Should being fat be socially unacceptable

[jonny jeez]

It's not as simple as all that. Yes, we know what makes us fat and it is bad for us. We know that smoking is bad for us but many still do it. We know that drinking is bad for us but people still do it. There are many reasons for all of this. Modern life can be very lonely and people turn to easily available crutches. People like nurses working long hours in a stressful environment sometimes too tired to care, etc, etc.

It's true that people weren't as fat as a general rule in days gone by but if the sedentry life and convenience foods available to us today were in available back then, they probably would have been.

It is grossly unfair to discriminate against overwieght people. The information is available, we need to help and encourage people to exercise more and eat less but to try and do it by discriminating is more likely to make the person unhappy and eat even more.

I agree with your sentiment although I assume the first bit in answering someone else's reply. However its the last bit that interests me ( the bold bit). is it really Grossly unfair...or even unfair at all. Is there perhaps and argument to suggest that its fair or perhaps Positive to discriminate in the hope that one day all people will be fitter simply because its unacceptable for them to be anything but.

I notice that I mentally turn my nose up at people smoking in restaurants and pubs when overseas and I am stunned at just how unacceptable i find this once mundane and acceptable practice. is it perhaps better for us as people to make the issue of weight a socially unacceptable one.

You can tell I'm not decided myself but I am sure that the answer is not as straight forward as I am told it is.

 

[Cletus Van Damme]

Sorry I totally disagree. I am not fat but have plenty of other vices like most people do in this country. Smokers, fatties who's next?

 

[BigonaBianchi]

all we need is narrower doors at the hospitals

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I notice that I mentally turn my nose up at people smoking in restaurants and pubs when overseas and I am stunned at just how unacceptable i find this once mundane and acceptable practice. is it perhaps better for us as people to make the issue of weight a socially unacceptable one.

You can tell I'm not decided myself but I am sure that the answer is not as straight forward as I am told it is.

A fat person in a restaurant doesn't annoy me or harm my health. A smoker does.


GC

 

[jonny jeez]

We live in a society that values being young, slim and (conventionally) attractive over other values. When it comes to employment, it shouldn't be acceptable to discriminate against a candidate for not conforming to those traits if they're otherwise well qualified for the position.

d.

See this is my point.

Why shouldn't it? after all, being fat is a choice, like smoking, doing drugs or choosing to have children...all of which are often discriminated against. Should we encourage another choice?

I am totally sure that we should not be pressured into conformity for aesthetic reasons and the thought of doing so repulses me. I'm not talking about attractiveness here but for a better healthier society, should us fatties be shunned into action, rather than be allowed to make excuses and hide behind a veil of conscience and politeness?

here's a scenario; two chaps...lets say identical twins. Both wonderful guys, both caring intelligent, capable and articulate. In fact both identical in every single way except that one is fat...really fat, like stop in the street and stare fat... the other watches what he eats and is slim, fit but no better a person.

which would make a better Father?...remember they are both the same in every way except weight.

 

[tyred]

I agree with your sentiment although I assume the first bit in answering someone else's reply. However its the last bit that interests me ( the bold bit). is it really Grossly unfair...or even unfair at all. Is there perhaps and argument to suggest that its fair or perhaps Positive to discriminate in the hope that one day all people will be fitter simply because its unacceptable for them to be anything but.

I notice that I mentally turn my nose up at people smoking in restaurants and pubs when overseas and I am stunned at just how unacceptable i find this once mundane and acceptable practice. is it perhaps better for us as people to make the issue of weight a socially unacceptable one.

You can tell I'm not decided myself but I am sure that the answer is not as straight forward as I am told it is.

I think it is unfair, but perhaps I'm just being slightly selfish. I have suffered from depression off and on over years. I know that when I felt really down, my natural tendency was to overeat, smoke heavily or drink too much. I knew it didn't help but I done it anyway, and still do to a lesser extent even though feel much happier now. It's very easy to let this get out of control. Just because someone over-eats, smokes or drinks to excess does not necessarily mean that that person lacks intelligence in any way. It's very easy to start doing these things and it's difficult to stop again. It's very easy for the people who don't to criticise but you probably don't know the full story, there may be complex emotional issues there. Do you really think someone like George Best who was enormously gifted really wanted to drink himself to death? No, I doubt it and if he could have stopped doing it, he would have done, I'm sure. Do overweight people like being overweight? Speaking personally, I don't and I do try hard to change it but always end up slipping back to my old unhealthy eating patterns.

 

[jonny jeez]

Sorry I totally disagree.

disagree with what?

 

[lukesdad]

A fat person in a restaurant doesn't annoy me or harm my health. A smoker does.


GC

Still allowed to smoke in restaurants in Glasgow then ?

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Still allowed to smoke in restaurants in Glasgow then ?

I would have said ' when they were still allowed to' but I thought I'd allow for the other poster's reference to restaurants abroad.
I should've made it clearer.

GC

 

[172traindriver]

I would say in the ideal world there should be no fat people, but there is no such thing as the ideal world and some people through no fault of their own can become fat due to genetic problems or other things.
It is unfair to discriminate against fat overweight people, it could be wise to try to educate them, but they may not be interested.
As others have pointed out if you take on more calories than you expend your weight will increase, reverse it and it can start to decrease.
A question to ask yourself is if your best mate was overweight would you ignore them? How would you feel if you were overwight and people shunned you? You should treat someone for their personality not their appearance.
Remember someone that may be overweight might be the kindest nicest person going so why would you want to be unplesant to them.

 

[swee'pea99]

Pretty much all the miners round here used to walk or cycle to work before and after each shift.

You remind me of a bit of Orwell where he describes going down the pit with some miners. What he'd never realised was that the coalface was often a mile or more (sometimes as much as three) from the bottom of the pit lift - a distance the miners had to cover - bent double for much of the way - before they could even start work, and then again after they finished. To his eternal shame, he found that by the time they'd all reached the coalface in the morning, he was so shattered he could barely move, so instead of joining in as he'd intended, he sat back and 'observed' while they all got to work. (He was no fatty either - Orwell was a very fit and active man.)

As to the OP, I was heartened at the weekend to read that Jamie Oliver's schools crusade is actually delivering significant and tangible results: "The report by the Children's Food Trust shows the proportion of teenagers having chips at lunchtime has dropped from 43% to 7% between 2004 and 2011, while those consuming starchy foods cooked in fat or oil such as garlic bread or yorkshire pudding is down from 50% to 17%." Like him or not (and I have to say I do) Jamie Oliver has probably done more for the health of this nation than anything since the establishment of the NHS. And not by condemning; more by showing a better way. Maybe there's a lesson in there...

 

[jonny jeez]

I think it is unfair, but perhaps I'm just being slightly selfish. I have suffered from depression off and on over years. I know that when I felt really down, my natural tendency was to overeat, smoke heavily or drink too much. I knew it didn't help but I done it anyway, and still do to a lesser extent even though feel much happier now. It's very easy to let this get out of control. Just because someone over-eats, smokes or drinks to excess does not necessarily mean that that person lacks intelligence in any way. It's very easy to start doing these things and it's difficult to stop again. It's very easy for the people who don't to criticise but you probably don't know the full story, there may be complex emotional issues there. Do you really think someone like George Best who was enormously gifted really wanted to drink himself to death? No, I doubt it and if he could have stopped doing it, he would have done, I'm sure. Do overweight people like being overweight? Speaking personally, I don't and I do try hard to change it but always end up slipping back to my old unhealthy eating patterns.

I completely understand (and thank you for sharing your own personal experience, I don't think you are being selfish at all but I do think you are giving consideration and perspective to the question...so cheers) Perhaps, therefore, you are most qualified to answer the question that i am struggling with myself.

You are spot on, smoking eating, drinking (and the addition of drug) taking are all support systems that we sometimes "fall" back on and can all to easily become habit forming. So, my question is, in much the same way that "society" has made it easier...or perhaps more important... for smokers to stop smoking, could she also make it easier for those who fall to overeating as a vice...not to.

by simply making it embarrassing.

I know what you are thinking, it would be like hell for those who already struggle with their weight. But isn't it irresponsible to defend those who make a choice that is bad for them and ultimately leads to an early grave.

Smokers are massively discriminated against, they are taxed treated and segregated like no other member of society and yet we are happy to maintain this discrimination on the grounds that its "good for them".

PS, I am and have never been a smoker.

 

[jonny jeez]

How would you feel if you were overwight and people shunned you? .

I would feel like I should loose weight.

 

[172traindriver]

I would feel like I should loose weight.

What if you had a genetic disorder? and it was impossible

 

[PK99]

It is strange how the increase in car ownership has been followed by an increase in waistlines, look at the US where car is king and so are the waistlines.

It is probably more to do with the switch away from physical labour to sedentary occupations