To think Prejudice against fat people is NOT as bad as racism.

[goodnessgracious]

To think the article in the Times today claiming that prejudice against fat people is as bad as racism and that it is one of the last socially acceptable forms of prejudice is ridiculous.

Firstly, obesity is normally caused by an addiction and has health implications for the obese person and further implications on society as whole. How can this be compared to racism in any way?

Also, it is not the last socially acceptable form of prejudice because I believe society is just as (if not more) prejudiced against smokers, alcoholics and gamblers and all people with addictions which have costs toward society.

AIBU to think that although it is not right to be prejudice against obese people it is ridiculous to compare it to racism.

Copied article extract below...

"Prejudice against fat people as bad as racism, say scientists "Dr Jackson said that prejudice against overweight people pervaded society and needed to be challenged. “People think it’s one of the last socially acceptable forms of prejudice. You just have to look at the comments section on media reports on obesity to see that obese people are subjected to labelling and even abuse and attack.”

according to the Dept of Health in 2013, the cost of health problems associated with being overweight or obese is £5bn a year

To be blunt that doesn't take into account that fat people tend to die younger saving the NHS heaps of money.

I beleive there was some research once done which quantified how much the NHS saved by offering bariatric surgery and they discovered that it probably didn't because of the increased life expectancy.

Of course this may well change as diabetes keeps affecting younger and younger people.

And bulbasaur "TITP" is exactly the blog I was referring to as (hopefully) a work of trolls. It is nothing to do with what is being discussed here

Yes, I was telling you they were serious. Also, you're not the thread police that gets to decide what is and isn't acceptable to bring up thank you very much.

Kitten
Smokers cannot go anywhere and smoke without people judging them unless they're in the own home. I have no issue with this but it's not easy for a smoker.
I am just confused because you seem to be making assumptions about smokers but are getting annoyed about ANY assumptions made about an obese person. Seems a bit double standard to me.

It's awful that people are crying about this thread but, without wanting to sound unsympathetic, this is a discussion people should be allowed to have.

On an anonymous forum I don't think anyone can be responsible for someone else's feelings. If a thread is upsetting you it really is best to hide it.

Kitten

Not everything has to be so literally and exactly comparable. All addictions have some sort of cost.

That's my point.

What a bigger waste to society if people are written off through being fat.

It's not easy but when you are fat you can lose weight and change your physical appearance.

It's a lot harder though to change a nasty person with a heap of ignorant prejudice.

Well, prejudice based on appearance, race, whatever is all bad.

But seriously, what is the point in gauging which prejudice is worst? I'm not sure I understand why this was published.

So could you fucking perfect fucking thin 'oh it's so easy to lose weight' people please please just shut the fuck up. It's not always about overeating (but even if it was - please - shut the fuck up)

Who, on this thread, has purported to being perfect because they are thin? No-one as far as I can see. It's very sad that people have been upset, but obesity is growing a problem in the UK and whilst I agree that fat-shaming is despicable and counter-productive, I don't think anyone on this thread is actually doing that .
No forms of prejudice are actually OK and it's pretty pointless trying to rank them against each other.

...is a growing problem

Missunreasonable

In Dorothy Perkins I take a size 6, in reality I am a modern size 10 or old size 12. Dorothy Perkins sizes are in a league of their own.

I find them pretty consistent with other shops myself. The point in any event was that you can be healthy and genuinely fit in a modern size 14 and size 31" waist seems standard across the board in most shop sizing. The choice of example was neither here nor there.

Missunreasonable you are lucky that you've found a behaviour that means you can control your weight. For other people it's not as simple as running x amount, they could run more than that and it wouldn't help - or they couldn't run because of health problems, or whatever. So if you judge overweight people (not saying you do) don't judge them based on "they could control their weight like I control mine" because they probably can't.

Why don't you address my other point - if it's simple and easy, why can't a clearly successful, intelligent and determined woman like Oprah Winfrey control her weight?

Yes I can't be bothered with "which prejudice is worse" either.

Here's some light reading on what causes weight gain and loss. Found this on MN only a few days ago. It's 9 pages long so a bit more than "net calories in v net calories out".

www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/magazine/what-if-it-s-all-been-a-big-fat-lie.html?src=pm&pagewanted=1

I used to run a lot and was a real skinny gym bunny before children but nowadays struggle for the time, effort and motivation at times these days, so I do what I can.

If I can be overweight having exercised regularly all my life then I can see how others in more different circumstances can be much heavier.

I can't be arsed to RTFT - it will be the same thread which is repeated here every fortnight or more. Frankly these threads piss me off but I'm in a storming mood so why not respond anyway?

Obviously if you are going to make someone feel like shit about who they are and what they look like it is far better to do it about something you PERCEIVE they can change easily. So yes if you are the kind of person who likes to feel superior to others and puts this across by being unpleasant, hurtful and cruel (even if it is under the guise of being 'concerned about the health of them and the country in general') then yes, I guess better to do it to lazy, fat people than to call out someone for their ancestry, culture or skin colour. You will indeed be a far finer person for making that distinction. So yep, well argued, the article is all wrong and IF you are that person described above you can happily carry on being a tool.

Personally I DO think fat prejudice is one of the last socially acceptable forms of prejudice and I think that shows on MN for a start but it resides happily there alongside benefit bashing.

I wasn't telling you what is acceptable or not to bring up, bulbasaur, I was saying that what they discuss on TITP is not comparable to what is being discussed here. I said that because you said "this is just like TITP" which I disagree with, basically because nobody except you has mentioned the word thin privilege.

The entire article the OP is talking about is saying that fat shaming is the same as racism or sexism. It's not. Not even close. So yes, TITP is comparable to what's being discussed, because they're just as extreme and ridiculous as an article saying an obese person's life is comparable to the plight of black people.

Fat people should be treated with respect, but let's not get carried away and say they're being persecuted and systematically being oppressed and having their identity stripped either.

Thank you bulb

I actually don't like the way 'fat people' have become this race, removed from the rest of us!

What if you're not that fat but a bit overweight? Which side of the divide are you on then? Who gets to decide?

"But it isn't Edam, smokers and other forms of addiction get just as much vilification. It is nowhere near the last form of socially acceptable prejudice"

Sorry Cant let this slide I used to be obese and i lost ten stone (see posting history) I used to smoke too.

Back in my bigger days i used to hear "you fat bitch" as i walked past a pub. After the weight loss when i was still smoking did i ever hear "you smoking bitch" when i walked past pubs or while out at night. NOT FUCKING ONCE!

Why don't you address my other point - if it's simple and easy, why can't a clearly successful, intelligent and determined woman like Oprah Winfrey control her weight?

Probably because she likes food and eats too much of the wrong types of food. Being rich, intelligent and famous doesn't exempt people from making poor food choices.