Why doesn't DU blast posters who make fun of morbidly obese people?

[Rosemary2205]

it doesn't happen very often but once in a while a pic of an enormous person will be used as a joke -- like making fun of the guy who runs the Freeper site. Once in long while I see something really negative posted about the character of morbidly obese people. It always surprises me that no one ever calls the poster on it.

Anyone have any enlightenment for me cuz I just don't get it.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Oh,they get blasted. Believe me, they get blasted.

Though not as severely as if they had made fun of just about any class of people.

Fat/obese people are still kinda the last group that it's "okay" to make fun of; but DU has a lot of people who will defend them mightily.

Except The Princess - I don't think anyone is left who will defend her.

[China_cat]

6. Fat/obese WOMEN

mostly. Rarely 'portlier' men.

[The Straight Story]

2. I think it could sound like this:

Folks can make jokes or use certain words if they themselves are in that category (like a black comedian making jokes using black stereotypes - like dave chappelle, and so on).

Since we cannot always see people here it is hard to tell if they get the hall pass or not though :)

[BlooInBloo]

3. It seems to be mainly *women* who are exempt from ripping on....

... I posted about an obese Jack Nicholson, and people had no problem ripping on him in weight-based ways.

[Rosemary2205]

4. Actually now that you mention it

Every time I've seen someone post an "obese pic" as a joke it has been a man. -- though the nasty comments I see everyone now and again are equal opportunity.

[BlooInBloo]

5. My post might have been unclear. "ripping on" s/b "being ripped on".

[Rosemary2205]

9. HAHA actually that was ME

I meant the pic posted as a joke was a pic of a man -- not that a man posted it.

I got you the first time. LOL :)

[BlooInBloo]

10. Awesome!

[China_cat]

8. Please tell me where you've been seeing them.

The ones I've seen have all been of women.

[Rosemary2205]

11. Probably mostly in GD but a few in the lounge.

I don't have a specific post in mind at the moment - just something rolling around in my head awhile. The last one I happened to see was at least 4 or 5 months ago - probably longer of an enormous man sitting in front of a computer nearly naked - the poster was using that pic to make fun of "Jim Rob" who is supposedly the owner of Free Republic -- and everyone really kind of laughed along. I chose to alert but nothing was done about it - so I wondered if I was overly sensitive.

I saw a post yesterday - don't remember what thread - probably in GD - about how Gore can't run until he loses some weight and my brain went ??????? at the very idea weight would disqualify someone for office.


Mostly I see gender neutral comments about obese people.

[philosophie_en_rose]

7. "DU" doesn't blast anyone, but DUers certainly do.

If you see a post that is offensive, hit the alert button and report it.

But your concern is noted.

[JI7]

12. people make fun of Ann Coulter for being "morbidly thin"

it's about making fun of wingers and making fun of them in ways that some owuld think are offensive.

i make fun of Bush for looking like A chimp

[BlooInBloo]

13. Or, as I like to put it: She looks like she died about 2 weeks ago.

[Rosemary2205]

14. Something funny

I didn't know until the last week or so that people were calling him "chimpy" because of LOOKS. (personally I don't see it -- I see more of Alfred E. Newman in him) -- anyways -- all this time I thought it was because he's so inept they thought a monkey could do just as well.

Silly me! :)

[AlCzervik]

15. Rosemary, here is a site for you about Bush.

http://www.bushorchimp.com/

[Rosemary2205]

19. OK, now that's just LOL funny

I don't see any resemblance myself but obviously a lot of people do -- I can't imagine the time it took to find pics of chimps with Bush's facial expressions. :) :)

[AlCzervik]

20. i felt bad for the chimps hence my screen name.

[noamnety]

16. My perception is that it has nothing to do with politics

Maria Shriver, Paris Hilton, Madonna, seems like just about anyone is fair game for DUers to put under the microscope.

I gripe about the weight thing sometimes, and the Al Gore weight threads leave me with a massive WTF feeling. I had the same reaction reading the posts about Arnold tonight. As much as I am thoroughly disgusted by that man, it's not because of how his chest looks, and I thought those comments were unnecessary and offensive.

I don't understand how people on the left can get the concept of collateral damage when it applies to war, but not when it applies to everything else.

[Rosemary2205]

21. Yep.

To be honest, I've met people who I think go out of their way to look for ways to be offended -- and I hope to God I'm not one of those people -- but I just don't understand the whole thing about judging someone's value as a human being by the way they look. Whether it's fat or thin or tall or short or skin color, wardrobe or tattoos or whatever. I think DUers generally do a good job calling each other on it when it happens, but with fat (and was pointed out thin too) it seems to get a pass more times than not.

[mitchum]

17. Actually, I see far more snarky comments allowed about the thin than the obese

[Danger Mouse]

18. yeah, some people will get so offended if you make fun of just about anything...

but won't advocate for us fatties!!!

[Dr_Funkenstein]

22. What about the Walmart cart riders...

You know, the ones you see get out of their car, waddle to the store front, and plop their largness into a moto-cart because they're too lazy to walk the store to shop. I wonder how they got that big...hmmm...

I say this having been 100 pounds overwieght, and I got off my own fat ass, and changed my life. I have sympathy for those who try.

[Rosemary2205]

28. You cannot

make a judgement on someone's laziness based on weight. It just doesn't hold up to reality.

[Dr_Funkenstein]

31. Yeah but...

having been a tub of shit, I can't help but make that judgement...right or wrong. It's one of my numerous flaws, partially fueled by past experiences. *Something I should work on, no doubt.

[Rosemary2205]

35. See

I just don't even get the concept of someone very overweight is a "tub of shit". IMHO value as a human being and weight/looks are in no way related. Probably the toxic mental crap that comes with being a few pounds overweight is what helps feed that downward spiral that gets someone to the point of being so overweight that cannot walk through the store anymore ((assuming a mobility problem didn't contribute also)).

[Dr_Funkenstein]

37. Myself...

I was a tub of shit...it was me, so I can say that! I was also a drunken, fast food guzzler...I was a tub.

[SammyWinstonJack]

23. I'll bet no DUers are morbidly obese............

:silly: :eyes: It doesn't take much to be morbidly obese.....40 pounds? I would bet a lot of us fall into that category.

[Dr_Funkenstein]

24. Weight Means Nothing

In college, I was a body builder and power lifter...by the medical charts, I was 50 pounds overweight...hehehe.

[SammyWinstonJack]

25. But you were probably solid muscle, right?

[Dr_Funkenstein]

26. Yeah, but...

that speaks back to my point...weight means nothing. I "dated" a chick in college who weighed 180 @ 5'5".

She also benched over 200. :D

[Rosemary2205]

27. Funny story about my husband

he's a big man - big barrel chest - lots and lots of muscles - his fat percentage at the time was below 10%. So I was the new Wendy's manager and we had to go have a physical to get our new insurance coverage through Wendy's. The rubes in the cubicles at Blue Cross saw my husband's weight vs height and sent him a letter that his BMI was over 50 and they would like him to see a bariatric physician to get in a weight loss program, otherwise they would not accept him in our family coverage. We went to the bariatric doctor they recommended, that doc took hubby's pic and mailed that to BCBS with a snotty note. That was the end of that. LOL :)

[noamnety]

29. I don't waste as much time fighting the "men are fat" posts

Because obesity - like everything else, it seems, has a special way of harming women more than men in our society. Overweight women are devalued in a ton of ways that overweight men aren't.

The hourly wage of fat women is, on average, 20% lower than the pay of a woman of average weight. But slimmers be warned: underweight women also take home slimmer pay packets than average women do. However, skinny women make up for this in the marriage market: they marry men with the highest earnings. Husbands of skinny women earn on average 45% more than those of fat ones.

Men, it seems, are different. Underweight men take home by far the lowest earnings, while slightly overweight men enjoy the fattest pay-packets - 26% more than their underweight colleagues.

http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/money_politics_law/rules_of_attraction.htm

And that, mind you, is with women starting with an overall lower salary, on average.

However, I still do jump in and do battle sometimes. I hope any overweight dudes here will take note, and likewise jump in to complain or alert when they see women being objectified and degraded on DU.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=890210#894225

[Dr_Funkenstein]

30. In fairness...

Everything is objectified...my wife is absolutely an object of desire.

Even with her big 'ol preggo-belly on her athletic frame! :D

[nickgutierrez]

32. While we're at it:

This debate is a worthy one. But why don't we blast people who tell very thin people to "eat a sandwich"? The assumption that every thin person has some sort of eating disorder is just as ridiculous as the one that every fat person is that way because they eat too much.

As has been pointed out, in our society, men can get away with being fat. But being a skinny guy is almost as "bad" as being a big woman, in that the stereotype is that the skinny guy is automatically weaker and more fragile in every way.

[Rosemary2205]

33. I totally agree.

I only know of one short skinny guy who had that work to his advantage. He worked one of our plants for 40 years and it is physically demanding work. He ended up with osteoporosis and over time was more and more limited in what he could do - and had a lot of restrictions. In the end he was working in this sort of back brace that protected his spine. The big guys who worked with him didn't look down on him at all for being a "weakling" -- in fact they actually kindof totally respected the "little guy" for showing them up. They lay out of work for a sore muscle and there's Fred just keep coming back for more - back brace and all. -- we had a similar situation with a big man in a different plant who had some back trouble and had to have restrictions for awhile and his coworkers were constantly complaining that the guy was just lazy. -- so obviously the expectations people had for a "little guy" and a "big guy" were very different.

[Skittles]

34. I call it out when I see it

I don't care for even Rush L to be referred to as fat - because it's not his weight I have a problem with

[Inchworm]

36. I've seen it myself..

tought it was just me

:hi: