I have had ENOUGH!

[pricillia]

"Zaftig" sounds like it'd be a good name for a zeppelin...

 

zeppelins are good:)

[alphamale]

"Zaftig" sounds like it'd be a good name for a zeppelin...

so a woman who describes herself as zaftig is the size of the Hindenburg?

[Ariadne]

Hi,

 

If you're terrified of a cookie, that's a whole other sort of mental issue. The point is not to live on a 'diet' of deprivation. The point is to make lifestyle changes that are healthy. Which doesn't preclude the occasional treat.

 

Is not just that. But the mentality over there is that if you eat a cookie or two, they add up in calories. So they just don't.

 

It's amazing. A cousin of mine made veggie soup when she was going to the university and lived on that for the whole week basically.

 

They don't even feel deprived, I guess they got used to. But being fat, oh no, forget that. Even guys (say my brother) won't date anyone fat. His gf is 27 yrs old and weighs 110.

 

Ariadne

[Ariadne]

Curvy A few extra pounds maybe 20-40

 

Oh, that'd be me

 

I'm very curvy.

 

Ariadne

[CrushedOrgans]

Hi,

 

 

 

They don't even feel deprived, I guess they got used to. But being fat, oh no, forget that. Even guys (say my brother) won't date anyone fat. His gf is 27 yrs old and weighs 110.

 

Ariadne

 

 

a lot of people "won't date anyone fat". that's not news. but there is a difference between choosing what you're attracted to, which is natural, and ridiculing those whose bodies are too big for your person liking, which is nasty.

[Ariadne]

Hi,

 

there is a difference between choosing what you're attracted to, which is natural, and ridiculing those whose bodies are too big for your person liking, which is nasty.

 

Yes, that's true.

 

In here I'm average... But when I go to South America I become obese in comparison (to their 125 avg) so I've gotten insulted on the street there too.

 

From one guy saying, what happened, you ate all the soup? To another riding a bike and singing a song "my love..." and then looked at me and said, not you chubby...

 

(It's also common for guys on the street to say things to girls, either good, bad, or naughty whatever the case)

 

Ariadne

[Guest]

It's amazing. A cousin of mine made veggie soup when she was going to the university and lived on that for the whole week basically.

 

Nothing 'amazing' about that unless the soup was a balanced mix of protein and many veggies. Besides, women still need a lot of calcium, particularly when they are young. Malnutrition is no more 'amazing' than is overweight.

 

The focus should not be on being thin or skinny - it should be on eating for health. Skinny, malnourished corpses are as dead as obese ones.

[Pink Amulet]

*sigh*

 

My words are being misconstrued.

 

Pink,

I would like to know your definition of your ideal world?

 

In your world would there be any fat people, any ugly people, any people with bad teeth, any nerds, any red heads, any pimples, any sagging breasts, anybody with bad breath or body odor or would we all be 20 with perfect white teeth, trim, sexy bodies, perfect designer clothes, perfect parties to attend, perfect hair dressers to get the perfect hair and color and plenty of cosmetic surgeons to take away any imperfections that might come our way?

 

I am not hoping for a world full of aesthetic perfection.

 

I couldn't care less about the way an overweight person "looks".

 

People keep alluding to this.

 

This is not the social issue we have on our hands.

 

It is a health issue.

 

I keep hearing the same things echoing through this thread...

Why is it so important to be thin

 

I am not saying it is- Genetically thin people can be unhealthy from bad nutrition too. This is a health issue, not a visual issue.

 

Unlike smoking, drink driving etc. This doesn't affect anyone but the individual

Complete and utter ignorance. Do some reading. World Health Organisation website is a good place to start. Political, economic, social, evolution, will all be affected irreversabily if nothing is done.

 

You seem to have something against overweight people

I have nothing against overweight people, I have a problem with the social irresponsibilty leading to worsening rates of obesity.

 

I don't have a problem with someone eating Mcdonalds everyday and dying at 35 BUT the obesity pandemic is going to reduce average lifespan by 20 years if something isn't done.

 

How can you be a journalist at 20

I was writing for a girls magazine at 16. I am employed part time as a socio-cultural politics reporter, a vox pop broadcaster, and a rural, and indigenous commentator for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) on 666 ABC Canberra. I also worked in the Australian Press Gallery, as a freelance journalist for The Canberra Times for a year. I study Broadcast Journalism, and Communication Law at The University of Canberra.

 

I'd say I was a pretty good journalist actually.

[kjl933]

I have nothing against overweight people, I have a problem with the social irresponsibilty leading to worsening rates of obesity.

This is akin to saying that I have nothing against unwanted pregnancy and abortion, I have a problem with the social irresponsibility leading to worsening rates of aborted pregnancy. I just changed a few words.

 

How circular can you get? It would be much simpler to simply admit that your tastes do not lean to the obese and overwieght. Stop trying to justify your beliefs by clouding them in a socio-economic mumbo jumbo to make you feel better about yourself. It is ok to have an opinion that it yours Pink. Really, an original thought is a good thing to have on occasion. You will be ok.

 

I am employed part time as a socio-cultural politics reporter, a vox pop broadcaster, and a rural, and indigenous commentator for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) on 666 ABC Canberra. I also worked in the Australian Press Gallery, as a freelance journalist for The Canberra Times for a year. I study Broadcast Journalism, and Communication Law at The University of Canberra.

Stringer?

[Pink Amulet]

This is akin to saying that I have nothing against unwanted pregnancy and abortion, I have a problem with the social irresponsibility leading to worsening rates of aborted pregnancy. I just changed a few words.

 

How circular can you get? It would be much simpler to simply admit that your tastes do not lean to the obese and overwieght. Stop trying to justify your beliefs by clouding them in a socio-economic mumbo jumbo to make you feel better about yourself. It is ok to have an opinion that it yours Pink. Really, an original thought is a good thing to have on occasion. You will be ok.

 

How is that the issue?

 

This is not about whether or not obesity is attractive, or unattractive, or what I think of obese or overweight individuals.

 

And this whole subject was about this sentence...

 

I have a problem with the social irresponsibilty leading to worsening rates of obesity.

 

Do you think it is good for humans to be overweight or obese?

 

Because it isn't.

 

I don't really want to see more and more people die unnecessarily do you?

 

The world has declared obesity as a "problem".

 

This isn't about my "personal" taste, and although my opinion of this social state of affairs is pretty clear, it is completely irrelevant here.

 

I don't believe anything I said was "mumbo jumbo"?? I was commenting on the state of the world, not the state of the overweight person down the street.

 

I don't blame individuals for being overweight, or obese, I blame society as a whole for letting such a dangerous health problems slip through the cracks to avoid being accused of hurting the feelings of the overweight individuals.

 

Also, what is "stringer?". I am unfamilar with this term.

 

Anyway, I am off to tropical Hamilton island for a week with some friends

[Ripples]

Your choice of words when referring to this 'social problem' leaves me doubting your respect for the individual. It does, however, leave me in no doubt as to your own feeling of superiority.

 

Have a nice week.

[lindya]

Also, what is "stringer?". I am unfamilar with this term.

 

I'm guessing it's slang for journalist, as in "one who strings words together".

[kjl933]

Your choice of words when referring to this 'social problem' leaves me doubting your respect for the individual. It does, however, leave me in no doubt as to your own feeling of superiority.

 

Have a nice week.

 

You talkin' to me?

 

PA--there you go with your sense of insecurity and your innate ability to hide behind someone or something else rather than take the heat. Stop dishing it if you cannot take it. You ask me how is that the issue? PA, I quoted YOU. YOU made it the issue. I merely substituted a few words and asked if you felt the same way now that it may not agree with your preconceived notion of "The World According to Pink Amulet"? Do you not have any vices?

 

I have nothing against overweight people, I have a problem with the social irresponsibilty leading to worsening rates of obesity.

That is your quote once again. Please refer back to a previous post. Now, let me put in some more words that may indeed bring the shallowness of this comment to light; perhaps something that may hit a little closer to home.

 

I have nothing against blonde, thin females from Australia, I have a problem with the social irresponsibilty leading to the coloring of hair follicles, and the unnatural regimented exertion of effort to maintain a perfect image of some females from Australia.

 

 

[Ripples]

You talkin' to me?

 

Damn, no, I wasn't. I should've made it clearer that I was posting in reply to PinkAmulet.

[kjl933]

PA--By the way...nice way to sign off..tata, I am off to a tropical isle for the perfect people conventions where I will not be offended by looking at someone who is overweight or ugly.

 

That puts the attitude of LA and Palm Beach to shame! (My apologies to the LA and Palm Beach folks)

[josie54]

I kind of understand what PA is saying. I'm thinking that perhaps if she didn't have her picture up (young, beautiful, Paris-Hilton slim, and blond), her words might not be interpreted as "fat-bashing" quite so much. The "off to the tropical island" comment didn't help much either.

 

BUT again, as the only normal-weight member of an obese family, I can say, truthfully, that I have nothing against overweight people, but I hate obesity. I hate the way the culture promotes it (junk food, endless food commercials, the promotion of instant gratification via food, cars, houses, you-name-it). I hate it that the medical community talks out of both sides of its mouth--that is, "Obesity is a scourage that must stop, but don't count on doctors to say anything to their patients to stop it."

 

I hate the fact that no matter how much my family suffers under the weight with numerous illnesses, they still eat. I believe it's a sugar addiction. I know that when I eat sugar, I continue to crave sugar and eat more and more of it. If I can stop eating sugar, I can control my appetite. The medical community is also to blame here. They say, "Losing weight is all about self-control. It's about diet and exercise. Calories in, calories out." In my experience, it JUST ISN'T THAT SIMPLE. I'm no doctor, but in knowing how my own body responds, it's a mix of chemical, emotional, and physical factors that lead to obesity, not just self-control and health regimens. I know from watching my family that many people respond to food like a drug, and it takes nearly heroic measures to stop overeating.

 

And, to use another example, I have nothing against depressed people--I hate the social effects of depression. I think that's also a fair way of interpreting PA's original comment. I'm also a depressed person (another factor in obesity, by the way), and if I could find a way to remove depression off the face of the planet, I would, so those that suffer from it can lead happier, fuller lives. Likewise, if I see a 300-pound person struggling to lift one leg after another just to walk down the street, I instantly feel horrible for them, that they can't get up and walk and run like the rest of us. I want them to lose weight so they'll feel better, not so I don't have to see an overweight person. I want my family to lose weight because I see how unhappy and sick they are, not because I don't think they have the right to be overweight if they want to be

 

Anyway, another point to add to the mix. (By the way, I am NOT blond, slim, and beautiful! More an average 150 lbs, curly redhead, and freckled. And, alas, with no tropical islands in my immediate future.)

[Buttaflyy]

I kind of understand what PA is saying. I'm thinking that perhaps if she didn't have her picture up (young, beautiful, Paris-Hilton slim, and blond), her words might not be interpreted as "fat-bashing" quite so much. The "off to the tropical island" comment didn't help much either.

 

I disagree with you Josie. It was mostly this for me....

 

[We have no smoking signs everywhere, which are in fact used in many cases to shame smokers and end the rise of diseases caused by nicotine addiction.

 

So if I were to apply the same logic

“HEY YOU FAT F*CK- put down the cheeseburger, and go for a walk… if you can’t yet- start clapping your hands. You are not only increasing your personal risk of dying twenty years earlier, but you are making it an acceptable lifestyle behaviour for future generations."

 

In fact, the pursuit of good journalism is to educate and inform ,to increase awareness, and the pursuit of a better life for future generations.

 

"But we knew all of this before” I hear you say

 

Well then stop putting genetically modified chemicals in to your body, get off your fat ass and exercise.

 

It doesn't take much- an hour of exercise a day, WILL change your life, and ultimately the lives of the next generation.

 

 

The message gets lost after setting a tone like this. It clearly shows disdain for a certain group of people. That's just not cool.

[Guest]

This is not the social issue we have on our hands.

 

It is a health issue.

 

Yeah. Like the 'health issue' or the 'safety issue' posed by gay people.

 

I'm thinking that perhaps if she didn't have her picture up (young, beautiful, Paris-Hilton slim, and blond), her words might not be interpreted as "fat-bashing" quite so much. The "off to the tropical island" comment didn't help much either.

 

Actually, if PA hadn't already become famous for threads like this:

 

http://www.loveshack.org/forums/t97454/?highlight=cheating

 

http://www.loveshack.org/forums/t96895/?highlight=cheating

 

http://www.loveshack.org/forums/t96718/?highlight=cheating

 

you might be right. However....

[kjl933]

PA and Paris Hilton on a tropical island talking about miscreants. That is a funny image!

 

Stringer--someone who can sell a story or a photograph to a news outlet on a piecemeal basis. Say I am in Phuket and offer my journal of my observations of the tsumani to the Daily Mail in the UK and accept payment--I am a stringer. But I am not an employee, nor and I a freelancer, etc. I just have periodic things to sell to a publication, television show, internet site, etc.

[josie54]

The message gets lost after setting a tone like this. It clearly shows disdain for a certain group of people. That's just not cool.

 

Yeah, unfortunately Pink Amulet, you are coming off with a bit of a superior tone! I agree with Buttaflyy that, while I understand the point, it could be delivered with less of a sting, more compassion.

[a4a]

I am going to put my neck out here for a second...............curious.

 

I am finding it odd how so many can say compassion is needed because of the disease of obesity (trying to be PC with the disease bit there)

 

But it is ok to tell drug addicts " this is your brain on drugs" " drugs are for losers"

 

Or to bash a smoker over the head with adverts, PSAs, or friends that do so............

 

Is it because it involves looks? (I know many fat people that always look nice and attractive. But you know they still are not healthy.)

 

I don't see fat people as disgusting....... I do see them as shaving years off their life, missing out on so many possible things, and I do see them having an effect on their families and spouses as well. They are effected just like any of the above can effect a family or spouse.

[Buttaflyy]

I am going to put my neck out here for a second...............curious.

 

I am finding it odd how so many can say compassion is needed because of the disease of obesity (trying to be PC with the disease bit there)

 

But it is ok to tell drug addicts " this is your brain on drugs" " drugs are for losers"

 

Or to bash a smoker over the head with adverts, PSAs, or friends that do so............

 

Is it because it involves looks? (I know many fat people that always look nice and attractive. But you know they still are not healthy.)

 

I don't see fat people as disgusting....... I do see them as shaving years off their life, missing out on so many possible things, and I do see them having an effect on their families and spouses as well. They are effected just like any of the above can effect a family or spouse.

 

It's the way you approach anyone that matters. Like if you say, "Hey Crackhead put down the f'in pipe", or "put out the f'in cig, you're killing me too here", what response do you really expect?

 

Also, someone on drugs may bash an ol' lady over the head for their next high which attributes to our crime rate, smokers and second hand smoke effects other people, but where does one's obesity disturb the next person? It's a personal right to eat whatever you want. Really, it's just a judgemental thing to say IMO, you're pretty much looking down on someone for the way the look.

[Ross_K]

You better listen to what Ripples is saying Pink Amulet, she's right about everything.

[a4a]

to say IMO, you're pretty much looking down on someone for the way the look.

 

See that is perhaps the way you see it. I see a large person and I don't think

"you ugly fat ass, call Jenny"

 

I am thinking: wow those kids of theirs won't have a mom or dad around as they probably have mulitple weight related medical problems, must be a burden to the family. Most likely if disabled because of obesity are collecting a govt. check or disability, are not being as productive at work or possibly limited as a wage earner....... it is a disability in so many ways.

 

Of course just because you are disabled doesn't mean you are not productive but if it is a disability by choice or you ignore the cure......... well I just cannot feel the same way I would about a person disabled because of an accident (vs. a lifestyle choice).

 

It is not about looks......... and come on there are people bed bound because of their eating........and who the hell brings them the food then?

[josie54]

I view drug addicts and smokers in the same vein as the overweight--I think they are in a mental and physical state that is hard to change. I think compassion extends to them as well.

 

That said, I have to say (and this may come of as decidedly NOT PC!), that I do believe that to smoke or do drugs takes conscious choice. There is a moment in everyone's life where you can actually say, "I'm never ever going to smoke or try drugs." Most people go into smoking and drugs with their eyes fully open, and with full knowledge of the dangers. Granted, they're most often teenagers, without full ability to realize the consequences, but smoking and drugs can be avoided at the very beginning.

 

In addition, further roadblocks to smoking and drug addiction have been put in place. Drugs are illegal, and age limits are placed on buying cigarettes (for all the good that does!). At least, people have to jump over some legal hurdles and make the conscious choice to start these addictions.

 

Everybody's got to eat, though. You can't get away from it, you can't go cold turkey, you can't lock the food away for good. In that respect, food addiction and obesity is a more difficult thing, in my opinion, because you can't just avoid food in the first place. If you happen to have addictive tendencies, food may be the easiest place to turn. Basically, when you see an obese person, you are probably looking at someone who fits one of two groups: those who are overweight because of medical causes (thyroid, etc.), and those who are addicted to food.

 

And you're right, the obese have it even harder in that that their addiction (if they're in the second group) is announced to the world. It can't be hidden like other addictions. So the appearance factor comes into play.

 

So, I guess the short answer is--I have compassion for anyone who finds himself or herself in such a dark place as addiction. BUT I also believe that with smoking and drugs, it's easier to avoid the addiction in the first place than it is with food.