There's a commercial that's airing right now that has women in a mall riding an escalator and singing. There are a couple of larger women in the commercial, and at one point it shows a bigger black woman by herself singing.
This person (a thin male person) commented on it in front of me, saying that the commercial makes him mad because it singles her out. He also has said before he doesn't like Adele because she's "fat" and she sets a bad example according to him.
I asked him why he thinks its acceptable to publicly critisize fat people, especially in front of a fat person. His answer?
"I wasn't talking about you. I'm talking about those super obese people...they set a bad example and they don't need to go around thinking that its okay to be fat."
me: "Do you honestly think that its ever going to be glamorized to be fat? And if you're coming from a health perspective, being overweight is a health risk, but its the same as anything else. Risk doesn't mean that health problems will occur, and its not your job to try and control other people's health in the first place."
Anyway, we went back and forth for a while, me telling him that fat people are people with feelings like anything else, him comparing being fat to smoking, ect...
My general feeling is that he considers being fat to be unacceptable, and thinks its his place to do his part to end obesity. And that if fat people are allowed feel good about themselves (I know that this is a big assumption on my part) they won't be motivated to change. He just thinks the FA movement in general is detrimental to the general public and that its going to make people think that its okay to be unhealthy or "stay fat." Basically speading complacence.
I tried really hard not to get mad and turn a debate into an argument...and mainly the conversation stayed on discussing our difference in logic, but it made me so mad and makes me mad just thinking about it.
I really think that his total unacceptance of fat is based on the fact that he finds fat unattractive and unacceptable, and just flat out doesn't want to look at it because the appearance of fat bothers him.
I'm pretty sure I said nothing that changed his mind, and that he probably just won't say anything in front of me again.
I know I shouldn't let it bother me too much, but it just infuriates me to know that a lot of people, even a majority, think this way.