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'Fat' Comments Should Be Illegal

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Reply 60
Original post by Kreme
I agree with you Kiss, that fat comments should be illegal.


You didn't read my post then.
I have a feeling this is being taken more seriously than it needs to be, seeing as she said it after comments were made by her.
Original post by pandabird

Why should we show tolerance for fat people? It's a massive, expensive epidemic that's costing us millions a year. No we should not show toleration for it.

When will the government crack down on obesity? Not even obesity, they should crack down on being overweight, crack down on the overconsumption of food in general.
It is not normal for humans to be overweight, it is costly and signifies everything wrong with the western world- greed and lack of control.


One of the most ignorant posts I've seen in a while. You assume that eating a lot is the main cause of being overweight, and that it's 100% a problem. Who are you to say what's normal for humans? As long as it's evolutionary favourable, it will persist. You sound like one of those people who bully people for being fat.
Being fat should be illegal.
Reply 64
Original post by Eloades11
One of the most ignorant posts I've seen in a while. You assume that eating a lot is the main cause of being overweight, and that it's 100% a problem. Who are you to say what's normal for humans? As long as it's evolutionary favourable, it will persist. You sound like one of those people who bully people for being fat.


So why is being overweight better than being healthy?
Reply 65
Original post by Eloades11
One of the most ignorant posts I've seen in a while. You assume that eating a lot is the main cause of being overweight, and that it's 100% a problem. Who are you to say what's normal for humans? As long as it's evolutionary favourable, it will persist. You sound like one of those people who bully people for being fat.


I'm pretty sure it is, and likewise I'm sure that not being fat and overweight is indeed normal for most people with good health.You think being fat is evolutionary favourable...u wot m8?
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by Kiss
So why is being overweight better than being healthy?


You're saying that you can't be overweight and healthy? There are probably obese people out there which are more healthy than normal weight people.

Being overweight has been linked to a reduction in risk for various chronic diseases. Although I'm not saying being overweight is necessarily a good thing, but it may be beneficial in some aspects of modern society. There's a similar situation with alcohol, having too much is considered dangerous and linked with increased mortality, but having small amount of alcohol is shown to be beneficial.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/human-biology/obesity-paradox.htm


Original post by Sai4
I'm pretty sure it is, and likewise I'm sure that not being fat and overweight is indeed normal for most people with good health. You think being fat is evolutionary favourable...u wot m8?


So being overweight is solely dependent on food consumption per individual, and has absolutely nothing to do with amount of exercise, energy expenditure or genetics? If being fat isn't a favourable trait, it would've died out. You should do more reading before commenting on the topic.
Reply 67
Original post by Eloades11
You're saying that you can't be overweight and healthy? There are probably obese people out there which are more healthy than normal weight people.

Being overweight has been linked to a reduction in risk for various chronic diseases. Although I'm not saying being overweight is necessarily a good thing, but it may be beneficial in some aspects of modern society. There's a similar situation with alcohol, having too much is considered dangerous and linked with increased mortality, but having small amount of alcohol is shown to be beneficial.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/human-biology/obesity-paradox.htm





So being overweight is solely dependent on food consumption per individual, and has absolutely nothing to do with amount of exercise, energy expenditure or genetics? If being fat isn't a favourable trait, it would've died out. You should do more reading before commenting on the topic.


You mentioned overeating wasn't the main reason for obesity, which is wrong. Of course there are other lifestyle issues that play a part and there are exceptions, but the main problem is having a poor diet and over consumption of those foods

Becoming obese is mostly an environmental process and not as heavily influenced by genetics as you make it seem...The reason its not "dying out" in society is because evolutionary genetics is not even the issue.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 68
Her example is awful, if we look at the way we treat cigarettes and drugs it suggests we should be pretend no body is fat because it gives children the message being fat is ok.

The damage to some ones wellbeing due to them being fat is far more significant than the damage done by telling them they are fat. If they really are fat and they feel bad being told it maybe they should change rather than expecting everyone to help them go into denial. Before anyone tries to tell me I can only see one side, I've been seriously fat and it was people telling me so that made me get of my lazy *** and get healthy again.
Reply 69
Original post by Eloades11
You're saying that you can't be overweight and healthy? There are probably obese people out there which are more healthy than normal weight people.

Being overweight has been linked to a reduction in risk for various chronic diseases. Although I'm not saying being overweight is necessarily a good thing, but it may be beneficial in some aspects of modern society. There's a similar situation with alcohol, having too much is considered dangerous and linked with increased mortality, but having small amount of alcohol is shown to be beneficial.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/human-biology/obesity-paradox.htm

So being overweight is solely dependent on food consumption per individual, and has absolutely nothing to do with amount of exercise, energy expenditure or genetics? If being fat isn't a favourable trait, it would've died out. You should do more reading before commenting on the topic.



So you're honestly telling us all that this:



Is healthier than this:



Man 2 might have AIDs for all I know but if you're going to be really pedantic about it, I'll do likewise. If these two men have no illnesses at present, which one is more likely to die of heart failure first? Which one is more likely to get diabetes or stomach cancer? I'll address the elephant in the room - in this a very big one.

You should be aware of the obvious before you try to defend an unhealthy lifestyle. And let's face it, self-acceptance and healthy lifestyles are never compatible in the long-run. If it were up to you we wouldn't be allowed to teach physical education in schools lest it damage the poor egos of some morbidly obese children on the brink of heart failure.
Original post by Lotus_Eater
What might be more productive is if Jennifer Lawrence (and her A-List friends) boycotted any newspaper or magazines that promoted unrealistic body images to its readership. By refusing, en masse, to give interviews or feature on the cover, editors might be forced to think twice about the language they threw around.


People should just stop buying these hateful magazines and read something more worthwhile instead.


Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 71
Original post by Lotus_Eater
What might be more productive is if Jennifer Lawrence (and her A-List friends) boycotted any newspaper or magazines that promoted unrealistic body images to its readership. By refusing, en masse, to give interviews or feature on the cover, editors might be forced to think twice about the language they threw around.


First of all that wouldn't work, and second of all how is it wrong for the people with those bodies to put it out there? If we're going all 'self-acceptance' then you need to accept people with socially stereotypical 'hot' bodies shouldn't be shoved aside simply because some people are jealous.


Original post by myblueheaven339
People should just stop buying these hateful magazines and read something more worthwhile instead.


Posted from TSR Mobile


What exactly is 'hateful' about offering ways to lose weight and tips on how to exercise?
I feel like you've been missing the point throughout this thread, OP.

Making "fat" comments illegal is obviously not a way to go. Education in respect and acceptance would be a whole lot better.

The point Jennifer Lawrence was making was that the media has an incredible amount of influence, especially on young people, and to publish comments like that, especially about someone who is by any standards not fat, just sends out an awful message. Clinical professionals tackling the issue of someone being fat isn't an issue. When the media takes it into its own hands... then it is.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by Aoide
The damage to some ones wellbeing due to them being fat is far more significant than the damage done by telling them they are fat.


You've obviously never experienced eating disorders before.
Reply 74
Original post by cant_think_of_name
I feel like you've been missing the point throughout this thread, OP.

Making "fat" comments illegal is obviously not a way to go. Education in respect and acceptance would be a whole lot better.

The point Jennifer Lawrence was making was that the media has an incredible amount of influence, especially on young people, and to publish comments like that, especially about someone who is by any standards not fat, just sends out an awful message. Clinical professionals tackling the issue of someone being fat isn't an issue. When the media takes it into its own hands... then it is.


The ultimate choice comes down to the individual. If they choose to ignore health professionals and watch what the media tells them then that's their fault.
Original post by Kiss
The ultimate choice comes down to the individual. If they choose to ignore health professionals and watch what the media tells them then that's their fault.


You can't just stop watching the media - it's everywhere. People who are not experts in the medical field (for example, journalists) calling people fat really doesn't solve anything. You can't say it's the individual's fault for developing medical issues because of something they read in the media :confused:
Reply 76
Original post by cant_think_of_name
You can't just stop watching the media - it's everywhere. People who are not experts in the medical field (for example, journalists) calling people fat really doesn't solve anything. You can't say it's the individual's fault for developing medical issues because of something they read in the media :confused:


You're more or less suggesting that nobody has free will.
Original post by Kiss
You're more or less suggesting that nobody has free will.


What I mean is that in a practical sense it would be extremely difficult for someone to completely ignore potentially damaging headlines. Free will isn't as simple as all that, unfortunately :redface:
Reply 78
Original post by cant_think_of_name
You've obviously never experienced eating disorders before.


No and neither have the majority of people. Eating disorders aren't a common response and the fact that you need to rely on such unusual circumstances to justify banning fat comments shows how ridiculous a suggest it is. The vast majority of people who are fat and then return to a healthy weight do so without succumbing to eating disorders. Even at worst case scenario and we have to pick one, obesity is a considerably larger problem than eating disorders. Telling people to go ahead and eat whatever they want is as unhealthy as pressuring them into eating disorders. When it comes to under eating people are happy to say that there is a problem without all this self acceptance BS but the same can't be said for overeating. We can say that being fat is bad without saying that under eating is good. To deal with both issues we need to make people aware of what is and isn't healthy and how to deal with it. We cannot do that without telling people that being fat is not good.
Original post by Aoide
No and neither have the majority of people. Eating disorders aren't a common response and the fact that you need to rely on such unusual circumstances to justify banning fat comments shows how ridiculous a suggest it is.


Read this article, including statistics such as:

Over one-half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives (Neumark-Sztainer, 2005).

Even among clearly non-overweight girls, over 1/3 report dieting (Wertheim et al., 2009).

Of American, elementary school girls who read magazines, 69% say that the pictures influence their concept of the ideal body shape. 47% say the pictures make them want to lose weight (Martin, 2010). (elementary school being those from ages 5-10)



Quite clearly these aren't "unusual circumstances" any more. They're becoming more and more prevalent.

[quote= Even at worst case scenario and we have to pick one, obesity is a considerably larger problem than eating disorders. Telling people to go ahead and eat whatever they want is as unhealthy as pressuring them into eating disorders. When it comes to under eating people are happy to say that there is a problem without all this self acceptance BS but the same can't be said for overeating. We can say that being fat is bad without saying that under eating is good. To deal with both issues we need to make people aware of what is and isn't healthy and how to deal with it. We cannot do that without telling people that being fat is not good.

At no point do I think we should "tell people to eat what they want". I am extremely in favour of healthy lifestyles, improved education on healthcare. Your last two sentences are completely correct - we do need these things. I just think that the media telling people that they are fat is not good - it's not their call, and it's often not their area of expertise. Telling people that they need to lose weight is something that needs to be done sensitively and privately by a medical expert.

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