Long time lurker in, well, pretty much everywhere.. but this struck a note with me, and as part of a sampling of us youngun's, I figured I would put in my 2 cents.
Socially acceptable prejudice is, in my opinion, a somewhat personal/regional thing. As an example, I grew up in a tiny town in northeastern PA, where most of the people were well-off financially - one of those towns where every corner had a church or a bank. (Not that Im saying anything against places like that.. just trying to set the stage)
My family didn't have quite as much money, and my mother (aka, the worlds most intelligent woman
) didnt believe in spending $15 on a plain red t-shirt just to get the logo on the tag. And my sister, another amazingly intelligent person, is not only overweight like myself, but somewhat learning disabled. We both had it bad, but for her it was much worse.. I remember once a kid poured a soda in her locker and ruined her sweater. And although my mother fought to have that kid pay for the sweater.. it never happened. Students, and to some extent, teachers (whenever my mother would report harassment, the principal would reply "What? No, not in my school...") would be prejudiced against her because of the problems she had.. even though in other areas, she was probably better than the teachers themselves.
I think I illustrated my point... or else went off on a huge tangent trying to. Everyone has different prejudices, and in different areas different ones are socially acceptable. On the large scale, would actions against my sister be tolerated? Probably not. But in my little town, they were ignored as much as possible.
That being said... I will admit openly that as much as I try I, like any other human being, do resort to some prejudices. I have often been out with my friends, my boyfriend, my family, and seen someone who is morbidly obese and said "If I ever get that large, smack me, ok?" It is nothing against the person themselves (Please anyone reading this do not take offense.. I swear none is meant!) but rather the condition they are in. Is it good that I do that? Absolutely not.
Have I experienced it? Yes I have... most of the time in the small town mentioned earlier, where looks were paramount, I would be walking past and have people refer to me as "beast" and other names.
And the 'eat less, move more'? First of all, we all know its quality as well as quantity. And quality out there? Ehhhhh lets not go there. And of course there is head hunger, bored hunger... I was talking to my sister (haha shes becoming famous in this post!) the other day, she is also trying to lose weight. She works at a group home over the weekends, and there she gets rather bored.. and spends her time snacking on things that are not good for her both as someone trying to lose weight and as a diabetic. We would talk about it, and she would keep saying "I can't help it. I get bored there, and I just start eating." Its a learned habit, an automatic reaction... Darn tough one to beat, I have the problem often. And thats not even counting genetics, lifestyle, any of a number of things modern society throws at us. So yes, while the old mantra is true in the most basic sense, there is so much more to it than that that anyone just trying to sum it up like that would be falling sadly short.
And this post has become far, far too long... *goes off and sits in her little spot once more*
~Fae