Fat people are stupid apparently.

[mytwopenceworth]

did anyone read that bit in the express about the business man who won't hire fat people because he says they are unintelligent and just smoke fags, drink beer and eat pies all day?

how can people think it's ok to be so hateful and discriminatory.

i hope he gets leprosy and his watnot falls off.

It's a waste of everyone's time when you are looking for a certain type of person to do a job but you are not allowed to say so in the advert because it is 'discrimination'. We were told by the job centre that we were not allowed to specify that we wanted an English speaking person. What good would anyone who couldn't speak or understand English have been behind a busy bar on a saturday night with a band playing and people trying to order drinks and food? We had to interview all these totally unsuitable people that they sent us so that we would be seen to be fair. What a load of rubbish.
Ok of course I agree that there should be laws against discrimination up to a point but common-sense seems to have gone out of the window.

agree with op.I like exercise I eat much healthier diet than my friends and family members who are thin.
What a pathetic remark to make.Close minded plonker.
As for it's something you can do something about like smoking.It is not like giving up smoking at all.If giving up smoking then you can avoid cigs.Food is everywhere and without it you die not really a choice to avoid therefore.
People who are this ignorant make me and because they obv are not that happy with their own lives if they have to make someone else feel bad

i think there needs to be more research on smoking fags, eating pies and drinking beer all day. Then we can catagorically link this to lack of intelligence.

i volunteer to be first candidate

It's a funny old thing, but when I go through London, there seem to be fat female chav teenagers pushing prams and smoking, but the chav blokes are all spindly rat-faced baseball-cap sporting types.

Not sure I could sort the wheat from the chaff on the basis of body-mass index...

'Food is everywhere and without it you die not really a choice to avoid therefore.
People who are this ignorant make me and because they obv are not that happy with their own lives if they have to make someone else feel bad'

And fags are not everywhere? They're lurking in every shop, waiting for you to buy them!

So is booze.

I was both a smoker AND alchol-dependent.

Both are extremely powerful addictions. Smoking's nearly as addictive as heroine.

I had to use self control to stop abusing both .

It works!

I reckon Duncan B. is pretty happy with his life. He seems quite pleased with himself to me, and he runs a chain of fitness centres, after all.

Honestly, I think people who get completely bent out of shape by remarks by total strangers who have little to no effect on their own lives are the ones who are unhappy.

"I eat much healthier diet than my friends and family members who are thin."

This is indicative of a view that larger people often have, that the thinnies haven't put any effort to be thin. They might be slogging their guts out in the gym.

I hear the phrase "naturally thin". I think 90% of people aren't naturally thin or naturally fat. Your actions dictate your body type.

Fat people may not be more stupid/lazy than others, but they definately are more invisable. Since losing weight people funnily enough now talk to me and see me when I am queuing in the deli (for low calorie coleslaw of course, not the yummy bhaji's ). Strange that

MTPW, don't tell me if you were hiring a Nanny you would have exactly the same views?!?

I dont really understand why people get VERY fat

unhealthily so

it must be quite easy to avoid surely

I havent read this whole post yet but yesterday on the Matthew Wright show they discussed this. Some of the panelists said that they would not employ a fat person because their employees represent the company and if clients see a someone who does not look after themselves/is lazy/messy etc then it will look bad for the business.

Interesting argument, expat - discrimination against fat people is just a subcutaneous dress code. But what if an employer were to decide that all employees had to be blonde and blue-eyed - we all could be if we made an effort with hair dye and coloured lenses. Would you see that as a reasonable requirement or as denying you your right to be yourself?

I can see your point over obviously unhealthy doctors, but can also see that it would be a waste of NHS resources to sack mine over her obvious addiction to Woollies Pick-and-Mix.

MTPW, I agree with you.

Enid that reminds me of a Ricky Gervais sketch!

Anyway, people overeat for amny reasons, not just for hunger. There are many emotional aspect involved as there are with anorexia. Stable people don't understand how some folk get to 4 stone, afterall it must be easy to prevet - you just eat.

But it's not easy is it?

He's saying he wouldn't hire someone who's obese, Hallgarda, not he'd force all his employees to become thin.

The man is running a chain of fitness centres.

Sorry, but I wouldn't hire a personal trainer who was an obese slob.

I'm not white. There's NOTHING I can do to change that. I can't diet down to blonde hair or have a gastric bypass to help my eyes go blue.

BIG difference between that and being obese.

Discrimination, my arse!

If fat people think the world treats them unfairly, try being brown, black, Asian eyes, etc. in a white society.

Sorry, but I get sick of hearing grossly obese people whine about how they got a rough deal in life.

Some people are fat coz they spend long hours slogging their guts out for their company, snack instead of taking lunch breaks and are just too tired and lacking in time to take exercise!

I know a good deal of these types and they are neither lacking in intelligence nor lazy!

Not saying it is easy, Northerner. But it's possible.

It is NOT possible for someone who is non-white to become white, or for a gay person to go straight, or for an elderly person to become young again, or for people to change gender (unless of course they chose to do so).

These qualities are obvious to everyone with sight the moment that person comes into view and are immutable.

That, to me at least, is at the core of discrimination.

It's something you cannot change or alter through any means.

bethbe if that is their lifestyle they don't sound massively clever

The arguement that there should not be a discrimination law against something if, in theory, it can be changed, is an odd one to me.

Aside from the fact that this is saying the bullies are right, that you should change to fit in with the bullies, it is also evident that people who spout these views have never had a serious weight problem.

If weight could easily be dropped then 40% of the population would not be overweight. In fact almost half of the population are classed as overweight, this means soon it will no longer be a minority problem. Will it be okay to discriminate against skinny people because they could put on weight if they wanted to? But back to my point. Weight cannot just be dropped. Obesity is a psychological disorder that needs treating. It's why of those that do manage to lose weight 95% end up putting it back on and then some. Give me an obese person and I can say with 99% certainty that there are psychological issues behind their weight problem.

When people start realising "fat" for what it really is, only then can we move forward in our attitudes about it. We wouldn't, after all, discriminate against an anorexic and yet it is seemingly okay to discriminate against someone with a compulsive eating disorder.

They have other priorities! Perhaps not healthy ones, - but it's up to them.

It doesn't affect their ability to do thier jobs!

well said drnortherner

I would discriminate against an anorexic

I would not want to employ someone who was anorexic

shoot me now

enid - I often wondered too until I met sil who is the only truly obese I know. She started on that road as a child - my FIL left when they were all small and as the eldest she was expected to be much more grown-up than she was by her mum. She ate and ate and her mother didn't help but insisting that she had some sort of glandular problem because she was eating healthy food - she refused to accept that a 10yr old was perfectly capable of sneaking food. So she started adulthood big and just carried on that way. You eat to feel better about being fat, and so on and so on. I've never had the need to lose more than a few stone and that seems like an uphill struggle - can't imagine how you face the thought of losing 6/7 stone

I know I do feel sorry for very overweight people

but that in itself is patronising and discriminatory

enid - but how would you know someone was anorexic unless they were severely thin to the point of dying? They would just look thin. Anyway because someone has an eating disorder does not mean they cannot do the job, therefore it is discrimination (which I know you acknowledge). By all means if you employ someone and it turns out that they cannot do the job then it is fair to sack them but without even giving people a chance how do they have a hope of improving their lives (a part of the reason obese have trouble losing weight in my opinion is because of the judgements made on them and often a self fulfilling prophecy can develop - make someone believe they are fat and lazy because they are fat and they will start to believe it and end up getting fatter and more out of control of their weight issue)

'Aside from the fact that this is saying the bullies are right, that you should change to fit in with the bullies'

Oh, yes, they're all out to get you!

I'm 100% I did not get some jobs because I smoked. You could tell I smoked, too.

Am I miffed that I was 'discriminated against' for engaging in a legal activity?

No.

It's not healthy to smoke anymore than it is to eat too much, drink too much, abuse substances, etc.

An employer wants the healthiest person they can get.

Fair enough.

It's possible to be healthy, to get help for addictions, to even use techniques to break the cycle of addiction.

Very hard work.

But possible.

Not possible to alter one's race or ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender (again, gender dysmorphics accepted).