People in glass houses....
Today's Weight 206.5.0lbs
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Check out this post by the ever-articulate Meg. I agree 100% with every word she says, and as usual she expresses herself beautifully. I read the SDP comments as well, and wrote a whole post about them, but I was ranting and raving and cussing and cursing so much that I accidentally deleted it. Never mind, its no great loss as Meg said it all much much better than I could ever have done.
I can understand the impulse to want to distance yourself from a stigmatised group, but the eagerness of people to leap on the stone-throwing bandwagon never ceases to amaze me. Every day at work I have to battle the most astonishing ignorance and bigotry. It's become a favourite office pastime among my co-workers to slag off members of the public for being "fat and feckless", and saddle them with every character flaw under the sun.
We work in a District General Hospital in an deprived area, so we see a lot of unhealthy low income people - and yes, quite a lot of them are fat, but so bloody what?
When I finally 'bite' at their ignorant comments, they wheel out the old chestnut, "Yeah, but you're different..', as if that makes it OK - in fact they seem surprised that I'm not joining in with the general fat-bashing.
Apparently what separates me from the 'less worthy' fat folks is that I'm "doing something about it". This is apparently very important. It means I'm redeemable, not beyond all hope and sympathy. Apparently being paralysed because you're caught between a rock and a hard place is no excuse - being fat and not doing anything about it has become the ultimate crime.
This is such a sore point for me. I come from a working class family, and yes, a lot of my close relatives - like me - suffer from weight problems, and struggle with health and fitness issues, but it absolutely doesn't mean that it's solely and utterly our own bloody fault, and evidence of some innate failing. The sanctimonious arseholes who think differently can just go fuck themselves.
Oh well, enough ranting....I could write an epic on this issue, but sadly it wouldn't change anything.
