Hi. I'm a scrawny guy. I weigh about 140 or 145 pounds, and I'm about 5'10". But I've read some of the stories here, and I just wanted to say, I don't believe at all that heavy people are lazy or gluttonous or whatever. Why? Because no matter how lazy or gluttonous I am, I don't gain weight! It doesn't matter what I eat, I stay pretty much the same. So, I think weight has a LOT more to do with your metabolism, genetics, and the like, than your behavior. And weight has very little or nothing to do with your "character." Sure, you can change somewhat from the size your body "wants" to be, but for some people that takes extreme action, for some people less. I think a lot of the ills of the world are due to the fact that we rarely realize just how different people are. People react differently to food, medicine, temperatures, tastes, smells, what-have-you...and if someone is sensitive so something we're not sensitive to, we tend to assume they're weak or lying or something.jonharl wrote:People are very prejudiced towards overweight people. I think it's the last prejudice that's acceptable. It's just not who I am, I mean this fat guy that can't control myself or is a loser.
Maybe I'm rambling, but I've thought about the weight issue a fair amount. I have to admit that fat people used to "freak me out" a bit, but nowadays I enjoy people's differences more, and I think I respond more to people's attitudes than their body shape. It certainly seems that fat people have to deal with a bunch of negative junk thrown at them their whole lives...I respect someone who can overcome that. And darn it, some heavy people are real cuties!
I'd like to say "thanks" to Daniel Pinkwater, who has helped me understand many things better:
http://www.fatso.com/interview.html
And maybe you'd like to read Mr. Pinkwater's "The Afterlife Diet" (strange funny book with intelligent fat funny sexy protagonists):Daniel Pinkwater wrote:The hatred of fat people, I think, is more modern. It's manufactured. It's a manifestation of the shabbier and cheaper side of culture, which is to say, advertising and skinny models on the beach hawking cigarettes and beer. But it starts with the doctors. They have no success at "curing" fat people. So, doctors being what they are, which is jumped-up little sh*t who have not been allowed to take the right humanities courses, they lay the responsibility on the fat person, saying, "You're a fool! How could you let yourself get this way? Aren't you ashamed?" Being the kind of cuss I am, I pipe up and say, "No, I'm not ashamed." Once when I had a fat doctor, I asked [about our health risk.] Well you know, it's true that as a fat person I run a greater risk of heart disease, diabetes, and a number of other things. But guess what? The amount of that risk is almost infinitessimal! Fat hatred has become a little more vicious as other groups have excused themselves from being the butts of these cruelties. I think people really couldn't care less about the issue; they just see you as a defenseless person. It's not about fat; it can't be about fat. Fat is too trivial for it to be about.
http://www.greenapplebooks.com/cgi-bin/ ... 39899.html
