I wish this whole article was a joke, an April Fools Day prank. Sadly it's not. It's another example of heightism run amok and bad journalism.
http://abcnews.go.com/...
I suggest you read the article but the gist of it is that Americans are no longer the tallest in the world and that because of this, something is wrong and needs to be fixed. The Dutch, who are the world's tallest, are lauded for their stature and presumed to be better off. This reporter, a 6'3 man, also makes a good number of claims that are either inaccurate, unfounded, and or heightist. But that's besides the point. To me it indicates that we have a problem with heightism in society. That is, short people being considered inferior or diseased simply because of their stature. Some advocates would point to studies that show short people make less money than tall people and are generally mistreated. Today we see parents of short children rushing to give their children Human Growth Hormone and other examples of discrimination based on height. Though it may not have been the intention of this journalist, these kinds of articles only contribute to heightism.
Now normally, I would ignore an article like this. Having been alive the past 7 years and having watched Dubya and GOP company run amok, I've seen a lot of stupid journalism. This article is no exception. In any case, articles suggesting the inferiority of short people and the superiority of tall people are quite common nowadays. There was one study conducted by Princeton economists that suggested short people were stupid. There are countless studies conducted showing how short men have a harder time getting married or getting dates (which is of course no interest to me). There are also studies that show short people make less than taller counterparts. There was even one study that suggested taller men were more likely to be Democrats (though since that was a positive reinforcement, CNN declined to interview a single Democrat). Frankly, I think a lot of these articles are inaccurate, biased, and often have major exceptions. But this article goes well beyond that, because it suggests the increasing superiority of the Dutch simply because they are on average taller than Americans (and for that matter the rest of the world). This is wrong and has to be responded to.
If any of the studies (the objective ones) are to be beleived, short men make less money and are less respected than tall men. Short men are discriminated against merely because of their stature. But that doesn't make sense to me. I mean, ignoring someone because they are short is tantamount to ignoring someone because they're Latino. Paying a short man less than a tall man is tantamount to paying a woman less money for the same job a man does. Taking a taller job applicant over a shorter job applicant purely based on height alone is no different from taking a white job applicant over a black job applicant simply based on race. Now some would say that tall men are better looking than short men. Well that's fine but that's a preference only and has little bearing toward the way short statured individuals are treated. You can't make anyone feel attracted toward you. From my perspective, I find short men and men on the shorter side of average to be the most attractive but that's just me.
In this case, I have to ask. What is wrong with other countries having a higher average height than the U.S? For that matter, what is wrong with being short? Even if these claims are true (and I'm not sure that they are) that the Dutch are the tallest because of their socialized system of medicine, what does that really mean? In the Netherlands you still have short people and tall people, only they're on average 3 to 4 inches taller than short and tall people in other parts of the world. This journalist writes: "Despite the growing pains, it's nearly all good news for the Dutch. Tall people have lots of advantages: They earn more, they are elected more often, they are luckier at love and they live longer." First of all, I don't think that's neccesarily true. But secondly, it really doesn't make sense. If everyone gains height, the relationships are still the same and heightism is still negative. Think about it carefully, how is a 5'9 Dutch man in the Netherlands different from a 5'5 American male? I must also ask. Does someone's height indicate that person's inferiority or superiority? I certainly don't think so. If anything, I think it's heightist. And being heightist is no better than being a racist, a sexist, a zenophobe, an anti semite, or a homophobe/heterosexist.
Heightism is a very conservative concept when you think about it. Essentially, tall stature becomes a mark of one's superiority and short stature is a mark of inferiority. This is clearly wrong. What is worse is that short stature increasingly becomes looked upon as a disease, something to be cured. We can see that with the current legal use of human growth hormone in young children who have nothing wrong with them but short stature. We can see it in articles like this where the tone is one of concern and mockery towards those who are short. It is wrong and it needs to be changed and addressed. Normally at the end of diaries like this, I'll propose some sort of policy or idea that would fix a problem but in this case I can't think of one. It's hard to craft laws or policies that would alleviate the problem of heightism. My hope is that as a society we will one day get get past heightism and we will stop discriminating against people of short stature.
Here is a very good article on the very real problems of heightism by NOSSA advocate Ellen Frankel.
http://www.nossaonline.org/...
And for those who think short people can't get elected, here is an example of a great statesman and elected official who also happens to be on the short side (I think he's like 5'6 or so).
http://video.on.nytimes.com/...