• Fern@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I don’t really understand why people get so aggro like this and start fat shaming. Like, do you react this way whenever someone smokes cigarettes or drinks alcohol? It’s other people’s bodies. I have honestly never heard anyone say these excuses. I normally see fat people shaming and beating up on themselves. This kind of shit makes them feel like it’s not even okay to be seen because of this shit. Shame is not the answer.

    • madcaesar@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      What are you on about? We’ve literally kicked smokers out of public spaces and increased their insurance rates. Alcohol in excess will also get thrown in jail.

      It’s not shaming anyone, to point out when something is objectively unhealthy. No-one is going around hounding people for eating an extra slice of pizza or having a drink with dinner.

      But,when you are eating a whole pizza a day or are drunk at 8am people should point out that hey maybe that’s not the way to go.

    • Xanthrax@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. I’m an unhealthy addict. Obesity is a disease that shouldn’t be shamed, like any other addiction/ condition. It should definitely be acknowledged/ treated, though.

      • XIIIesq@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Obesity is a disease

        To imply that every obese person is “food addicted” is actually just another excuse, this might come as a suprise, but skinny people like to eat too! Just as the people at the pub on Friday and Saturday night are not necessarily addicted to alcohol. It’s only really true in a minority of cases.

        Not being willing to say, “no I’ve eaten enough, I don’t want dessert” is not proof of an addiction, it’s just proof that you value your health less than a cake.

        • agent_flounder@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Do you also blame people with anorexia for not eating enough?

          The obese people I know all had childhood abuse, neglect, or CSA or something else going on. Eating is a maladaptive coping mechanism just like how some CSA survivors act out in various ways.

          Other people have different life experiences than you.

          • XIIIesq@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            I don’t blame anyone for the manifestations of any severe medical or mental issues that they might have and I have already stated as such.

    • XIIIesq@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I’m not shaming all fat people. Just the ones that only make excuses for their weight or pretend that it is healthy.

      I couldn’t be prouder or more supportive of an overweight person that decides enough is enough, takes ownership of their body, that they’re going to lose weight and stick with it until they reach their goal.

      To use your analogy, I don’t care if someone drinks or smokes, but if they start pretending that it’s not a choice they make it or that it’s healthy, then yh, that’s a problem and I don’t think it’s a bad thing to call them out for that.

    • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      Most smokers I know are well aware of how unhealthy their habit is, and would quit if it was easy. They don’t make excuses.

    • IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Are there advocates telling people it’s okay and healthy to smoke? Oh, it’s universally shit on with more laws every day on who can smoke?

      • Liz@midwest.social
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        8 months ago

        We really ought to be passing laws to combat obesity, like adding a tax on unhealthy food and making walking and biking more attractive transportation options.

        • IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Or you could mind your own business and let those people pay for their additional health care costs. But that’s not going to gain any traction.

          • Liz@midwest.social
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            8 months ago

            Well, but even in the capitalist hellscape of America where we get blatantly overcharged for healthcare, we still largely use a mix of private and public insurance. Even if I didn’t care about other people or want them to have long and healthy lives for its own sake, I would still want want them to be healthy because my insurance rate is tied to the overall cost of healthcare, which is higher thanks to people being unhealthy. This is an insane way of thinking, and I want everyone to be healthy for the intrinsic benefits, but even if I were to be completely selfish, well, they’re costing me money.

            • IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              I’m not fan of our healthcare. But if you decouple and simplify the rates it sounds like you still want to force what’s important to you on others and I disagree strongly.

              • Liz@midwest.social
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                8 months ago

                Force would mean throwing them in fatty prison or something ridiculous. People can do what they want, I’m still going to encourage them to get healthy. I have yet to talk to someone who regretted getting their weight under control, even those who used to claim they were fine with being overweight. Think of it like just encouraging exercise independent of weight (which is also good for you, regardless of mass status). I’m not going to force anyone into a lap pool, but I will tell them about how good exercise is for you.

          • papertowels
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            8 months ago

            You actually bring up an interesting point.

            Their health care costs are our healthcare costs. The way insurance works, healthy people subsidize unhealthy people’s healthcare.

            Additionally, many hospitals around America are finding that they have to buy specialized, expensive equipment just to transport and handle bariatric folks. In a few locales, they’re charging folks that need this specialized equipment more, but my guess is in many others the cost is once again subsidized by the general population.

              • papertowels
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                8 months ago

                ACA prohibits charging people more for insurance based on their weight, so those costs are paid for by the public.

                • IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  Right. And that is a choice that was made. You could make a choice to set up a framework to charge them more for their decisions. Instead you and the progressive public are choosing to accept the cost, and then complaining about that cost.

                  • papertowels
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                    8 months ago

                    Oh right, I totally forgot that I can just waive my magic wand and change that for everyone, so I have no right to complain.

                    I guess while I’m at it I might as well waive the magic wand so everyone has perfect health, right? Cut straight to the chase.

                    What? I can’t do that?

                    Could you believe the audacity I have to point out that under the current status quo, unhealthy people are having their healthcare costs subsidized by healthy people? Because that’s fundamentally how insurance works?

    • agent_flounder@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      If shame was the answer, nobody would still be obese. There is always an underlying cause, and it isn’t because of a character flaw. Often people use food as a maladaptive way of coping with emotional abuse or neglect, SA, or other things.

      It’s another example of people being shallow, self-righteous assholes with a narrow perspective and no willingness to understand or empathize with fellow humans.

      Sort of like how some people are anti-trans (usually anti MtF trans). Often these people are so pathetic they have to bash others to feel better about themselves. It’s the same mentality as blaming poor people for not having more money. Or dismissing drug addicts as subhuman garbage rather than fucked up people with a disease.

      This kind of shit makes them feel like it’s not even okay to be seen because of this shit.

      That’s exactly their intent. They don’t see fat people as equally human. They see them as people who aren’t as good as they are and they would just as soon fat people “go away”.

      People born on third base thinking they hit a triple. As if having well adjusted parents and not having a mental disorder and not experiencing CSA and so on was somehow all their own doing and not just the luck of the draw.

    • macniel@feddit.de
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      8 months ago

      People love to seek flaws in others so that they have to see their own flaws. Or shame others because they can’t fathom that those are happy how they are while the shamers are constrained in their own thinking.

    • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      To your hypothetical: no one talks bad about a consumer until they do so at an excessive level.