this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2024
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But being fat is not the same as being black. People do not get sick and die 30 years earlier because they are black, for instance. People are black not because they ignore physical exercises and eat too much. I don't support bullying, but acting like this is a normal condition that we should cherish is wrong.
People do die 30 years earlier because they're black - thats often how racism works...
Imo how do we know what "normal" is and has that been the case for the last 1000 years? The Japanese have employed sumo wrestlers to serve in a sport, for instance. I think its fair to say fat shaming is a more modern phenomena that's occurred more recently as high calorie low nutrition food became mass produced and microplastics have accumulated in all our bodies.
Did you equate health issues caused by lack of physical activity and excessive eating to racism? I can't even... Okay, if you want to ignore all the medical and scientific evidence, ignore them. It is your body and you are the one to face the consequences.
This was in a conversation about what kind of abusive behavior is acceptable. Do you think it's also acceptable to be mean to athletes because they too cause damage to their own bodies?
No, I was correcting YOUR comparison. I think shaming racists is quite good, while shaming fat people is misguided.
The point here is that our value judgements about health aren't medical or scientific. Risky behavior isn't universally frowned upon by society. Often its encouraged.
In the US, for instance, automobile accidents are a lead cause of death for people under 35, yet we don't treat driving with the same disdain as smoking or obesity. As far as "lack of physical activity" goes, car accidents represent a major source of injuries, which do make people less able to keep up healthy lifestyles. Yet again, little disdain.
Smoking is a great comparison here, because if you want to take the medical literature seriously you can't just handle it from the consumer end, you also have to deal with industries that employ swaths of food scientists to make bad food addictive and cheap.
All in all, I do think we could benefit from thinking about why we shame people for things and ask ourselves if we're applying these judgements in a consistent way.