Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

Article on "Fat Faye"

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voyvf:

--- Quote from: Cartilage Head on 03 Jul 2008, 23:56 ---What I guess you meant is "Honestly if someone is overweight then they shouldn't complain if someone criticizes them."

So someone who is overweight shouldn't be offended if someone calls them fat? Even though that is extremely rude and hurtful?

--- End quote ---

I think it depends on the situation.  For example, a couple of years ago I went out for some drinks with my best friend from back when I was in high school, and he mentioned I'd gained weight. He was right; partying a lot, working a lot (desk job), and exercising very little had earned me a beer gut and some definite, obvious facial chubbiness. Thus, I'd have been a douchebag to get offended by the comment, IMHO - he was just being honest, not vindictive. And the comment was called for, since when he'd last seen me, I was working out a lot and my biggest concern was gaining (muscle) weight.

I understand that it's way different if you come out and call a friend a lardass, but telling them they need to hit the gym isn't a Bad Thing. At least, not unless you know they had just gotten over an eating disorder, or something similar - as I said, it really depends on the situation.


--- Quote ---What if somebody called you a pimply-faced loser or pointed out that your beard was stupid or your haircut or clothing choice sucked? All of those are, to an extent, choices you make about the way you look (acne CAN be caused by bad hygeine.) This isn't me insulting you, because I don't know what you look like, but nobody has the right to degrade anyone's appearance in front of them. It isn't "advice" it is "being a fuckface". It is only advice if they honestly ask you for it.
--- End quote ---

See, telling someone they should pay attention to their hygiene usually isn't bad, either. Calling them a loser is different. The former really is advice. The latter is, as you termed it, being a fuckface. I do have to respectfully disagree about your definition of advice; after all, sometimes we don't know that we need to ask for it. 

Clothing and hair style (facial or otherwise) are matters of opinion, really, and amongst a mature social circle are perfectly open to insult when snarkiness levels reach over 9k.

Of course, one could go on and on about using tact in one's advice to friends, but since my tact-o-meter only works on full moons and leap days, I'm not really the best person to speak about such weighty matters.

taekwondogirl:
This is a very harsh first post. I promise I'll follow up with something nice elsewhere. Maybe. This lady has proven herself to be rather moronic in addition to being fat. Take a look at this particular article:
http://fatlyyours.blogspot.com/2008/05/argh.html

Pay attention to this part:

--- Quote ---Even if fat was the most common body type among children, which it's NOT, skinny is still the ideal and this is what matters in bullying: not the way you are, but the way you "should" be. Kids who have some visible "flaw" are probably the majority. That doesn't stop them from being bullied.
--- End quote ---

She managed to type the exact point of the comic and still didn't grasp it. Anyone outside the norm is going to have a "flaw". But I think to say being fat is a " "flaw" " is dangerously ignorant. Know what's worse than ignorance? Willful ignorance. Sure, being pointed out things that are unhappy about your physical appearance is mean and upsetting. That doesn't mean the people pointing it out are flawed for seeing it as a problem. The only issue is the way it's being said, and this lady needs to get over the fact that she's been called fatty all her life or whatever. She seems like she'd be one of those people who'd order five cheeseburgers and an extra large fries at a fast food place then request a diet soda.

I would defend my cousin vehemently in daycare when we were younger because she was overweight. She's always been overweight despite the fact that she was very active in high school. Around her senior year, they discovered she had a very serious thyroid problem and once it was operated on, she lost a lot of weight. So sometimes weight really isn't optional, but that doesn't mean you should justify it.

A bit more on topic: I've never really considered Faye fat fat. I view her as one of those cute, heavier set girls who still manage to be very attractive because of their confidence. Yes, they probably break down and have insecurity problems. Just because the casual observer doesn't see it happen doesn't mean it doesn't. I don't think a fat person's going to walk up to someone in public and start conversing and complaining about how fat they are.

Interesting trend: Average sized girls are more insecure about their weight in general than those who're heavier. This is formed from personal observation and not from any real sort of statistic. The end.

Illumilatte:
I wonder when she's going to write an article complaining about Wall-e.  :-(

Mars:

--- Quote from: smellslikemagic on 03 Jul 2008, 07:52 ---Your comment has a great deal of truth in it, but it is actually harder to choose not to be fat over choosing not to smoke.  For most people, the choice to smoke is not available to them until they are in their teens.  But many obese people are that way because of the type of diet they have had since before they were TWO.  I'm sorry, but a toddler doesn't choose to start drinking soda; that is the parent killing their own child.  So people who have been fat for most of their lives will have an uphill battle losing that weight and changing their eating habits, unless they have a lot of support from other people.  This is why obesity is classified as an epidemic and smoking isn't; obesity is a product of culture and family circumstances, even more so than smoking is.  What I'm saying is, fat children often didn't make that choice themselves, and if someone doesn't intervene early, they have increasingly diminishing chances of learning how to lose weight.

--- End quote ---

Sorry for taking so long to get back to this. I am a busy man, blah blah blah and other excuses.

First of all, there is very real and compelling evidence that growing up in a home with one or more smokers (as I did) may contribute to the decision to smoke in later life, so I don't think it's really accurate to say that smoking is not influenced by parental decisions (which you didn't say, granted, but seem to be implying). Aside from that, at no point did I mean to compare smoking with obesity in terms of breaking the respective habits, although I would contend that anyone who doesn't believe quitting smoking to be exceedingly difficult is clearly someone who's never dealt with an addiction.

Apart from that, I can see your point but don't agree with it. At all.

As stated above, I am a big proponent of personal responsibility. A child, naturally, has a diminished level of responsibility, and an obese child is more the fault of the parents than anything else. This is also true of most character flaws possessed by children, so far as I'm concerned.

Even so, there comes a point when one must accept responsibility for one's own circumstances. An obese adult can no longer blame their parents because once a person reaches adulthood that person is responsible for his or her own lifestyle. This includes diet and level of daily exercise.

Losing weight is not easy. I understand that and did not at any time mean to imply it is. And, as stated above, I don't particularly care if someone is overweight. My point was simply that this is something that is an individual responsibility and that it's moronic to try to blame the rest of the world for 'not accepting fat.' The rest of the world doesn't accept fat because obesity is unhealthy and excepting very rare medical conditions is the individual's own damn fault.

The bottom line is that it's easy to educate oneself on proper diet and exercise. There are myriad resources available online or at the library. One may consult a nutritionist and/or hire a personal trainer, read books, check out websites, watch videos and acquire the information in all manner of other ways. Losing weight is difficult, but it's not complicated. It takes a commitment to better health and better living. If one is not willing to make that commitment that's just dandy, but one must recognize that there are consequences involved in this.

I don't think the people who are a few pounds overweight need to be overly concerned. The BMI system is flawed and the 'obesity epidemic' is a bit overhyped. If you're a male, 6' tall and weigh 200 lbs, you're probably okay (although that will depend on fitness level and body fat percentage). If you're the same male but weigh 350 lbs, then you have a problem. If you're comfortable living that way, more power to you, but it is not healthy, is not universally accepted and under no circumstances should accommodations be made for such people who ultimately have the power to change their circumstances if they're unhappy.

A parapalegic is someone in an unfortunate situation. An amputee is someone in an unfortunate situation. MS, Cystic Fibrosis, ALS, same deal. A fat person is just fat, and while there are people with real problems who need real help I will remain unsympathetic to them getting teased.

Jepser:
Someone should be able to give constructive criticism, but people should be allowed to take their own responsibility too.
This thing always bothers me with smokers; I disagree with smoking, it's unhealthy for yourself and the people around you. But if someone chooses to smoke, I will not immediately start nagging him/her/them about it. It is their choice, and if I know that they aren't planning to change their choice, I won't bother them. As long as they don't bother me.

I think this should be the same with overweight. Of course you may and should be concerned, and should be able to express that, but if they don't want to come back on their choice, then give them a rest. It's their responsibility.
But I do agree, this blogging girl shouldn't be surprised if there are people who disagree with her lifestyle.

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