I agree with you, for the morbidly obese (think 100-200+ pounds overweight) there is a legitimate addiction to food, and there should be support to eating better. But the people that are being made fun of are those who are overweight and refuse to take personal responsibility for that, when it’s just because they’re eating a lot. Kind of like how we make fun of college kids getting drunk 4 days a week or drunken sorrority girls, but not actual alcoholics. Gender dysphoria is kind of a weird one that isn’t really understood yet. But in my liberal bubble, I think most people agree that it’s not a thing people flippantly choose to be. Being trans means you’re subjecting yourself to a whole lot of problems and isn’t akin to getting a new haircut. The only way someone would start taking hormones, spending tens of thousands of dollars, and basically subjecting themselves to a lifetime of work is because they’re legitimately disconnected between who they are and what they look like. If they identify as something else, let them do it, it isn’t hurting anyone to see a manly looking person with long hair and make-up. Discrimination or hate speech should be condemned against these people since as you said, there is a huge correlation between trans and being in poverty and committing suicide.
But we also make fun of the people who smoke weed all day (and gradually ruin their life) or the people who are desperate/dumb enough to sign up for multi-level marketing schemes. So it’s possible we’re all just assholes who like to draw distinctions based on where we please.
Can you imagine if they had a Biggest Loser corollary for alcoholics? It would be the saddest show ever.
I view food addiction as similar to drugs, alcohol or smoking, and people should do what they need to in order to overcome it. The problem I see is that some segments of society have thrown in the towel and just accepted unhealthy food addiction as normal. That is what many people do not like about the obesity epidemic: it has been normalized. Can you imagine if everyone just said it is perfectly normal and forgivable to be an alcoholic or drug addict who dies young leaving behind a family? It is madness.
Healthy good, unhealthy bad. I think that is basically it. It’s not always easy to be healthy, but that doesn’t mean we should just embrace unhealthy habits and the easiest path. I know people that literally take pride (probably false pride) in their lack of health, likely to defend their ego against the fact that they’ve given up. It’s just weak and isn’t a model that should be emulated. It’s like saying “look at me, I get drunk all the time so I can’t pick up my kids from school.”
I would argue that food addiction is harder to overcome (and therefore more forgiveable) than most other types–because we HAVE TO eat to stay alive. You don’t have to drink beer, or smoke weed, or gamble, or shoot heroin, or transgender yourself. But you have to eat.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to eat a whole pizza and down a gallon of soda. But fast food (the unhealthiest food there is) is cheaper, faster, and easier to clean up than healthy food. I think this contributes to the obesity problem. If there were a cheap, easy, fast, healthy food, then I would be all over it. But no such thing exists.
And yes, this is somewhat of a sensitive topic for me personally. Like I’ve mentioned before, I am about 120 pounds overweight. Not proud of it–just being honest.
If I were an alcoholic, you guys would feel sorry for me and say, “You have a genetic predisposition to it. It’s a disease. It’s not your fault. You need help controlling it.”
If I were trans, you’d say “You have a genetic predisposition to it. Your mind is disconnected from your body. It’s not your fault. It’s outside of your control.”
But since I’m *merely* obese, you say, “You’re a lazy piece of sh!t who needs to learn some self control. Losing weight is a simple matter of consuming less calories. It has nothing to do with genes or addiction. You could control it, but you choose not to.”
Again, I’m not saying that either attitude is necessarily right or wrong, but why the difference?
i think it comes down to the prevalence of obesity. 20-25% of americans are obese, 50-60% are overweight. Sure, food addiction is a reason for some of those cases, but I would argue that most of the time the question is about good habits vs. bad habits.
sorry greenie!!! you’ll get there!! its really more about the diet!
avoid carbs
stop drinkign soda
walk/run 5miles a day.
the key is if you can do it for a month. your body will adopt to lower body weight.
anyways. i think they’re all diseases! i think it all can be controllws. my most downvoted post in reddit was when i suggested to a depressed dude to just reconcile with the fam by pretending to be straight. lol i got a lot of hate!!!
I hear you Greenman. There needs to be a middle ground of accountability and real empathy for all of these things (not accountability for transgender, just not addressing that this convo). It’s admirable when people lose the weight or overcome the addiction and can be frustrating to watch someone that doesn’t. As always its a mix as with most things, it’s not correct to generalize accurately for all cases, there are fat people and alcoholics that legitimately don’t care and deadbeats, they’re just POS’s. But for the majority, I don’t think that’s the case at all. We also need to recognize that we’ve built an unhealthy society and economic structure that basically sets a trap for the majority of people then the massive corporate structure tries to play “who me?” when we struggle with carb addiction, unhealthy food, cigarettes, alcohol (the US has very unhealthy views of drinking) or opiods. Some of the responsibility needs to be shifted to create change in the system.
Anyhow, things are slowly becoming very much impossible grey areas for me anymore. I used to put more blame on overweight people but after the second kid, I had to lose like 30 pounds over about six weeks and I come from a very athletic background and it was a real educational experience about how impossibly difficult it can feel for a lot of people to try to tackle weight loss. Turns out averaging 3-4 hours a night for sleep for about 10 months between coursework, having a second new child, balancing the rest of the family and work and making up for it by chugging coffee and binge eating sugar destroys your health. Anyhow, I think some of the fat blaming it comes from frustration, some of it from naivity of youth.
I think most importantly I’ve come to appreciate in life that it’s a defense mechanism for people to push blame. Whether its overweight people blaming other things a disproportionate amount or fit people around them disproportionately blaming the over weight person for their struggles. I think walking around with empathy is emotionally taxing and accepting the unfairness of life causes a sort of emotional recoil.
i think if we put a fat tax. fat people will go away. kinda like a carbon tax. or alcohol tax. or smoking tax. or tariff tax? anyways i think we need to come up with more taxes to fix our deficit/debt.
Anyhow, I hope you get there. You get one life, being fat is emotionally and physically uncomfortable and the only way out is going to be in your hands. Might have to make the grill veggies only and remember a cardio weight regimen is key. Every time I got depressed by how hard running even short distances or doing a workout was (vs how it used to be), I just told myself that that was exactly why I needed to be doing it.
greenman, I make it a point to be absurdly blunt, and up front with people in life (regardless of the consequences), and I will not waiver on that now simply because this is a personal issue for you (please look passed my millennial status and otherwise trollish attitude and consider what I’m about to say at heart).
but we’re not the ones you need to seek empathy from on this - were a bunch of randos on the internet mainly - the person you need to be honest with is yourself. You’re the only one who can judge your effort and discipline on sticking to a diet, or workout - hell I don’t even like the word diet. Fitness is a lifestyle, it’s not temporary. You either take it ridiculously serious or don’t even try at all. Are you doing all you can do? Judge that for yourself. If after the end of the day you can look back and say to yourself “yeah, every time I passed the receptionist desk I definitely grabbed a handful of chocolate”, then you need to quit doing that, reengage your routine, (HONESTLY REENGAGE) and then reevaluate your progress after an appropriate length of time. .
Im sure now you see what I’m getting at right? Is that, people often complain about their progress and problems all the meanwhile they’re doing less than all they can possibly do. That’s what we make fun of. No one would ever look at you and rebuff you for your physical appearance.
could you imagine if I spent a mere 20 minutes a day studying for the CFA Exams, and meanwhile complained about how frustratingly difficult it is? You’d laugh me out the door. Well, fitness is no different.
Do you guys really think that I need your advice on how to lose weight? Trust me–I know the problem and I know the solution. I appreciate the kind words and the concern, but I certainly don’t need people telling me “walk more and drink less soda.” That would be like me going to CEO’s rant about the CFA exam and say “Well, just spend more time in the library and less time on AF.” I assume he already knows that. And if he doesn’t, then…he’s an idiot.
I’m just curious to know why there’s a difference. Why do you guys (or some of you) see obesity as purely a personal, overindulgence problem that can be easily controlled, whereas gambling & substance abuse are “diseases” that are “genetic” or “hormonal”?
And then there’s the transgender thing, which some (LTJ) are notoriously sympathetic towards. Why should I be particularly more sympathetic to them than an obese person? Because they refuse to dress according to social norms? Because they want to use a bathroom (which is designed for a biological function) that is different from their biological makeup? Why are we sympathetic to their “plight” of wrongful discrimination, bullying, and higher rates of mental illness? If the solution for fat people is “eat less and work out more”, can we not say the the solution for transgenders is simply “don’t be a weirdo”?
they’re all diseases. they can all be controlled.i personally its a lack of character. they dont know the meaning of sacrifice.
i always say if you cant find something to live for, then best have somethign to die for!
lastly, in my head, i feel more uncomfortable with a trannie than i do with a fattie so i try to be extra nice to the tranny to make up for it.
i dont like anyone that break cultural norms. but i do recognize that cultural norms change and i’ll have to adopt. i think how i treat trannies is form of adoption to changing social norms.
i feel bad for fatties cuz i know what its like to be overweight. lifes rufff. also when i make fun of people for being fat they are usually just slight overweight but are pretty normal in american terms. i would never make fun of someone that is obese. no use in beating a dead horse.
Instead of getting upset that your issue is made fun of, you could take this as a lesson in cognitive empathy. Instead of getting jealous that your issue isn’t taken as serious as gender dysphoria, instead take it as a lesson that this is what it feels like when people make fun of your issue and try not to do it to other people. I may be inferring incorrectly, but the fact that you bring up trans people (multiple times) suggests that you’re probably on the conservative side (in the political sense).
But again, there’s making fun of people who are overweight and control their urges but choose not to and people who have an addiction to food. Just because one group is made fun of doesn’t mean that the other group is being made fun of.