Methods of Abstraction

Like it or not, fat people are at war. I’m not hyperbolizing or dramatizing. If you don’t believe me, Google “War on obesity”. Tonight HBO premiered its new documentary series “The Weight of a Nation”. On the premiere page it says “Obesity in America has reached a catastrophic level. Almost every aspect of our lives is threatened. The first step toward ending the damage is learning how to fight back.”

I spend a lot of my time politely asking people to please stop oppressing me. I don’t apologize for that, nor do I begrudge it – it’s proven to be a very effective way to create change and I think that people deserve to be given the benefit of the doubt and the support they need to shift their thinking, and it’s a reasonably pleasant form of activism. I will continue to do it.

But I also have to acknowledge that there is a war being waged against me because of how I look, by people who have been given every opportunity to know better. In concert with HBO’s documentary, I received a Tweet letting me know that Kaiser Permanente is launching the “most aggressive anti-obesity campaign in history.”

They know that there are healthy fat people and unhealthy thin people. They know that not a shred of research shows that any method of weight loss works in the long term. They know that research shows us that we could vastly increase health by providing access to healthy foods, safe movement options, and affordable/free evidence based health care. Nobody is obligated to be healthy or thin; however, I wonder how many people would make different choices if they knew they just need 30 minutes of moderate movement 5 days a week? If they knew that people who choose simple healthy habits have very similar health outcomes regardless of weight. What would people choose if they knew they could abandon the goal of weight loss completely and they could still pursue health. America could be a successful role model for giving people access to health, but instead they are choosing to be a failed role model for thinness - waging war on people based on their appearance for tremendous profit and actively blaming the casualties of the war for the war’s massive failures.

Let’s be clear - they are pathologizing a body size. It doesn’t matter if they say that we need to seek solutions environmentally instead of at the individual level, or if they say that we should have “compassion” for fat people – they are still telling people that is is not ok to exist in fat bodies and that they should see fat bodies as a threat to America. There are tons of thin people who eat unhealthy foods and are sedentary (which is completely their right), but as far as the government is concerned, as long as you are thin you’re part of the “solution,” feel free to do whatever you want. They want people to look at me (and you, if you’re fat) and think “She is part of a catastrophe. She is threatening almost every aspect of our lives. The first step toward ending the damage is learning how to fight back against her.”

I say that if they want a war, I will damn well give them one.

If a fat person dies and one more person says to me, “Fat Person died because s/he was FAT!” I’m gonna sit my fat behind on that person’s unfat face.

If you must be a condescending pseudo doctor know-it-all fuckwad, please, let’s be more appropriate about diagnosing.

Try: That Fat Person died because s/he was eating poisonous garbage that our food system has passed off as food for the past 40 years!

Or: That Fat Person died because there were no grocery stores or running public transportation in her neighborhood!

Or: That Fat Person died because soceity treats obesity as if it were a personal choice rather than a reflection of the addictive additive ingredients in our food chain that have been present for the past 40 years.

Or: That Fat Person died because she worked three jobs and never had time to prepare her own meals!

Or: That Fat Person died because she went to a school that got it’s funding from soda corporations and was blasted with Coca Cola advertising from the time she was in middle school until the time she graduated!

Or: That Fat Person died because she went to a school that stopped offering gym classes and lived with working class parents that had no choice but to sit her in front of a t.v. after school so she would stay out of trouble and off the streets.

Or: That Fat Person died because I’m an asshole and made her feel like shit about herself, so she did the only thing that kept her safe and made her feel good.

Or: That Fat Person died because seven of her friends died after being shot at walking to/from school/the store/etc and it was safer for her to stay inside watching t.v. than “go for a walk.”

Or: That Fat Person died because she grew up being told that “Princesses” must always stay clean, wear pretty clothes, be little ladies, etc. And she’s a princess, right?

Or: That Fat Person died because s/he couldn’t afford high quality food and even if she could, I’m too big of an asshole to show stupid Fat People how to cook high quality food!

Or: That Fat Person died because she was black, and racism is a motherfucker on the body.