Fat doesn’t deserve blame.
Erin S. provided this though provoking comment to my recent post and I really feel like the words deserved their own post. The following is by Erin S.:
Probably not going to explain this well, but this tendency to shift the blame for fatness onto food deserts, lack of exercise options, and processed food isn’t really any better than the typical internet yahoo blaming fat people for just eating too much. By shifting the blame for fatness onto the environment, it merely serves to acknowledge fat as still being something that NEEDS to have blame assigned to it. That it is a negative thing, something that still needs to be fixed but without assigning the blame to the person who has this unfortunate negative trait.
It is as if one is saying that it is only wrong to treat fat people poorly if it isn’t something they can control. And that is not true, it is always wrong to treat people poorly.
For the record, I have the same problem with people who say that it is wrong to discriminate on the basis of race, sex, gender, or sexual orientation because it is not something the person can control.
One’s right to being treated as a being worthy of basic human dignity should not be predicated on whether or not you can control the trait that some segments of society wish to use as an excuse to deny one their rights to being treated respectfully and as an equal member of society.
It always bothers me when the comments on fat-related posts devolve into this accusation / defense of fatness - as though it’s PERFECTLY OK to treat someone poorly if you disagree with their lifestyle choice.
No, it’s not. If someone “chooses” to be a homeless heroin addict, I have no more right to treat them as sub-human than if someone chooses to drive a Hummer 50 miles round trip each day from their mansion in the suburbs.
Everyone deserves to be treated with basic human dignity and respect, regardless of their life or situation.
(as long as they are not, you know, stabbing people, etc.)
Without having “walked a mile”, there is no way to know why any person has made whatever choices they’ve made that have led them to whatever place in life they are, and no one has a right to pass judgment on anyone else for those choices. When it comes to things that aren’t choices, but are immutable facts of life, again, one cannot pass judgment. But all too often, people are too ready to do just that - pass judgment and decide that because of that judgment, some are less deserving of basic human dignity and respect than others. What they don’t realize is that by passing that judgment on others, they are opening themselves up to that same judgment and treatment.
Everyone, just by virtue of existing, is deserving of basic human dignity and respect. By not extending that dignity and respect to all, we are all lessened as human beings. Reconciling this with how to interact with bigots of all stripes and change their attitudes is something I’m still working on…………………..