Since when did “being nice” become such a short-sighted endeavor? At exactly what point in time did we decide in America that it was “nicer” to turn a blind eye and watch someone destroy themselves-to celebrate them for doing so even-than to give them constructive (even if it’s a bit pointed) advice? Recently, a video on You Tube from comedian Nicole Arbour entitled “Dear Fat People” has been getting a lot of attention online, and even got her fired from a movie. Someone who saw it told me they thought it was wrong she was making fun of fat people. That it’s not okay to make fun of people for being gay, or disabled, or fat. It amazed me.
Do we as a country really not realize what an epidemic obesity is? Do we not realize it IS a choice? Let’s review the facts: according to the National Institutes of Health, obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the US behind only tobacco use. That’s right, being fat kills more people than crack. Than heroin. Than any other stupid thing people do to kill themselves slowly except cigarettes. Let me ask you: have you ever thought to yourself “we better not bother that crackhead, let them keep smoking that rock, it’s not nice to tell them it’s bad for them”? Has anyone reading this ever thought that’s the best way to treat addiction? I doubt it.
The fact is, for most people being fat is a choice, and it’s a dangerous one that costs about 300,000 Americans their lives every year. If you’re pretending it’s okay, celebrating someone’s obesity even, as with shows we see today like “My Big Fat Fabulous Life” for instance, you’re doing nothing more than enabling, the same as the person who gives a friend who is an addict money so they can go score. There is little to no difference. What you’re doing is not in fact being nice to them, it’s killing them, quite literally. You’re taking the easy way out, you’re being nice to yourself, in point of fact you’re being quite selfish. Taking the easy way out to avoid a few moments of potential discomfort while you help that person feel better about choosing to shorten their lifespan, negatively impact their health, and overall destroy themselves really couldn’t be more selfish.
Being fat is not a parallel to being gay, or disabled. It’s a choice, it’s something you can change. You do not choose to be gay. You cannot change being disabled. Now I’m not saying we should ridicule fat people. But what I AM saying is we should stop celebrating being fat, and stop pretending it’s anything but an unhealthy choice that can be changed if you want to. Now if people don’t want to, that’s fine with me. If you want to eat, or don’t feel like working out, not only am I cool with it, I sympathize-I’m a 330 pound guy who likes burgers and is not a big fan of treadmills myself-but you need to know it’s a choice you’re making. The fact that we’ve come so far to cater to the sensitive that at this point in time people think being fat is the same thing as being tall, or being disabled or any other natural physical trait or development is evidence that what’s really killing us is being sensitive.
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