Fat people.
The bigotry against fat people transcends the political spectrum, and persists here on Daily Kos. I would like for us to become less permissive of that. My reason is simple: Fat people are treated terribly, and do not deserve it.
Do you relate to me, when I tell you that I seldom feel so alienated from my fellow humanity as when I am in the company of allies, with whom I share the bond of a common ideology, and these people suddenly reveal a cruel side of themselves that I never knew was there?
How often I hear the word fat used here against our common enemies, as if their fatness proves their wickedness! How often I see fat people offered as evidence that our country isn’t working right, as if being fat is an inferior way to live! How often I witness fat people slandered outright, blamed for healthcare costs and environmental depletion, and assumed to be stupid or to have no sense of self-respect!
I never feel so unique in the world as when my ideological kin say things like that...and it’s not the kind of uniqueness I relish.
Some say that being fat is a choice, which therefore makes it open to criticism. Well, folks, being liberal is also a choice—one which obliges us not to judge others unjustly, and thus not to make those kinds of criticisms. Fat people are people. The amount of fat on a person rarely tells you anything important about them. Tell me what you think you know about a fat stranger, and I’ll tell you where your bigotry lies.
Every so often we are asked to do something difficult: We are asked to consider the possibility that we have been wrong about something, something which seems obvious. This is the very thing I am about to ask of you. I thank you for even considering it.
If you are like most people, most of your beliefs about the risks and costs of being fat are unfounded. Obesity is one of those things where the actual science does not match the public’s beliefs, and the economic statistics are little more than gobbledegook. We even have our own fake demagogues who mean well about health and nutrition but in the end don’t know enough about what they’re talking about and end up doing a lot of harm. The truth, such as it is, is ambiguous at best, and does not remotely justify the moral certitude that people espouse when they bemoan the "obesity epidemic."
We can return to discuss these misconceptions about fat people another day. If you are not ready, or not willing to give up your views about fatness itself, that’s okay. I don’t expect you to take my word on faith as though I were some prophet. All I ask from you today is that you set aside your views for a while, admit to the possibility of being wrong, and give some thought to the plight of fat people in our society.
To that end, here is the pledge that I mentioned in the title. It reads thus:
I recognize and oppose the widespread bigotry against fat people in our society. On Daily Kos, I pledge not to use the fatness of individual fat persons, or fat people as a class, nor the trait itself of being fat, as a political weapon. I will not subject fat people to ridicule in my comments and diaries. I will remember to discern that our fat ideological opponents are not inherently worse people than they otherwise would be, were they slim. I will be on the lookout on this site for fat-bashing, and will not show tolerance for it. Most importantly I pledge that I will not assume that I know who a person is because they are fat, even if they are very fat, for I recognize that fat people are as diverse as all people in personality and character.
That’s the pledge. You can sign in by voting in the poll.
Fat people are badly mistreated in this culture. Please don’t say that they’re not. When a child complains about being bullied, you don’t tell them that it’s no big deal or that it’s for their own good. When a friend tells you they have been abused by their partner, you don’t attempt to make apologies for the abuse, and you certainly don’t pile more of it on.
This is one of those times where, if you have some anti-fat views, you have a positive opportunity, among allies, to reconsider those views.
If anyone should like to build upon the discussion here, I suggest the tags “Fat Kos” and “fat acceptance.”
Thanks for reading.