# Because you have the technology does NOT make it ok to use it, asshole. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 13, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036 "2010-06-13T19:03:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/141 "2010-06-14T15:31:24Z")
> [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > Admittedly, I haven’t read every post, nor have I seen the picture in question. > > However, to me, the funniest thing in all of this is that the _Woman In The Waiting Room/Wal Mart_ may very well see that picture of herself and think, “How lovely! A photo of me in my favourite outfit!” and may not be embarrassed or humiliated in any way at all. That thought definitely occurred to me, although the context of where the picture is being posted should make such a thought difficult to sustain. Then again, I never did anything but agree that the outfit is incredibly bad, and if in fact she does have a choice about it, one is left wondering what she thinks of it herself. (I can’t believe I’m about to use this phrase, someone shoot me…) IN MY DAY… clothes were incredibly difficult to find, at least clothes that didn’t make me look like I was my grandmother at a bake sale. The most hideous polyester imaginable, thick and stiff and hot and ugly as shit. Just beyond bad. While all my friends were wearing…shit they were wearing pretty much what the kids today are wearing: low-rider jeans and skimpy little peasant blouses. But again, IN MY DAY (Ack! :eek: ) I was unusual. In my 7th grade class, I think there were maybe… 5 or 10 fat kids, tops. And I was the tallest, because I was 5’8" at 12, so I was like this amazon freak. Sadly, fat kids are a dime a dozen these days. Which may be easier for them psychologically than it was for me, but worse for their health. All to say, when I go into Lane Bryant today, I am stunned not only by the variety, but by the \*styles… \* In my whole entire life I would never have been caught dead in a mini-skirt or crop top, and I wonder what fat girls are buying and wearing this stuff, and I find myself torn between imagining girls looking really, really bad and being teased about and thinking…honey! Get a grip! and on the other hand thinking… more power to her. She feels good about herself, she’s comfy - fuck 'em. Hard to know. Oh, and I know what started this whole post, was the fact that I got to a point in my life where I disengaged from worrying about what other people thought of my outfit, particularly when it came to things I chose to wear because of the weather. You cannot begin to imagine how miserable it is to feel forced to cover up your flesh for vanity’s sake when you are probably suffering more from the heat to begin with. (That subcutaneous layer that lets me feel comfy on a chilly day is hell on a hot one.) So I understand the shorts - But I was 37 before I decided I didn’t give a fuck anymore, she’s a lot younger than that, I think. But ultimately no way to know what her story is. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/142 "2010-06-14T15:38:25Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Yes, that was one of the ones I saw. I don’t think it’s particularly funny, just weird. She has a nice ass and she feels good about showing it off very explicitly. Whatever. That’s all well and good, St. Stoid, but speaking as a red-blooded male who likes context-appropriate fine female asses, I doubt I’m alone in saying that regardless of how nice an ass it is, that outfit is funny as shit and I would most likely laugh at her in real life as much as I laughed at her picture. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/143 "2010-06-14T15:40:08Z")
It’s almost completely ridiculous to speculate on why she’s wearing it, since we’ll never know. Yeah, she might be desperately poor, but Occam’s Razor and the horse/zebra hypothesis say she’s wearing it because she likes it. She probably ordered it online for herself. “Stole her photo?” People are stealing my privacy every day when I go out in public by LOOKING AT ME! The bastards! ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/144 "2010-06-14T15:40:53Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Does “scrutiny” mean \*\*stealing \*\*her photo and posting it on the internet? I don’t think this word means what you think it means. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/145 "2010-06-14T15:46:55Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I don’t believe this, but if even if it were true, I’d place “people too obese to fit in normal clothing forced to wear trash bags” way, \*way \*down the list of post-Katrina tragedies vying for a slice of the sympathy pie. Because anyone who is that fat deserves to be left with nothing but a garbage bag to wear after their lives are torn apart in a hurricane. Got it. > [@](#): > > A New York devotee was moved to initiate a plus-size [clothing](http://www.amma.org/humanitarian-activities/get-involved/Katrina/katrina-update-sep28.html) drive, > upon discovering that some larger survivors had to resort to wearing > garbage bags in the Texas shelters, because of the lack of donated > clothing in their sizes. > [@](#): > > Basically herself\_nyc gives the heads-up that plus-size women are wearing [garbage bags](http://community.livejournal.com/hp_california/87231.html)because there is nothing in the shelters that fits them. Donations for gently used clothing in the sizes above or if your pocket book can handle it, buying new items online and shipping to the addresses below: > [@](#): > > I just received an email from a group that has been to the Shelter. The big women are having to wear trashbags. They observed this with their own eyes. > [posted](http://ask.metafilter.com/23611/Donating-clothing) by amarynth at 5:06 PM on September 5, 2005 ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/146 "2010-06-14T15:48:10Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > I don’t think this word means what you think it means. Have you ever “stolen” a glance? You can steal a picture. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/147 "2010-06-14T15:49:39Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > That’s all well and good, St. Stoid, but speaking as a red-blooded male who likes context-appropriate fine female asses, I doubt I’m alone in saying that regardless of how nice an ass it is, that outfit is funny as shit and I would most likely laugh at her in real life as much as I laughed at her picture. Like I said, I don’t think it’s funny. Just dumb. But I’m a very tough audience, too - I don’t laugh at much, which is a drag, actually, because I love to laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/148 "2010-06-14T16:05:37Z")
You can’t _steal_ a picture of somebody in public. What are you, Amish? Frankly, I don’t think she’s that unattractive - just incredibly, incredibly poorly dressed. In other words, she’s being mocked for her attire, not her weight. If that matters. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/149 "2010-06-14T16:10:38Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Like I said, I don’t think it’s funny. Just dumb. But I’m a very tough audience, too - I don’t laugh at much, which is a drag, actually, because I love to laugh. I should have quoted your other post, in which you said > [@](#): > > I looked at the first three pages of pictures, and I saw four pictures of girls with what are considered very nice bodies, wearing very revealing clothes. I was not motivated to laugh or even smile. They were wearing very revealing clothes… not funny. Not anything, really. My strongest reaction is wow, isnt’ that just uncomfortable?\*\* And I’m pretty sure that most men would not laugh, they would be thrilled.\*\* And many women would snort in disgust and judgment, with the “slut” comment, but I’m not invested in that way, and it’s still not funny. I’m basically specifically refuting your implied contention that only the fat ones get laughed at. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/150 "2010-06-14T16:22:02Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Because anyone who is that fat deserves to be left with nothing but a garbage bag to wear after their lives are torn apart in a hurricane. > > Got it. I guess this would be a tasteless time to suggest a “hefty! hefty! hefty!” garbage bag commercial joke? ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/151 "2010-06-14T16:29:15Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > On the topic of poverty, obesity and clothes…after Katrina, thousands of men and women had no clothes and there was an urgent call for plus sizes. Finding something reasonably decent to wear when you are fat is hard enough when you can pay - when you have nothing to begin with and have to depend on the kindness of strangers…who are all size 10 when you’re 24? I KNEW IT!! I knew this was coming! I was going to say something about it in my previous post, but I decided not to in the vain hope that you wouldn’t pull this baloney. I’m a fatty myself, so I know how hard it can be with borrowed or improvised clothing. But if I had no other option than to wear a shirt that said “I’m your upgrade,” I’d wear the damn thing inside out. I’d rather look kind of silly than downright laughable. > [@Stoid](#): > > You cannot begin to imagine how miserable it is to feel forced to cover up your flesh for vanity’s sake when you are probably suffering more from the heat to begin with. (That subcutaneous layer that lets me feel comfy on a chilly day is hell on a hot one.) So I understand the shorts - But I was 37 before I decided I didn’t give a fuck anymore, she’s a lot younger than that, I think. There’s no excuse for those shorts. As I said above, I’m plus-sized, and I get hot _really_ easily. But somehow I’m as comfortable in something like [this](http://www.landsend.com/pp/StylePage-389070_AL.html?CM_MERCH=REC-_-FPPP-_-GGT-_-1-_-389070-_-250204) than I am wearing nothing but underpants. If I do feel slightly warmer wearing a skort than I would wearing short-shorts, its outweighed by far by feeling confident in my (reasonably) flattering and well-fitting clothes. Silly me, having some dignity and all that. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/152 "2010-06-14T16:34:10Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Because anyone who is that fat deserves to be left with nothing but a garbage bag to wear after their lives are torn apart in a hurricane. Wouldn’t say they _deserve_ it, but if you’ve permitted yourself to grow so large that a lawn & leaf bag is your only suitable apparel, I’m not prepared to shed too many tears over that fact. Nor does my violin emerge from its case for those forced to pay for two airline seats, or who get stuck in turnstiles, or become fused to their upholstery. Humiliating, no doubt, but occurring at the end of a long line of bad decisions. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/153 "2010-06-14T17:22:31Z")
WTF is “male abortion?” ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/154 "2010-06-14T17:26:21Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > WTF is “male abortion?” I think thats when a guy uses the US Postal system to send a love letter to himself without using proper postage. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/155 "2010-06-14T17:34:16Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > I should have quoted your other post, in which you said > I’m basically specifically refuting your implied contention that only the fat ones get laughed at. That wasn’t my contention so much, rather that men are less amused by a pretty girl with a hot body dressing in such a way as to reveal it than happy and excited about it. If the outfit is really off the charts they might be equal parts of both, but the “oo…hot chick” part doesn’t disappear if the dumb outfit shows off her hotitude. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/156 "2010-06-14T17:49:05Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > I KNEW IT!! I knew this was coming! I was going to say something about it in my previous post, but I decided not to in the vain hope that you wouldn’t pull this baloney. > > I’m a fatty myself, so I know how hard it can be with borrowed or improvised clothing. But if I had no other option than to wear a shirt that said “I’m your upgrade,” I’d wear the damn thing inside out. I’d rather look kind of silly than downright laughable. ? What is the baloney? It’s impossible to believe that this girl wore that shirt reluctantly? You leave the house thinking you look your best all the time? Bully for you if so, but I know I sure don’t. I also don’t expect someone to take a picture of me looking bad and post it on the internet. At least I didn’t used to. And so what if this girl thinks it’s a fantastic outfit? (She doesn’t - the shirt is ratty and she’s made no other effort, as we know) Does she deserve RIDICULE because most people disagree? Didn’t we work out this mob mentality in middle school? That’s the part that seems to be sailing past those who want to defend any of this on the basis that “seh asked for it” “she should know better”. Bullshit bullshit bullshit. I don’t care how silly, stupid, ugly or goofy someone appears, ESPECIALLY if they think it looks good.. they are not BAD PEOPLE WHO DESERVE TO BE HELD UP TO RIDICULE. Being tasteless, sloppy, goofy, fat, slutty… none of that rises to the level of “bad human being”, so how does it make it ok to be _ **mean** _? What the fuck? If they like what they are wearing and they feel good in it, good for them, why not let them feel good? If they feel bad about it and they know they look like shit, why pile on and make it worse? Because your need for entertainment trumps their feelings how? I have yet to see a good argument for that except “because I’m a dick and I don’t give a fuck about other people’s feelings”, which is only a good argument because it’s honest. Trying to sell the idea that people _ **deserve** _ to be mocked, ridiculed and humiliated because they don’t fit into the general idea of what’s attractive or acceptable is just…gross. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/157 "2010-06-14T17:50:56Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I guess this would be a tasteless time to suggest a “hefty! hefty! hefty!” garbage bag commercial joke? Actually that’s pretty good. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/158 "2010-06-14T17:56:22Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > WTF is “male abortion?” My term for giving men the legal option to decline to be fathers if the mother chooses to have the child when the father doesn’t want her to - can’t make her abort, but I think it’s unfair to make him deal being a parent to a child he would have chosen not to have or give up for adoption. Argued in great depth ten years ago, and again in slightly less depth sometime in the past couple of years, I can’t remember exactly, I just remember someone else brought it up. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/159 "2010-06-14T18:00:33Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Wouldn’t say they _deserve_ it, but if you’ve permitted yourself to grow so large that a lawn & leaf bag is your only suitable apparel, I’m not prepared to shed too many tears over that fact. > > Nor does my violin emerge from its case for those forced to pay for two airline seats, or who get stuck in turnstiles, or become fused to their upholstery. Humiliating, no doubt, but occurring at the end of a long line of bad decisions. Your’e certainly entitled, and I assume that you feel exactly the same way about anorexics who starve to death and bulimics with rotted teeth and cancer of the larynx - end of a long line of bad decisions. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036/160 "2010-06-14T18:15:06Z")
I actually DO feel that way about anorexics and bulemics. To quote George Carlin, “Some rich white bitch don’t wanna eat? Fine by me.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-you-have-the-technology-does-not-make-it-ok-to-use-it-asshole/543036.md?page=9)