A-Dog posted this link to a Huffington Post article over on the Facebook. Basically, some oatmeal bistro in New York posted the following sign on a nearby sidewalk to advertise their fine wares:
Then, basically, some chick tweets about how the sign is engaged in the ancient art of "fat-shaming" and the restaurant takes down the sign, and issues a fucking apology. I can't believe this shit.
"Fat-shaming?" What the fuck is this? What the fuck does that even mean? First of all, that sign wasn't discriminatory in the slightest, merely a statement of fact. Second of all, shame is an emotion, which means it is an internal process. One cannot "be shamed" by any exterior agent; one can "feel shame" when one is unable to reconcile his perception of self with perceived social norms. You can't blame other people for your own emotions. Take ownership. If you "feel" a certain way and don't like it, then figure out how to change it. And thirdly, if you're overweight -or fat in layman's terms - there is a 99.9% chance that it's mostly your own fault. I mean, there are a very few number of people with "glandular problems" or "big bones" or a "slow metabolism" who genuinely have very little agency when it comes to weight, and that's fine.
However, the amount of body fat that human beings store has been predominantly linked time and time again to one factor: diet. To a large extent, you control what you put into your body, barring, of course, the unknown variables that enter into the equation with any processed food. If you are overweight and you feel shitty about yourself, you basically have one person to blame: yourself. If you feel shame for being fat, that speaks to how you have failed to live up to your OWN, internalized expectations of the ideal human aesthetic. And the thing with being overweight is that it is a factor we have almost complete control over. And it's a real tragedy that in our culture feelings of shame in relation to something like body weight leads to a sense of self-righteousness instead of a sense of agency. I guess it's a lot easier to complain about a sign than eat a bowl of oatmeal. Or go for a jog. Or do something.
Or don't. If you don't feel like changing, that's fine. That's your prerogative (or lack thereof). If you don't want to adjust your diet or behavior to change a physical variable that is totally within your realm of agency to control, then adjust your expectations. If you don't want to feel shame, then adjust your self-perception. Be comfortable with yourself. Accept the person you are, and stop blaming signs which merely present raw data and basic facts, and stop trying to infect other people with your misery and self-loathing. In the end it has nothing to do with weight and everything to do with that most endangered of species, self-respect.
Be fat. Be fit. Be whatever. Just don't be an asshole.
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