Badly dressed and over weight English people

[Claustrophobiclown]

My sister, who has lived in Australia for years, was in England recently for an extended holiday. She was shocked at how many overweight, badly dressed and heavily tattooed people there were wandering around. I never really thought about it before, but looking at it afresh through her eyes I could see where she was coming from. I don't remember people looking like that when we were growing up, but we seem to have evolved into a race of very heavy and unhealthy looking people with absolutely no dress sense. Am I just misremembering my youth when I recall most people being a healthy weight and people generally dressing ok?

An AUSTRALIAN said that? Truly?

And I'm also entitled to say you and your sister are up your own arses.

If you feel British people just aren't up to your standards, move. Unless you think a bitchy post on a website will change the UK.

I think we’re all giving this person too much airtime. You can’t fix this kind of small-mindedness.

Oh well that’s a great argument

This is why there’s a problem-any time it’s pointed out that people are getting fatter, people get offended and respond emotionally. It’s like a child’s logic. You can’t handle reality so you’re going to spit your dummy out.

People have control over what they eat. Every mouthful is within your control. You can stay in victim mindset or you can change. If I get fat there’s no one to blame other than myself.

Ask your sister about Bogans.

There is a world of difference between describing architecture or rubbish as ugly, and describing a human being who has thoughts and feelings in the same terms. Can you really not see that? By your reasoning, anyone you deem visually offensive should stay behind closed doors. And to think I believed society was becoming more accepting of people's physical differences.

Should people who describe themselves as ugly stop doing so then? Or if they feel that an outfit they're wearing that day, or the way their hairdresser did their hair, or the way the makeup artist did their makeup is ugly, are they not allowed to use that word because they're human beings? Because they have thoughts and feelings? Because they're not buildings? Should people who deliberately choose to look ugly (yes, it's a thing) in order to challenge the concept of beauty stop doing it because no matter how hard they try they can't look ugly anyway because they're human beings with thoughts and feelings? And is it still acceptable for other people to call themselves, or their style, beautiful?

No, what you've suggested doesn't follow from my reasoning.

Her sister wasn't actually comparing Australia to England at all. A long-running misunderstanding from an OP that could have been worded better.

Ugly is subjective. An outfit that you find ugly might be nice to someone else. Which is why I don't style myself to please other people.

People who are fat know that they're fat. Why do you need to point it out?

It's the faux pretending to care about people that's irritating, when really you just want an excuse to slag off fat people.

I'm not in a victim mindset in any way. I agree that it's my own fault I'm fat! But why do you think we are unaware of it and need a faux "I'm so concerned for their health" thread every single day when really you just don't like our aesthetic? Don't pretend you're actually bothered about our health, you just don't like looking at fat people. That's a you problem.

Yes the postmodern argument that beauty and ugliness are entirely subjective is one of the reasons why both modern architecture and current fashion trends are so ugly. It's also the motive behind people, and designers, who deliberately design ugly clothes, or aim to make themselves as ugly as possible.

The reality is that most people, most of the time, agree on what's beautiful and what's ugly, while there is of course a big old grey area where it's simply a matter of personal taste.

Many of the people the OP's sister is talking about aren't styling themselves to please themselves anyway, never mind anyone else. People will tell you themselves, including on this thread, that they often feel so bad about their weight that they give up trying to dress well, can't find clothes they feel look well on them etc, so they give up and wear whatever's comfy and fits, don't bother with what their hair's doing or anything else. That's part of what's happening as obesity rates keep increasing. In those cases it's not actually a difference of taste at all.

Makes a change from ageing British immigrants to other countries coming back for a holiday and commenting upon the diversity in the UK, I suppose.

Or was that the bit you aren't mentioning, OP, because you know that would get you absolutely slaughtered on here (and anywhere with decent people)?

I hear your sister's a racist now OP 😂. I confess I didn't see that one coming...

I don’t understand why it’s any of yours or you sister’s business what other people wear, how much they weigh and if they’ve spent money on getting themselves inked?

you keep banging on about how “you are entitled to your opinion and you can post it on a forum” yeah true, where does it change anything in your current lives though?

unless your obese, wearing awful clothes and inked from head to toe, where does this remotely affect you or your sister?

just sounds completely bitchy! People can wear what they like not everyone has the same style, people can weigh what they like (some people aren’t blessed with fast metabolisms) and people can have as many tattoos as they like..

one day your sister may find herself to not be happy with her weight? Some people may not like the clothes she wears?

get a life I say!

I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to say. That everyone should dress and look the way other people want them to?

@Beezknees Haha, no. This is a long running conversation. Some people take the view that it's no one else's business how other people choose to look. I've been pointing out that actually how the people in your environment look does of course affect people, in many ways, for good and bad, like any other form of ugliness or beauty around us. That's one way trends spread, for example.

There's a lot of lashing out against Australia here, isn't there?

Has she touched a nerve or something?

Fact is Australians live on average about three years longer than Brits.

In many areas of the UK life expectancy is falling, whereas in Australia it's still rising.

So they must be doing something right.

And that’s despite them having a higher incidence of obesity so maybe it’s not the obesity that causes the issues then?

I think people who are secure in themselves don't feel rhe need to judge strangers for how they look. Is something up with your sister? otherwise this does just seem very mean girl.

For those comparing obesity rates in England vs Australia, there've been numerous different numbers on this thread. It's quite possible that the two countries use different cutoffs for defining overweight and obesity, and also that they calculate those rates differently. After all, they don't work these things out by literally weighing the entire population.

I have. There isn't one unless you just look at wealthy areas.

Italy and France have much lower rates of obesity than England. I'm not sure any other aspect of what OP's talking about can be measured.