Fat (not "fat") people

ezinra · **Posted:** Fri Apr 13, 2012 10:08 am

Just get over it! Stiles set to be banned from Dartmoor National Park in bid to improve access for fat people

As Arnold pointed out in the Headline vs Story thread, this headline is misleading: the main beneficiaries of the change would be older and disabled people. But that wouldn't provoke much FURY from Mailites too dim to read between the lines (or indeed read the article). And the Mail rarely passes up an opportunity to mobilise its readers' hatred of fat people.

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This is a waste of money and effort, fat gits will not move any further from their vehicles than the nearest burger or ice cream van.

- Hadwyn, Anglia, 13/4/2012 6:10 Rating 1

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Why not leave the fat slobs alone in the forest at night and see which fat pig makes it home! Either way it'll save the NHS thousands...

- Griswald Goodsoup, UK, 12/4/2012 23:52 Rating 1

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Just hold a burger or cake out of reach over the other side........they'll be out of the mobility scooter and over in an jiffy.

- Me, UK, 12/4/2012 21:41 Rating 9

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I think that they should install nails that stick up on the top of the stile- that should give the fat lazy bast*rds a bit of a wake up call.

- Francis Barnett, Brittany France, 12/4/2012 19:24 Rating 14

Fat people are the perfect target for Mailite hate: their 'difference' is visible and self-inflicted (in a Mail reader's mind); they have non-normative bodies; and they allegedly cost the hard-working taxpayer blah blah. Plus there's little stigma attached to fattism, no PC brigade to defend the overweight; Mailites can vent their venomous prejudices with a clean conscience.

It reminds me a bit of old-style homophobia, back in the era when it was assumed that gay people were being deliberately unconventional and could 'cure' themselves if only they put their mind to it. There's the same feeling of repulsion that such people dare to be publicly visible, and the same impulse to shame them for it.

Althea · **Posted:** Fri Apr 13, 2012 10:12 am

It actually says "fat" people, too. Not a more sensitive term or medically valid one, but fat.

We need Lord Leveson. AGAIN.

Amazonian · **Posted:** Fri Apr 13, 2012 2:44 pm

SOD OFF SKINNIES!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hI4I_lMTgQ

(work-safe, if a bit noisy)

ezinra · **Posted:** Fri Apr 13, 2012 5:19 pm

Althea wrote:

It actually says "fat" people, too. Not a more sensitive term or medically valid one, but fat.

We need Lord Leveson. AGAIN.

Many anti-weightist activists use 'fat' to describe themselves. The Fat Acceptance Movement is the best known, but there are also Fat Power and Fat Feminist movements, for example.

I'm not sure that the medically valid term, obese, is preferable. As the "Fat" women thread shows, Mailites and their ilk are prejudiced against anyone whose body shape does not meet their own narrow, arbitrary standards, whether or not that person is clinically obese. Fat activism is about resisting prescriptive, normative ideals of body size and shape, and opposing the slimming industry — reasons why the Mail is happy to stigmatise fat people wherever it can.

Althea · **Posted:** Fri Apr 13, 2012 6:25 pm

It's like the N, Q, F, D and other pejorative words. A group can reclaim them, but if you're not in that group they're not really words you should be using.

I wouldn't call a lesbian a "dyke" for example, nor would I refer to myself as one, but I know it's acceptable for lesbians to use that word whilst it's inappropriate for most others to use it in that context.

If you say to someone "You're fat", it's 99.99% of the time going to be construed as an insult.

ezinra · **Posted:** Fri Apr 13, 2012 6:47 pm

Hmm, I think 'fat' is more like 'gay' or 'black' — primarily descriptive, turned into a pejorative by -phobes. 'Obese' sounds more to me like 'homosexual', rather mealy-mouthed and medicalised — a bit like saying 'copulate' when one means 'fuck'. But that could be me loftily imposing my own preferences. I also dislike 'vagina' (well, the word).

Althea · **Posted:** Fri Apr 13, 2012 7:10 pm

The closest I've come to liking a word for that area is "forge", and that's from a Stephen King book.

Abernathy · **Posted:** Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:09 pm

Modesty is the word, as any fule kno.

Carlos The Badger · **Posted:** Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:22 pm

Abernathy wrote:

Modesty is the word, as any fule kno.

No, Grease is the word. It's got groove, it's got meaning.

Gourami · **Joined:** Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:51 pm **Posts:** 2005

Big Rob · **Posted:** Sun Apr 15, 2012 4:34 am

Wider doors and larger sofas that can support weight of 50st at Britain's first 'obesity clinic'

Why be slim when you can be fat, die young, and save the taxpayer a fortune......

Warning over £106bn bill for old-age care

Bones McCoy · **Joined:** Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:08 am **Posts:** 7330

Carlos The Badger wrote:

Abernathy wrote:

Modesty is the word, as any fule kno.

No, Grease is the word. It's got groove, it's got meaning.

I heard that the bird was the word.

mojojojo · **Joined:** Fri Mar 19, 2010 1:33 pm **Posts:** 4280

Bones McCoy wrote:

Carlos The Badger wrote:

Abernathy wrote:

Modesty is the word, as any fule kno.

No, Grease is the word. It's got groove, it's got meaning.

I heard that the bird was the word.

I knew that. In fact we all did.

ezinra · **Posted:** Tue May 01, 2012 4:48 pm

Overweight women miss out on jobs because of 'fat discrimination'

The Mail baiting its readers on their favourite prejudice again. Illustrated with:

Because fat women are never off the scales. All they can think about is how disgustingly fat they are — and chocolate, of course.

The comments are vile as expected:

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[S]mokers, if they don't smoke in the office, don't incommodate others with their "bad" habits. Fat people don't leave their fat at home when they go to work - they impose the result of their chosen lifestyle on others. That is the main reason why many people don't like fat people.

- kate, fwi, 1/5/2012 16:19 Rating 1

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I go on holiday once a year. I absolutely dread boarding the aircraft and find that I'm sitting next to a stinky, lardy, foul breathing apology for a human being.

- GeGe K, Suffolk, UK, 1/5/2012 15:04 Rating 6

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Next breaking news, obese women are more like to claim benefits and lots of food.

- jude, blackpool, 1/5/2012 15:04 Rating 7

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They used to put fat ladies in circuses. Maybe they could bring that idea back and help reduce unemployment.

- Happy Chappie, Chappieland, 1/5/2012 11:56 Rating 3

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Makes sense to me. You don't get 25 stone men or women running in the Olympics? There is discrimination there too.

- John, HI Hampshire, 1/5/2012 9:35 Rating 29

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To all the people who are overweight and are complaining about the comments posted here. A lot of people dislike fat people and think that the only reason a person is fat is due to a bad diet and lack of exercise. Therefore we view you as lazy or as having no desire to better yourself. When you complain about having no time to exercise or being unable to afford to eat healthy food, it makes us dispise you even more - we all love unhealthy food and love sitting on our ar*es doing nothing but we know that if we do this we will get fat. If you make a choice to live this way, then that is your choice, but do not complain if people choose to treat you a certain way because of it!

- The Truth Hurts, la la land, 1/5/2012 11:14 Rating 29

cycloon · **Joined:** Sun Jun 10, 2007 4:07 pm **Posts:** 3246

Re: stiles on Dartmoor. There are many places where stiles aren't an issue. Especially the main tourist hotspots.

Fat (not "fat") people

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