Contempt for fat people - not only wrong, but ignorant
Filed under: Health
A recent WalletPop post about PETA's ill-considered decision to buy billboard space to ridicule overweight women has generated a huge amount of discussion among AOL readers on our comments board. Many commenters have equated overeating to moral weakness. As an overly buoyant American, I'm convinced this attitude is not just wrong, it demonstrates a fundamental misconception about human beings.If eight out of ten Americans over 25 are overweight or obese, I don't believe it's because 80% of Americans are weak willed, or innocent victims of irresistible marketing programs. Just a few hundred thousand years ago (creationists should stop reading here and move along to the next post) our species lived in small tribes, at any time only a drought or blizzard or plague away from starvation. Our survival instinct told us to eat when food was plentiful. Like bears, this extra fat could keep us alive when the food sources dried up or migrated away.
Instincts die hard, even when they no longer serve our best interests. For example, we've had the devil's time overcoming the fear that led us to kill other people that might compete for the same food supply. Although the Earth is straining to feed the billions of humans, we continue to reproduce above replacement rate. Is it any wonder that in a time when a virtually unlimited abundance of food is available to us, our ancient instincts continue to drive us to eat as if it could all disappear tomorrow?Just because overeating is instinctual doesn't mean it's in our best interests today, obviously. It does mean, however, that changing this behavior requires acting contrary to deeply ingrained motivation, and for most of us this is as difficult as fighting off the instinct to take a breath while trapped underwater. The low number of people who have successfully changed their eating patterns for more than a short time show just how difficult this change can be.
And the desire to change is not lacking in most overweight Americans. We spend a fortune on any product or service that promises to help us shave pounds, from pharmaceuticals, bariatric surgery and psychotherapy all the way to scam products such as acai berries.
My point? Obese Americans are not bad people, or morally corrupt, or contemptible, or weak. We, 66% of the nation's population, are struggling to overcome an instinct that once served to improve our odds of survival, but now threatens to kill us before our time. For most of us, our human instincts have not kept up with changes in the environment in which we live. We need to reprogram ourselves to live in a world of abundance.
Obesity is not the only health challenge we face. Those born without this eating instinct may well have other problems to deal with, some organic, some stemming from other, no-longer-appropriate instincts.
None of our struggles with personal challenges are made easier by name-calling and ridicule, imho. Compassion and encouragement are two instincts that serve to strengthen the bond within a tribe or a society. We should act on these instincts as we try to help one another learn to live according to our best interests rather than outmoded survival instincts.
My impression is that those who hate people they've never even met that they feel the need to express this hatred in an internet blog comment, don't like themselves very much either. I'm pulling for them to learn how to love themselves. Hate breeds hate. Love breeds love. And the world is already fat with hate.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-21-2009 @ 3:47PM
Steven said...
My grandfather was one of the slimest people I ever knew. He ate more food than anyone I know but he was also very active farming and doing other manual labor. The people I know who have desk jobs that eat like my grandfather did are not slim. It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out, nor does it take reaching back thousands of years to find the root cause of the difference in weight.
I don't have contempt for fat people, but the viewpoint in this story epitomizes what's wrong with our society. Instead of taking personal responsibility, we blame our problems (whatever they are) on something else. Nothing that's bad in life is ever the fault the person that it happens to. I understand that being fat can be blamed on a lot of things - sedentary lifestyle, over-eating, genetics/bad role models, medical conditions or any number of things that a person does/doesn't do (maybe they just got dealt a raw deal in life). However, having some wack blog person write that it's most likely because our ancestors were hunter/gatherers that experienced famine is ridiculous and not helpful to anyone, much less the person who actually comes here for advice on life.
Finally, I find it hysterical that you would actually write about people expressing hatred in the comment section. I'm probably hateful because of my critical comments, but I also believe that the statement wouldn't be necessary if the article was actually based on science, more thoroughly researched, or disclaimed as opinion/mindless babble.
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9-14-2009 @ 8:51AM
Marie said...
Let me tell you this. My childhood doctor told me I would have a weight problem all my life. I was gaining weight to fast and he put me on skim milk. I have stuggled all my life trying to keep my weight down. I did a good job of it, but I became severely depressed and I was put on alot of medication that makes you gain weight. Gain weight I did. I was devistated as I was gaining weight and eating less. I have always exercised also. To no avail!!! I lost alot of weight at one point and my medication got messed up and had to be put on another medication, which stated weight gain. I told the doctor to please not to put me on a medication that would make me gain weight. It seems not to many of the medications for severely depressed and bipolar 2 disorder people are not made to help you to not gain weight. I had gained the weight back that I worked so hard to take off because I was put on a new medication. So don't think that all people who are overweight eat themselves there. I am one of the ones who don't eat alot and have gained weight because of my medication. Not every overweight person is uncontrollably eating theirselves into obesity.
8-21-2009 @ 6:32PM
Bill said...
This whole article ducks the primary issue; personal responsibility for what we put in our bodies. Blaming instincts might take the guilt away, but just looking around at the eating habits of overweight people supports my first sentence.
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8-21-2009 @ 3:58PM
Ashley Delaney said...
Tom,
Your insight is truly inspiring! Thank you for pointing out the evolution of the "eater." I don't know how often this is considered when taking into account the sociological and psychological repercussions over expanding American waistbands. All of my sisters have eating disorders, as well as my mother. I have battled with one for about 8 years now and have a relatively good balance at the moment but realize that the manifestation of this idea that ‘those who consume are weaker’ mentality of our culture still astounds me.
It isn’t just discrimination in social situations but also in the work place that we are judged. As an attractive 125 pound woman who has fluctuated between 145 and a very unhealthy 115 pounds, I will say that I received the most positive attention from men and women when I weighed my least. This positive reinforcement of false acceptance and friendship has driven me to pursue, albeit vainly and sometimes dangerously, that small frail body that seemed to hold so much power.
Thank God that there are some sane people still out there that appreciate the fact that, surprise! People do, in fact, eat. It is just something that we do as humans. Handling the options, portions and understanding how our body processes food is something that does take strength, determination, drive and will…..but while you are working so hard to maintain your lithe frame…..you aren’t really doing much else. Another helping of selfish lifestyle anyone? I am pushing back from that table.
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8-28-2009 @ 3:20PM
truluv said...
If there is any truth to this article, then why is the problem so much more widespread in America than in many other nations?
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8-30-2009 @ 12:17PM
terry jones said...
Lots of advice for the fat and put upon can be found on the website www.youfatbastard.org
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9-14-2009 @ 10:43AM
Alison said...
This is a load of horse flop. Get off your butt, put down the twinkie, and stop blaming mom/dad/wal-mart/evolution for your determination to turn yourself into the stay-puft man.
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