Originally Posted by
TabbyCat
I feel the need to clarify a couple things. For one, I did not read "shame and disdain" into all/most of the posts here in Clydeland, rather I was surprised to feel it was present in the particular post where I commented.
It wasn't a "particular post" when you posted:
"I have to confess I'm a little stunned at the judgemental nature of some of the replies. I expect to see a lot of diet & weight loss talk in the Clyde/Athena forums, but for some reason I didn't expect to see so much "those fatties will just use this as an excuse to continue to refuse any responsibility for themselves". Do people really believe that shame and disdain are effective motivators?" - Tabbycat
Originally Posted by
TabbyCat
Specifically the fat=whiny comments struck me wrong.
I don't recall posts on the order of "fat=whiny." There were posts about fat people who were whiny, such as Star Jones and her seemingly endless list of reasons why she was fat. But not all fat people are whiny. Nor are all fat people trying to lose weight whiny. I wasn't. Or, at least I wasn't once I stopped making excuses.
Originally Posted by
TabbyCat
For two, fat acceptance is NOT about finding any excuse or comparison imaginable to justify their behavior.
How else can a woman justify being 450 pounds? Or a man 600 pounds? Incidentally, do you approve of fat acceptance's near constant comparisons to the civil rights movement?
Originally Posted by
TabbyCat
I read a lot of fat acceptance sites & blogs...
I tried. Too much of fat acceptance literature is fat porn - witness all the erotica in NAAFA's magazine.
Originally Posted by
TabbyCat
and that's pretty contrary to the message I've heard. I don't know what that fathappens site is about, but the fat acceptance sites I read are not about finding the magic pill or outlawing McDonald's -- the message I've heard is more about deciding to stop hating & accept your body *today*, to go to the party or get on the bike even if you don't look like a model in the clothes. To stop telling yourself that your body is so offensive you should strive to be invisable. And to fight the assumptions that fat = lazy, stupid, sloppy, sweaty, and less worthy of equal pay, or decent health care.
The fat acceptance sites are about justifying a lifestyle that is limiting and self-destructive, and forcing others to recognize such a lifestyle as 'normal'. There's a reason NAAFA is called "the death cult." You seem to have bought into it whole hog - pun intentional.
As for "decent health care", how do you define that while 'living' a lifestyle that medicine universally regards as unhealthy and life-shortening?
Originally Posted by
TabbyCat
And that's why I was thrilled to find the Clyde forum -- because you all got on the bike anyway. Maybe you're getting on to facilitate weight loss and I'm getting on to facilitate fun, but we all decided to get on the bike. Now, if only that cute pink & black fat cyclist jersey came in my size . . .
You just don't get it, do you? Fun and weight loss are not mutually exclusive. I'm sure there are folks who took up cycling just to lose weight, but the bulk of us took it up because we enjoy it. Those of us who are losing weight are losing so we can enjoy the improved health, mobility, stamina, and overall quality of life that we gain when he abandon obesity. But I don't expect to persuade a fat-acceptor of this, so it's best to let this exchange end here. Another donut, Tabbycat?