Fat Americans

[elru]

Hey all. Sometimes in the chat I will see people talking about 'fat americans' in a really negative way. I understand that this is meant generally as a critique of american consumerism but I think it is a hurtful thing to say. Weight is very important in our culture and the stigma against fat contributes to a lot of suffering for many people. I grew up with an anorexic mother so I've seen very close what the effects of words like these can be for the people who hear them.

Having a negative stereotype against someone's weight and saying that it is gross or disgusting to be fat is saying that the body that another human being experiences their life in every day is disgusting. That's not supportive or loving at all.

 

[a1pha]

I saw that too and thank you for bringing it up.

While I agree Americans have their flaws (I'm one of them with many flaws), it's not appropriate for anyone to generalize ALL Americans (or any group of people) as this or that. It's ignorant and inappropriate on a board of this caliber.

Lets keep the hate down and support one another, no matter where you're from.

 

[۩]

Americans are phat.

Definition of PHAT

highly attractive or gratifying : excellent… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

Definition: highly attractive or gratifying : excellent <a phat beat moving through my body — Tara Roberts>

 

[a1pha]

Americans are phat.

Definition of PHAT

highly attractive or gratifying : excellent… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

Definition: highly attractive or gratifying : excellent <a phat beat moving through my body — Tara Roberts>

Wtf? When did phat make the dictionary?

 

[۩]

Clearly all this is was just a simple spelling error.

 

[soulfood]

Anti-Americanism pisses me off.

It seems the USA is the easy pick target that people belittle to make their own insecurity's about themselves seem less significant.

"Stupid Americans" is also a term I find quite annoying and inaccurate. Last I checked, America is doing pretty well in the field of science and technology. I guess there are a lot of isolated pockets of mankind tucked away here and there and if one wanted to they could choose these people to be what they think of America as a whole.

I live in east Anglia which actually has a higher rate of inbreading per person than the southern united states but most English people don't seem to accept that.

I have a German friend who is constantly belittling the Americans and the English, as europe make a habit of seeing us as one and the same. I usual return by saying "At least we didn't willfully kill a lot of Jews and actually have human hearts where you have a system of finely machined cogs and wheels and are we are capable of experiencing real human emotion. That's right you Nazi! It's on!

There's a fairly large American population where I live and I haven't seen one who is fat... or with movie star good looks for that matter. However if someone takes a camera down to Texas for a fat documentary, it makes the fat europeans who are sat on their butts watching the awful show because they are too fat to go for a walk feel less fat. "Stupid fat americans" she says helping herself to her third serving of buttered bacon.

All Japanese people eat whales,
All English have bad teeth,
French people are spineless,
Belgium is apethetic,
Ireland is full of drunks,
Iranians are Terrorists,
Australians are theives,
The Swedish are hot...

...Scotland has no women...

it's easy really

 

[jbark]

All Japanese people eat whales,
All English have bad teeth,
French people are spineless,
Belgium is apethetic,
Ireland is full of drunks,
Iranians are Terrorists,
Australians are theives,
The Swedish are hot...

...Scotland has no women...

it's easy really

... Canadians are funny...

:d :shock: :d :shock: :d

 

[Ellis D'Empty]

.... people are stupid.

 

[Steely]

It seems the USA is the easy pick target that people belittle to make their own insecurity's about themselves seem less significant.

I believe that any kind of anger someone evinces through harming others, is always based on the insecurities of the aggressor.

 

[Metanoia]

...Scotland has no women...

:lol: Never heard that one.

... Canadians are funny...

:d :shock: :d :shock: :d

All Canadians are friendly. I'm a pretty easy going guy and I'm friendly enough, but there sure are some assholes living in this country :lol:

 

[Ice House]

Obesity in America is an ugly chronic health issue......... An epidemic. I hate the stereotype also, there are lots of fat people all over the world not just in America.

 

[Shaolin]

Hey all. Sometimes in the chat I will see people talking about 'fat americans' in a really negative way. I understand that this is meant generally as a critique of american consumerism but I think it is a hurtful thing to say. Weight is very important in our culture and the stigma against fat contributes to a lot of suffering for many people. I grew up with an anorexic mother so I've seen very close what the effects of words like these can be for the people who hear them.

Having a negative stereotype against someone's weight and saying that it is gross or disgusting to be fat is saying that the body that another human being experiences their life in every day is disgusting. That's not supportive or loving at all.

Is this thread about

a) Anti-Americanism
b) perception of fat/obese/overweight people
c) obesity in America
d) generalizations

or ?

 

[DoingKermit]

You will find fat people everywhere. I lived in the US for 11 years in total and i found people generally pretty sporty and active where i was in Florida and in Michigan, which is supposedly the state with the most obese people statistically. When i lived in Italy you see fat people around, but for some reason they seem like a healthier type of fat. They pretty much drink olive oil out of the bottle.

I dunno... as long as there's McDonalds, there will be overweight people it seems.

 

[Infinite I]

I believe that any kind of anger someone evinces through harming others, is always based on the insecurities of the aggressor.

Definately im always saying that about a lot of things, a woman in my work is always moaning about everyone else, its really bad but this is the reason she does it.

Fatism is the most socially acceptable form of discrimination unfortunately

 

[Agave]

Actually there isn't a whit's bit of difference in any of us.

 

[elru]

Hey all. Sometimes in the chat I will see people talking about 'fat americans' in a really negative way. I understand that this is meant generally as a critique of american consumerism but I think it is a hurtful thing to say. Weight is very important in our culture and the stigma against fat contributes to a lot of suffering for many people. I grew up with an anorexic mother so I've seen very close what the effects of words like these can be for the people who hear them.

Having a negative stereotype against someone's weight and saying that it is gross or disgusting to be fat is saying that the body that another human being experiences their life in every day is disgusting. That's not supportive or loving at all.

Is this thread about

a) Anti-Americanism
b) perception of fat/obese/overweight people
c) obesity in America
d) generalizations

or ?

I have an issue with people directing all their criticism of Americanness onto fat people. Fat, thin, and in-the-middle people alike all contribute to over-consumption and casting fatness as the symbol of all that's wrong with Western culture puts a really heavy burden on people who struggle with their self image. I think that in the same way that it is inappropriate to criticize a person for their color that it is inappropriate to criticize them for their size. Even if someone is trying to change their weight we should be loving and accepting of anyone however they look today so no one feels that being loved and accepted is conditional on the number on their scale.

 

[1664]

Ireland is full of drunks,

this one is actually true

 

[Xt]

Asking people to tolerate obesity when the majority of people live below the poverty line and suffer greatly due to the distribution of wealth and the controls on it... is like asking people to respect the church. Also USA's political behavior is fucking disgraceful. Anyone who takes offense to this is missing the point because well....

Does it need explaining. We tolerate too much nonsense already.
These are not generalizations. I don't assume all Americans are fat, that is shortsighted.
I certainly don't assume all Americans supported the Iraq war or the Afghanistan war.
The whole 9/11 things is majorly fucked up, i don't have the facts... i doubt many do.
Many people are wrapped up in this by simply being a member of a nation without any actual choice in the matter.
Millions of suburban family's who dont care for war, work hard to provide for their familys and buy the food from walmart or whatever because its cheap, abundant and accesable...

This is where the difficulty in the situation lies. The situation has become critical simply because of the numbers of people we are having to deal with now.

I don't like generalizations and i don't like hating on people. Tho i feel this is neither of those things.
I love people, i love health.. i wish good health to all people... victims of ordinance and Mcburger are equally valuable.

It's a love thing.

I love my planet, i love my species... i resent harmful things. America is harming other people and it is harming itself... there is no excuse for tolerance & apathy.

Encourage each other to grow food at home and cultivate freedom of thought and critical thinking.
We Vastly outnumber those who control us... lets work together.

Sorry if this went off topic... my mind is chewing on this stuff regularly.

 

[elru]

Poverty and obesity often go together. Many poor Americans do not have access to healthy food like vegetables and instead do the majority of their shopping at shitty urban grocery stores that get a delivery of a few loaves of fresh bread only once a week or so and then have to charge $4/loaf which no one can afford so the store doesn't order more so it's always just $4/loaf for stale healthy bread but just $1/loaf on sale for the bread thats full of corn syrup or shop at bodegas that don't even have produce aside from a handful of mooshy tomatoes and a box of onions like the one around the corner from where I used to live. I was fortunate to have the time to travel to a real grocery store to buy healthy food most of the time instead of just cans of ravioli at the bodega but a lot of people around me worked too much or were also trying to go to school while they worked so wasting 2 hours in traffic on the buses just to get some pears isn't so much of an option. Add to this maybe children who need to be watched and the dollar menu at a fast food place looks pretty attractive.

If you have an issue with greed or overconsumption or apathy, that's fine. I think most people agree that those aren't positive traits. I don't agree with using body size as a symbol for these things though. You say "lets work together." but if you are criticizing someone for their body size I can't imagine that they will really want to be your friend and work with you. I can understand being hostile towards a group like Monsanto because there really is not much middle ground with them but being kind and accepting of individual people seems like a good way to begin an interaction. Maybe a person is fat because they are eating lots of innocent babies (like antrocles ). If they are then it's totally reasonable to be angry with them. Maybe they are fat though because they don't have reliable access to produce. Maybe they're fat because they were sexually assaulted and are too traumatized to care about their health or appearance. Maybe they're fat because their organic, environmentally friendly permaculture garden gave them a ton of veggies this year and even after sharing as much as they could they still had so much that they got fat from eating too many potatoes. Until you talk to someone you can't know who they are and even then you can never fully understand everything that makes a person who they are. Criticizing appearances creates hostility where we don't need any and draws our attention away from other issues.

 

[Ice House]

Poverty and obesity often go together. .

True statement there. Poverty and obesity go together just like illiteracy and obesity/ ignorance and obesity.

No matter what the reason is, it is creating a major health issue world wide and it is causing genetic changes that are extremely bad for the human race as a whole. The ammount of children that are born into a life of diabetes and heart disease due to obese parents is staggering. Each generation passes these health issues on to the next. Pretty soon all mankind will be damaged from these health issues as well as damaged by all of the chemicals we put into ourselves to correct these problems. IMO this is a SERIOUS issue. Ultimately it will be the end of us.

Only the strong will survive and stand the test of time. Obese people will not.

Sad but True.