Global Warfare

There is a war being waged, not just on American soil, but globally. It is cleverly disguised in medical terms as the Obesity Epidemic; the War Against Obesity; the Battle of the Bulge; the Conflict in the Middle Waist; otherwise known as the Fight Against Belly Fat.

No matter what it is called, the battlefields are our bodies, the napalm is the media, the chemical warfare is the pharmaceutical industry, the weapon of mass destruction is the diet industry, and the carnage is the emotional genocide of fat people and all people living in fear of becoming fat.

Of course, the side of the battle that most people are hearing and reading about is the side that is waging the battle. This is not surprising. This is the side that has all of the money. It is the side that includes the diet industry, the pharmaceutical companies, and the weight loss centers. In other words, all of the folks that have everything to GAIN (pun intended) by first fabricating this war, and then perpetuating it in order to reap the financial benefits.

The fact that people are not getting exposed to the other point of view is indisputable. There is no fairness doctrine in this arena. It’s like watching Al Jazeera and expecting to see reports that challenge their tenets; it’s like watching Fox News and expecting to see a pro-Obama piece; it’s  like watching Sam Seder and expecting to see a pro-Republican agenda piece.

This is extraordinarily unfortunate and dangerous because there is another side to the story. If there wasn’t, this wouldn’t be a battle, a war or a conflict. It would be a harmonious state of unity. Trust me; there is another side that is NOT making the headlines. There are warriors, there are revolutionaries, there are strategists, and they are fighting the good fight.

I just returned from presenting at the joint conference of the Popular and American Culture Associations. I conducted a session on Size Acceptance and how to use theater and expressive arts as weapons to fight the war being waged on girls, women, and, increasingly, boys and men all over the world.

I was privileged to be part of the Fat Studies cohort. I was enthralled at the collective knowledge, talent, energy, and conviction among my fellow activists. The diversity of our group was a tangible reminder that fat hatred does not discriminate. Our group’s demographics included a representative from just about every socio-economic, ethnic, religious, age, gender, sexual orientation and even size category you can imagine.

The presentations compiled by poet/activist and chairperson, Lesleigh Owens included research studies, fabulous film documentaries, poetry readings, storytelling, fiction and nonfiction readings, and representatives from Finland and Australia.

The common denominator of all of the sessions was the outrage, sadness, and motivation to change the status quo.

Anyone attending the Fat Studies sessions with even half of their mind open to the factual and creative material offered would have been hard pressed to leave the conference without at least questioning the massive propaganda campaign foisted on people around the world. The propaganda that deploys bombs exploding with the message that fat people are a financial scourge and visually polluting our streets.

The more subtle landmines of the war were exposed as well. Even car commercials have joined in the war. A current ad for Dodge cars exclaims that their cars have, “More muscle and less fat.” Popular food shows employ fat chefs that attract high ratings, but once outside of the environs of their time slot, they are ostracized and accused of joining with the enemy by promoting obesity by cooking with butter and teaching children how to cook meatloaf.

Unfortunately, one of the problems was that the amount of crossover audience was miniscule. Most of the time, with few exceptions, the people that were lucky enough to witness to our counter-attack were the people already engaged in the ground combat.

The pressing need, as I see it, is to find ways to infiltrate the military machine of fat haters and teach the people who are blindly following their party line that those waging this war ARE NOT really acting in the interest of the people. They ARE NOT really concerned with their health when they ostracize and penalize people for weighing too much or having a BMI that doesn’t fit their criteria for being normal. They ARE in fact skewing facts and figures, creating a problem, fanning the flames of an imaginary crisis and in the process are padding their pockets with the spoils of war.