I believe I was born with the potential for greatness. What I do to reach that potential is up to me. At my best, I can shine. At my worst, I want to hide.

So was I born to be fat? No, that resulted from my behaviors? Was I born to have a "hooked nose" as my brother recently so graciously pointed out? Yes.

This is where I love the prayer: "Grant to us the serenity to accept that which cannot be changed; courage to change that which can be changed, and wisdom to know the difference."

I agree with P H A T, on this..don't like her at all and I think saying your "Born this way" is a cop out for a lot of people, (not anyone who have special needs or whatever.), who don't want to try and make positive changes.
I do however think you need to love yourself, no matter how you look or what you weigh, because looks are temporary and they don't make you a good person. Learn to like, than love your inner person and you'll be at peace with the other person too.
Just my two bits..

Agree, we were all born to be put on this earth looking a certain way and yes some of our bodies are also built a different way but in the end it was you who chose to be fat, or get that plastic surgery to change the way you look or whatever. It's a good catchy song especially for people who lack self confidence or for teenagers to be reminded that you are beautiful and be proud of yourself but in the end we were never born to be the way we are, something triggered us to become the person we are today as PHAT said with experiences and decisons we make in our every day life.

Nope. Not born this way and definitely not destined to stay this way! My genetics make it easy for me to gain muscle and fat. I was born that way but I am only overweight b/c I was confused about how to balance my genetics and my food intake. I think I am finally figuring it out.

Lady Gaga isn't doing anything that Dale Bozzio didn't already do back in the late eighties; I find her kind of boring and derivative, frankly. Not really my cup of tea--but then, she's not supposed to be, as I'm way older than her target demographic. (I did like Dale Bozzio and Missing Persons a lot back in my own high-school days, though. )

However, I can't fault a "love yourself" message in music. It's important to have respect for yourself, to treat yourself well, to love yourself--and that includes your fat self as well as your eventual thinner self. You're still your self, and that self has value.

Were all of us "born this way?" In a sense, yeah--we're all born with certain limitations on what's possible for us. My genetic code dictated that I was born to be short, to wear glasses, and to gain weight more quickly than other people just as surely as it dictated my brown eyes and fair skin. But I have control over myself within certain parameters--I can wear heels to appear taller, I can lose weight, I can shape myself to a fair degree.

While I can agree with the belief that "God makes no mistakes," I don't accept the corollary statement that everything bad or wrong is therefore one's own fault. We all roll the genetic dice and some of us crap out; there's no fault at all assigned there, not to God and not to ourselves. We simply owe it to ourselves--and to God, for those who are religious--to make the most of what we do have without looking for ways to assign blame or shirk responsibility.

I do find it interesting that Gaga sings about being "Beautiful in my way" and "born this way" when she's had a lot of surgical work done to look the way she now looks.

My feelings on plastic surgery are kind of conflicted; on the one hand, people have every right to do what they please with their own bodies. On the other, I find it saddening to see that so many people feel the need to look more like a generic ideal. On the other other hand (wait, too many hands!), it's hard to argue that plastic surgery hasn't made some beautiful people gorgeous and some plain people pretty--and as long as it's what they wanted, so what, right? Who am I to judge? Then part of me remembers that they literally put their lives at stake just to be prettier and I tsk about how shallow it is to me.

Anyway, "beautiful in my way" is a good message, as far as I'm concerned. If she helps someone develop more confidence and become at peace with the face in the mirror, more power to her.

She's still totally ripping off Dale Bozzio, though.

I'm confused I thought the song was about people being gay. XD

That was my take on it, as well. That it was an attempt at a gay-positive message.

In fact, I thought it was related to the whole anti-suicide plea aimed at gay teens. Like Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" project. Only released as a song.

I'm vague on the details but I thought Katy Perry and P!nk had also released songs that tried to support that message.

I'm amused by Lady GaGa. Every generation of music has its GaGa. She's sort of an updated Warhol girl, but with more power than his girls had. Anyway, I have some of her songs on my iPod for workout music. Whether I buy the MP3 or anything on the album depends on how propulsive it is for cardio.

because not everyone cares?

haha so did I!

I thought it had more of an "I am beautiful" type message--not that the two are contrary and in fact they mesh quite well. I should probably go to YouTube and listen to the song, huh?

Whether the message is to love yourself because you're born looking a certain way or because you're born feeling a certain way or because you're born thinking a certain way, it's a positive message--far more positive than a lot of what's out there that's very boxed in. So I'll give Dale Bozz--errr, Lady Gaga some credit for putting out a positive message.

As for her music being "satanic," that's been said about every popular act from the Beatles to Elvis Presley to Led Zeppelin and as far as I know, there isn't a lick of truth to any of it. Some performers like to create controversy because controversy sells CDs.

This is the 21st century, not the 12th. I wouldn't look for snarks and grumkins under the bed any more than I would look for "evil" in bubble-gum pop music.

Me too, which is why I liked it! I think it's a good message...but that's just me.

I'm a closet Gaga fan. She's on my ipod as is Nickelback. Both of them have songs that make me blush! Fortunately when I'm running my face is already red so no one knows I'm blushing.

And I hadn't heard any of the God or Satan references. Just one about a disco stick.