here, also from Slate, seems fairly apposite.
Taken at face value, one might assume that the publication is written for, and by, the psychologically marginal.
“radical self-love coffee mugs”
Sadder are the t-shirts.
[ whips out pen and pad ]
Let’s see, I reckon that’s:
15 minutes to exit her vehicle,
5 minutes to catch her breath,
20 minutes waddling through the parking lot,
10 minutes to catch her breath,
10 minutes waiting on next available mobility cart,
1 hour staring lustfully at the donut aisle,
5 minutes picking out vegetables while cursing the patriarchy,
5 minutes screaming at a toddler to wear a mask,
5 minutes returning all the vegetables,
5 minutes lobbing all the donuts into the mobility cart,
20 minutes to checkout and demand the patriarchy assist her in loading her groceries, then
20 minutes waddling back to her car with patriarchy in tow.
Yep, checks out.
Yep, checks out.
We must’ve shopped at the same stores, then…
I find happiness in looking for the silver linings. For instance, while 3-month old white babies* are racist AF they tend to love fat people in my experience. So, there’s that.
via Behind The Black
*Cracker Crumbs?
It allows me to exist.
She’s safe…as long as she doesn’t start singing.
Imagine: The year is 1831 and the Mexican army is marching into Gonzales with the aim of quelling the increasingly restless Texicans’ revolutionary impulses. They arrive at the hodge-podge Texican fort. The comandante draws his saber and shouts, “We’re lifting the restrictions on cannon ownership and leave it to you Texicans to decide what’s best!”.
Same energy.
Her issue isn’t obesity,
Having poked through Slate and Salon, and Scary Mommy and Everyday Feminism, etc., more often than is advisable, it’s curious just how often what’s presented as a political issue seems an awful lot like a mental health issue in a bad disguise.
what’s presented as a political issue seems an awful lot like a mental health issue in a bad disguise.
That
This story reminded me of a local AM radio talk show years ago. A caller was blaming her obesity on her having a “glandular” problem.
The program host quickly shot back, “Lady … the mouth is NOT a gland.”
*click*
“Next caller!”
Same energy.
From our Austinite (of course)…
Those really are the best kinds; now off to the fields, Derek, the beets are not going to be harvested on their own.
A caller was blaming her obesity on her having a “glandular” problem.
That was a widely accepted explanation back in the 70’s and 80’s, at least among the general public. “Cut out the carbs, dammit” was not so popular. On the other hand, I have read that a high-sugar diet can alter the metabolism in ways that greatly increase the body’s tendency to gain (and keep) weight.
what’s presented as a political issue seems an awful lot like a mental health issue in a bad disguise.
agreed, but, further, isn’t what’s tarted up as a ‘mental health issue’ as often as not just poor character?
Same energy.
God, I am soooo bloody sick of these statists weaklings putting things in terms of the WWII generation, which they hate. Sometimes secretly but let’s be serious. Most people, even children of that generation, despise that generation and the real work and sacrifice that they went through. These idiots have no bloody idea what made the Allies able to defeat the Axis. They don’t understand history except what they were told in school. And even that they don’t grasp. And I’m not talking about just the dumb ones. It’s the “smart” ones that really have no clue. Now that that Greatest Generation is (effectively) gone and can no longer speak for itself, they are glamming on to what those people stood for. It’s a F***g disgrace.
It’s the “smart” ones that really have no clue.
Yes, this. Educated into stupidity.
I will remove comments that…contradict the author’s understanding of her own situation.
So is fat the new trans?
I know three people who are, or were, morbidly obese, and they cover pretty much the entire spectrum of self introspection.
Person A comes from a family with a history of obesity and heart problems. He sees his doctor regularly, modified his diet, takes medication, weighs himself daily, and exercises regularly. In fact, he joined a Karate club, and earned his black belt after about 10 years. He’s still obese, but not morbidly so.
Person B has a desk job, eats at his desk, never exercises, and blames his weight on “bad genes”, despite the fact that neither his sister or either of his parents have any weight issues. He figures he’d just “unlucky”, and it has nothing to do with his life choices.
Person C is almost cartoonishly overweight. Unlike the other two, who are both big, but have the weight distributed, his weight is all stomach. He can’t sit in restaurant booths because he can’t fit. At a funeral, he wasn’t able to sit in the church’s pews because he couldn’t fit in. And he blames it all on food companies “making” him eat too much through advertising, and making their foods addictive, as well as things like seasonally affected disorder.
Unsurprisingly, Person A, who realized he had a problem, and adjusted his lifestyle is a lot happier. He may not have solved his weight problem entirely, but he’s accepted it’s an issue, and takes it seriously. He’s not happy about it, but as he puts it, nobody else can lose the weight for him. He’s not always successful, but he works at it.
The other two, who blame the world and sinister forces for “making” them overweight, and who take little to no responsibility, live in varying degrees of misery over it.
There’s acceptance, there’s denial, and then there is delusion. And the last of those three always seems to have a twitter account associated with it.
Okay, this is strange:
On the scene, like a sex-obsessed machine: when a robot writes a play. From the review:
“the drama has a robot protagonist at its centre, played by Jacob Erftemeijer, who travels through nonsequitur scenes”
But of course. I’ve seen “experimental” films in which scenes were assembled at random, and the results were as bizarre and useless as you can imagine. (Any normal person could have predicted this, but even afterwards the highly intellectual creators thought they had done something worthwhile.)
Found via Ann Althouse who comments:
“I need to know what was fed into that artificial intelligence. That had to have been human-written text. If the results are ‘strangely reminiscent of a middle-aged male fantasy,’ I suspect that’s because the writings of fantasy-prone middle-aged men were fed into the nonjudgmental robot. Perhaps the play should be viewed not so much as evidence of the shortcomings of robots but as a window into the weaknesses of human minds. But you have to tell us which human writers were uploaded into the computer!”
They also should tell us who selected the texts. Characteristically, the Grauniad does not raise such questions.
radical self-love coffee mugs
I have three coffee mugs: NASA, Star Trek, and SpaceX. (You may be able to discern a theme here.) While all of them are about things I like, none of them are about me. A subtle distinction, perhaps, but an important one.
Having poked through Slate and Salon, and Scary Mommy and Everyday Feminism, etc., more often than is advisable, it’s curious just how often what’s presented as a political issue seems an awful lot like a mental health issue in a bad disguise.
Based on the patterns observed in this collection of works, I believe women’s suffrage was a mistake.
So is fat the new trans?
Not if Trans Inc has anything to say about it.
Although I think Fat Inc is trying to grab on to the coattails of Trans Inc as not-black people try to get out from under the boot of Race Inc.
what’s presented as a political issue seems an awful lot like a mental health issue in a bad disguise
Well, yes. That was the basis of the slogan “the personal is political”, after all – that whatever sorts of petty miseries and slights a middle-aged woman suffered could not possibly be the result of her unpleasant personality and poor choices, but were instead the work of some vast, shadowy bug-a-boo.
[ Writes down bug-a-boo. ]
but were instead the work of some vast, shadowy bug-a-boo
The West has conveniently conflated the meanings of the words “reason” and “excuse”, and is now a society based on the logic of “the dog ate my [accountability]”.
When your personal belief system goes against the principles of science: math, biology, physics or chemistry it’s not going to end well for you.
When your Government Legislates against those principles your Society has hit the Endgame.
[ Writes down bug-a-boo. ]
Do you know how to do the boogaloo?
[ Wheels in huge, antique jukebox. ]
The West has conveniently conflated the meanings of the words “reason” and “excuse”…
As noted here many times, a great deal of ‘progressive’ sentiment only makes sense as an attempt to rationalise the displacement of responsibility.
The word obese elicits an unparalleled grief in me.
I’m sure what she meant to write was “gripe”, because I have experienced a few of things in life that can cause “unparalleled grief” and being identified as a fatass when you are a fatass is not in the same league as any of them.
Alternatively I suppose she may just be a coddled, self-obsessed fool trapped in a rough approximation of an elephant seal’s body.
It allows me to exist.
No. It is industrial nitrogen fixation that allows you to exist, madame.
What annoys the hell out of me about Ms. Carbs here is, contrary to her feeling that being a fat activist is somehow helpful, she makes things much harder for people who honestly struggle with weight because of age, genetics, disease or because of medications.
So is fat the new trans?
We are witnessing the birth of the fat trans industry. (Because there are no more high profits to be squeezed out of trans fats.)
With a BMI of 40, it’s hard to see where the ‘active’ part of ‘fat activism’ fits in.
I believe women’s suffrage was a mistake
I try not to come across as too misogynist, but if you analyze voting patterns as a general rule women will vote for physical and financial security over freedom and personal responsibility. That’s basic genetics; survival of the species depends on the breeding females being protected. Men can afford personal responsibility – which in practice, means dying if you f*ck up badly enough – because you can lose most of your breeding males and still maintain a viable gene pool.
I think biological essentialism when it comes to the voting franchise is probably not the way to go, as it penalizes atypical individuals. Some kind of character test is probably the best filter, but is fraught with difficulties.
Ehh. Two years Federal Service ought to do it.
Alternatively I suppose she may just be a coddled, self-obsessed fool
Door #3: parents divorced when she was five, in therapy since she was six, and from the sounds of it borderline abusive therapy that led to severe anorexia nervosa. She may not be mentally ill in the sympathetic way, but she’s mentally ill. I suppose she is being coddled now, as an adult, by the agenda-driven malicious who want to use her as a lever rather than getting her the help she needs.
While I can’t be characterized as ‘highly muscular,’ this has been my experience. I’m 5’11” and about a year and a half ago topped out at a little over 230lbs. I set a goal weight of 180 and via intermittent fasting and a Fitbit to keep me honest about my steps got down to 174 by last November. Then I joined the UFC gym at the end of my street and in the four months since then I’ve climbed back up to 184. That puts my BMI in the overweight range, but my stomach is almost completely flat and I can bench press 60lbs (which doesn’t sound like much, but it’s more than I could ever have managed in my life). So, I don’t sweat the BMI but neither do I kid myself that I was just ‘big boned’ or had a ‘gland problem’ before. I was fat and I knew it.
Wait until she hears that the vaccine appears to be quite a bit less effective on the obese
She sounds like she’s well-rounded.
I can say that with a straight face. Honest.
“Wait until she hears that the vaccine appears to be quite a bit less effective on the obese”
It’s a conspiracy!
Congratulations Alex DeWynter: it takes great mental effort/self-control to train so hard and overcome previous physical condition issues.
A very famous middle-distance runner called Ron Clarke set 17 world records on the track in the 1960s. He always stated that the hardest part of being an athlete was making himself step out the front door to go training each morning.
I can deal with people who are fat, who don’t like it, and are trying to do something about it.
I can deal with people who are fat, and who accept it.
I cannot deal with people who are fat and who whine about it. If you don’t like it, do something about it. Or shut up. I’m good either way.
Alex DW: “Then I joined the UFC gym at the end of my street and in the four months since then I’ve climbed back up to 184.”
You might consider getting an exercise physiologist to assess you for % body fat using skin-fold calipers. You may then find that your increased overall body mass has changed in composition and the increase in weight is due to more muscle rather than fat – which would be good.
Anyone remember “Fat is a Feminist Issue”?
I knew that would end in tears. And bullshit.
Fluffy
That would be Cultural Appropriation
https://youtu.be/sApQ0MbVH2M?t=626
I’ve got an impedance scale, which doesn’t give me clinical precision but seems to do a pretty good job of breaking the weight down into categories — especially once I shifted it to athlete mode. And my coach at the gym has a similar hand-held thing. Even without that, though, I can feel and actually see the difference. I move more easily and clothes I haven’t been able to fit into for almost two decades slide right on. I also absolutely rock my leggings. It’s glorious.
The thing that makes me pity people like Ms Duke even as their whining annoys me no end is that they don’t have that, but absolutely could. If they invested half of the emotional and intellectual energy they waste trying to convince themselves they don’t have a problem into actually solving that problem, they would have a triumph to be proud of instead of the constant misery of living a lie.
She sounds like she’s well-rounded.
Here, have this nearly-new beer mat. On the house.
By the way, Ms Duke is now informing her Twitter followers that, although “obesity is linked to worse COVID-19 outcomes,” obesity may not be the problem, the exacerbating factor; but rather, the “fact that those with obesity are treated worse by medical professionals and are therefore at higher risk (like many other marginalised groups who have worse outcomes for reasons completely outside their objective health).”
So, according to Ms Duke, the alarming increase in the risk to an obese person of being killed by the virus – somewhere between 40-90%, depending on exactly how obese they are – is actually, somehow, due to belonging to a “marginalised group.” Which is a sacred status, the height of woke piety, and jealously defended. So, hey. Ignore the dozens of studies and the starkly mounting evidence. Listen to the neurotic fat woman instead.
It seems we should disregard the fact that a majority of those hospitalised with the virus are overweight, and the fact that obesity makes one vastly more likely to end up in intensive care, and much more likely to die. We should also ignore the well-documented consequences of obesity and how they interact with COVID-19 – impaired immunity, impaired lung function, clot-prone blood, chronic inflammation, a much weaker response to vaccines, and all the rest of it.
Because pretentious victimhood is the lady’s drug of choice. And deferring to her psychodrama is apparently what matters.
Along with all the popular headings which encapsulate the oppressed, Fat Studies is given its own section in Cynical Studies. Being somewhat unsure of the depth to which Critical Studies can transport the curious; I bought this book, and it did not disappoint. There is a churning maelstrom of insanity out there, which, alas, has sucked so many gullible fools into the vortex
There is a churning maelstrom of insanity out there
The irony being that, while fatness isn’t generally thought alluring, “fat activists” are at least as likely to be regarded as unpleasant because they tend to be dishonest and insufferably neurotic. Some of the mental knots and fits of obnoxiousness are quite remarkable. Indulging all of the contortions and evasions, and the touchiness, and the pathological unrealism, is tiresome. Getting along with someone who’s fat, even really fat, isn’t in itself a problem. Getting along with someone who’s neurotic is much harder – and less likely to be worth the effort.
So, according to Ms Duke, the alarming increase in the risk to an obese person of being killed by the virus – somewhere between 40-90%, depending on exactly how obese they are – is actually, somehow, due to belonging to a “marginalised group.”
Quite dramatic but yes, there are times when a doctor can’t see past the fat to get to the meat of the matter (okay, pun intended). An obese friend recently lost 40 pounds of uterine cyst removed surgically after years of working with a nutritionist and gynecologist who insisted she was “cheating” and not eating correctly, that she was “lying” on the food diary they had her keep. A biopsy has shown the cyst is cancerous and she will have to undergo at least four rounds of chemo. All it took was an ultrasound to reveal her cyst. On the plus side (no pun intended), the chronic pain she was experiencing is gone and she is excited to be able to exercise and stand long enough to cook, so she’s looking at adapting her lifestyle and losing even more.
That anecdote aside and my own struggles with weight (my genetic makeup suits me to plow fields, make babies, and survive long winters), the final act of this lady’s psychodrama will likely be intubated. Hopefully, she has insurance so we’re not left holding the check.
Btw, my cousin is an EMT in the South Bronx. He saw the worst of it last year and spent 16-hour shifts surrounded by COVID. When he wasn’t on a run, he helped stack bodies in refrigerated trucks. And he told me, almost everyone was someone with diabetes, COPD, TB, asthma, and high blood pressure . . . and overweight.
my genetic makeup suits me to plow fields, make babies, and survive long winters
[ Slides large gin along bar. ]
The tonic is slimline.
Takes a lot of nerve to be a ‘progressive’.
Enough Gall to be divided into three parts.
Anyone remember “Fat is a Feminist Issue”?
That brings back memories…of angry fat lesbians in blue jeans and boots.
If they invested half of the emotional and intellectual energy they waste trying to convince themselves they don’t have a problem into actually solving that problem
One tragic aspect was brought on by the health industry tell us all that we should merely eat less while staying on a diet very low in fat. The result was lots of dieters always feeling like they were starving. I found that switching to a diet low in carbs but high in fat satisfied my hunger while achieving the desired health goals. Government, academia, and industry have a lot to answer for.
Enough Gall to be divided into three parts.
ALGOL?
Educatedschooled into stupidity.Damn little education going on. It seems the longer one is in school the less education and more stupefying occurs.
angry fat lesbians in blue jeans and boots.
That should recall to mind the strange demands that “the lesbian community” made upon young lesbians: no pretty dresses, no makeup, no long styled hair, nothing girly at all; instead you must look like a construction worker or biker, and preferably you should smoke a lot. This was a big political issue back in the 70’s, as a few young lesbians objected to the intolerance of the old ones.
“there are times when a doctor can’t see past the fat to get to the meat of the matter”
That happens with thin patients, too: Assume that the most likely diagnosis is correct (but often in such cases the correct diagnosis would require expensive tests.)
Damn little education going on. It seems the longer one is in school the less education and more stupefying occurs.
Writing about Walter E. Williams, Thomas Sowell said:
“Walter is one of the few honest academics, and it’s harder to be honest in academia than in almost any other place.”
Having earlier, very briefly, checked a couple of details regarding COVID and obesity, my Google and YouTube recommendations are now peppered with adverts for weight loss techniques. It’s like the time I’d just compiled the week’s ephemera and was promptly bombarded with adverts for bras.
So. Many. Bras.
I learned a lot that week.
Enough Gall to be divided into three parts
Verba perfectus.
There is a churning maelstrom of insanity out there
Combined with opportunism and desire for one’s own 15 minutes
Assume that the most likely diagnosis is correct…
When we were confronted with some complexity once upon a time a colleague came up with the old chestnut, “Remember, if you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.”
I had to remind him we were in Africa.
“fact that those with obesity are treated worse by medical professionals and are therefore at higher risk”
That’s odd, because she literally just wrote an entire column about getting prioritized treatment by medical professionals because of her obesity.
Because pretentious victimhood is the lady’s drug of choice.
That.
I have a pug dog who isn’t just obese, she’s a straight-up lard ass. I don’t let her out of the house when it’s hot outside for fear she will spontaneously combust, and grease fires are difficult to extinguish.
I wonder if any one cares enough to alert Ms Duke of this danger, because if/when she ignites, it will be like the Kuwait oil fields after Saddam torched them.
I only ask this because I care.
I can buy the genetic excuses for obesity up to a point. To use an analogy, if Mick from Monaghan goes to visit his fried Miguel in Malaga and they decide to pop on the Speedos and go for a nice lie-down on the beach just after lunch, then Mick is going to start looking like an overcooked tomato a lot sooner than Miguel is. That’s just the way he’s designed. However, the bottom line is that he wouldn’t get sunburnt if he didn’t expose his pallid Celtic pelt to too much sun.
Likewise, there are people who can get away with eating more than others and still not put on too much weight, even without much exercise. But not being one of those people isn’t what makes someone fat. Eating more than their body uses is what makes them fat.
That’s odd…
For her, not really, seeing as she down with being called fat, but not obese which Mr. Thesaurus says is a synonym, but then, it also says illogical is a synonym for bonkers which also fits. As long as it is a plus size.
That’s odd, because she literally just wrote an entire column about getting prioritized treatment by medical professionals because of her obesity.
Given the ludicrous disproportion seen above, and the level of self-involvement, and the corresponding lack of self-possession, you have to wonder what Ms Duke’s time with a doctor is like, and whether that may be a factor in any, presumably mutual, dissatisfaction.
That.
But remember, according to Slate, you aren’t allowed to “contradict the author’s understanding of her own situation.” And any attempt to do so will apparently be deleted.
… fried Miguel…
The subject matter is obviously having a subliminal effect on my typing fingers.
I could go for a bacon and brie sandwich right about now.
Just sayin’.
Likewise, there are people who can get away with eating more than others and still not put on too much weight, even without much exercise.
That certainly seems to be the case. However, I do wonder if in my case this was because my parents strictly limited sugar: no soft drinks and sugared cereals, while cookies and ice cream were rare treats. (From what I have read eating large amounts of sugar triggers changes which cause a propensity toward obesity.) So if me, how about others?
… fried Miguel…
Don’t start getting any ideas now.
Pattern detected: I have known dog owners who were obese–even morbidly obese–and their dogs tended to be horribly obese, too.
Act of God plunges Texas into a historically bad ice storm, killing people through no fault of their own?
Ha ha! You deserve it for voting Republican, idiots!
Duly-elected Republican Governor engages in normal political activity?
Think of those poor Texans who will die through no fault of their own!
Apologies for all the OT posts.
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I found that switching to a diet low in carbs but high in fat satisfied my hunger while achieving the desired health goals. Government, academia, and industry have a lot to answer for.
Same here. One of the questions I had as a teenager that caused adults to tell me to shut up: “But if pig and cow and chicken are vegitarians, how did the cholesterol get into them in the first place?”
no soft drinks and sugared cereals, while cookies and ice cream were rare treats. (From what I have read eating large amounts of sugar triggers changes which cause a propensity toward obesity.) So if me, how about others?
Mom asks how come you don’t write? One other thing that may contribute to much of what we see with people such as this woman is a change in parenting such that rather than disciplining children (which we all know is wrong, wrong, wrong) you just give in to whatever they want so they will shut up. I’ve seen this decades ago when out with parents and their young children. Every time the kid would stir or get uncomfortable, Mommy stuffed a couple Gummy Bears in his mouth. And now these people, this generation, is running the world…well, it’s not like I didn’t try to warn anyone.
angry fat lesbians in blue jeans and boots
Band name
Think of those poor Texans who will die through no fault of their own!
People die everyday, even in Texas. No one seems to have any sense any longer about “personal choice”.
Also, funny, I can’t think of tax forms as “naughty”. They just can’t quit Trump, can they? (and as if he sits down with a copy of TurboTax and does his own taxes. Dear lord.)
Also, funny, I can’t think of tax forms as “naughty”. They just can’t quit Trump, can they?
Funny but also extremely worrying, as mainstream liberalism morphs into Stalinism: “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.”
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Bless you, sir. May you never find yourself sufficiently bored as to be pondering whether to walk 300 yards or so down the road, in light drizzle, to stand in the street and see if 5G connectivity is really a big deal.
However, I do wonder if in my case this was because my parents strictly limited sugar: no soft drinks and sugared cereals, while cookies and ice cream were rare treats. (From what I have read eating large amounts of sugar triggers changes which cause a propensity toward obesity.) So if me, how about others?
Grew up that way, but not even cookies and ice cream. No meat either. My siblings and I were as scrawny as the starving kids you used to see in those commercials. I take after my mom’s side of the family – short peasants built to plow fields, make babies, and survive long winters, while my sister takes after the other side (tall skinny germans dammit). I put on weight when I left home just from eating “normal” food. My sister sat around her apartment eating cookies dipped in Cool Whip all day and gained nary an ounce.
So I think there is something to the genetics. That said, those of us not blessed with the skinny gene metabolism just have to work harder to not blow up to grand proportions. I must admit I laughed a bit when my sister complained to me about her clothes not fitting anymore – menopause has hit her with some poundage, although not as much as it did to me.