# Fit mom posts Facebook pic along with her 3 kids asking 'What's your excuse?' - Firestorm ensues **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 23, 2013, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010 "2013-10-23T04:47:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/81 "2013-10-24T09:12:30Z")
> [@Kable](#): > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlMKcuNGEeU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlMKcuNGEeU) You DO realize that this is a video from The Onion, right? That it’s humor video, not a fact based video? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/82 "2013-10-24T10:13:42Z")
What’s my excuse? Fuck you. That’s my excuse. ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/83 "2013-10-24T13:21:50Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > Here is the problem. Words DO matter. The word “excuse” is a word with negative connotations, and whether you’re talking weight loss or what have you, it’s not going to be one that will be effective. Her claim is that she was trying to be inspirational. At best, she’s sadly lacking in understanding human nature and psychology, at worst (as most of us suspect) she is being bitchy and accusatory, NOT trying to be inspirational. Calling her on her meanness isn’t then “catty” by turn. I’d bet money that her words are getting her blog a lot of traffic. Probably getting her clients too. > [@](#): > > If she’d have posted this same pic and said something like “Hey girls! I know it’s hard, but look, it can be done, and here’s how”. This would be a WHOLE different ballgame. Right none of us would have heard of her. > [@](#): > > The issue isn’t her body, it’s her poor choice of words. Maybe it was an honest mistake. But if that were the case, if she had any brains at all, she wouldn’t be digging a deeper hole for herself “oh no, I was being inspirational…really”, she’d be honest about it. Now she’s dumb too? She’s asian, they have higher than average IQs if you didn’t know. > [@](#): > > The point is, she’s in a gym atmosphere for her entire work day with ample opportunity to be working out and otherwise have complete immersion in fitness facts, activities, learning opportunities and so on, other people have to do that AFTER a full workday and caring for kids, ailing parents, shopping, commuting, and housework. Being in a gym atmosphere all days burns zero extra calories, but now that I went to her website she’s not at a gym all day. Rather: "1. What do you do for a living? I am a freelance writer, fitness blogger and director of a fitness non profit organization. I also manage residential care home facilities and recently built my very own! 1. What does a typical day look like for you? Since having kids my schedule has changed a lot. I am a stay-at-home working mom. After I nurse my son in the early morning, I try to get to the gym by 6:30am and workout:I like to get my priorities out of the way, the first being my commitment to my health and fitness. Then around 8am I get my sons up: feed, clean, play then I work on emails, phone calls, and writing and work projects. I sychronize my hunger with my meal times, which I’ve made it a habit to be at approx. at 9am/12pm/3pm/5pm and 8pm. I visit my care home facilities around noon and perform errands during the late afternoon. I also usually schedule my meetings around this time. Around 5pm I cook dinner, then try to get back on the computer later in the evening to write and respond to emails. At 10pm I fall asleep with the kids or work until midnight." > [@](#): > > Um, my previous job did, if you’d read my ENTIRE post and not just selected the things you wanted to disagree with. I was pretty much “working out” all day, and getting paid for it. What job was that? > [@](#): > > And as you yourself said above, obviously HER job does since it’s as a personal trainer or some such. Personal trainers don’t get paid to work out all day, and checking her website it sounds like she works out about an hour a day. At the gym at 6:30, back at home to wake her kids at 8. > [@](#): > > No one is arguing that there aren’t too many overweight Americans. We’re arguing that messages of the type posted by Ms. Kang are ineffective, as well as not inspirational, as she claims she was trying to be. Sorry all the loathing directed at her really sounds like self loathing. > [@](#): > > Where do you get the idea that I personally don’t partake in working out? I don’t recall commenting on your workouts either way. If you think Mrs. Kang’s body requires all day workouts to achieve then I will say you don’t know much about it. So maybe you should follow Kang’s blog. > [@](#): > > My posts have concentrated specifically on the effects her poor word choice has on overweight people, not on me personally. Do I look like her? Hell no, I’m an ancient granny and I got to have my time to be hot when I was younger and as I’ve been explaining over and over, as with many other people, having a perfect body isn’t my top priority… That doesn’t then equal “never works out or eats right”. I am much too old to ever be “hot” again no matter how slim I get, so my interest in fitness is solely in the pain relief it provides these days. I"m not her target audience, but I still care how her nastiness is affecting those that are. Nastiness? > [@](#): > > People’s comments and outrage aren’t from being jealous of her accomplishments, they’re from understandable irritation at her very bad choice of words. No, it sounds like poorly veiled jealousy. > [@](#): > > She IS lacking in other areas, it’s a mathematic certainty. There’s not a human on the planet that is perfect in all things in their life. We ALL are lacking in some areas of our lives. The reason it has been brought up (by me and others in this thread and the Yahoo comments), is that her implication IS that you can have it all, and what’s wrong with you if you’re not perfect, hot, fit, supermom, super businesswoman and so on? “Having it all” or being “supermom” is a myth. Of course nobody can be the best at everything, but you don’t have to sacrifice being a normal person, or even an exceptional person to avoid obesity. And in case you didn’t know, people who eat right and exercise have more energy to get more things done. That’s one of the benefits. Exercise helps you learn better too, increasing BDNF, you should read the book “Spark.” > [@](#): > > Bottom line is she’s claiming to have been trying to be “inspirational”. But her message was a HUGE fail if that was really her intent. Again, nastiness and shaming do not work to change people’s behaviour, particularly regarding fat. That may be true, a lot of fat people are too lazy. > **["Obese equals lazy?" analysis of the association between weight status and...](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23533723/)** > > The results support the statement that overweight children are less active than nonoverweight children. The high amount of PA seems to be an important factor to prevent overweight in children given that PA shows the highest correlation to weight... ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/84 "2013-10-24T13:22:52Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > You DO realize that this is a video from The Onion, right? That it’s humor video, not a fact based video? > **[Urban Dictionary: Duh](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Duh)** > > An interjection that means "obviously". ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/85 "2013-10-24T13:23:35Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [She’s in exercise/running clothes](http://www.themilitantbaker.com/2013/10/my-excuse-im-glad-you-asked.html) and is posing with cats. What was so disturbing? Naked pussies! > [@Kable](#): > > I don’t know if they are supposed to be anything. She’d probably look cute if she lost the weight instead of making all them excuses. She’d probably be healthier too. She \*\*does \*\*look cute. ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/86 "2013-10-24T13:25:27Z")
> [@knel3030](#): > > What’s her excuse for overbreeding? Maybe she’s Mormon. She’s in her 30s so maybe she wanted to have her family before she was too old and her kids came out retarded. ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/87 "2013-10-24T13:30:04Z")
> [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#): > > She \*\*does \*\*look cute. I suppose that’s a matter of opinion. In my opinion her face appears to have good features and skin but is too chunky, such that if she lost the weight she would be cute. Like on “The Biggest Loser” where you can usually tell which women are going to end up pretty after they lose the weight. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/88 "2013-10-24T13:53:56Z")
There’s a surprising twist: random comments on how hot different women are. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/89 "2013-10-24T14:18:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Now she’s dumb too? She’s asian, they have higher than average IQs if you didn’t know. Right, every single Asian has a higher than average IQ. ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/90 "2013-10-24T14:20:08Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Right, every single Asian has a higher than average IQ. No on average they do Lynn. Don’t you read about science? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/91 "2013-10-24T14:25:50Z")
> [@Kable](#): > > No on average they do Lynn. Don’t you read about science? ::grabs popcorn:: Condescending to an Admin who is trying to be reasonable - _that_ always goes well. ETA: Interesting direction for this thread. This is being discussed as a moral/ethical issue. That is NOT what this is - this is a woman using a time-honored approach to getting her business/name out there: stirring things up. It may be modern by being online, but this approach is older than dirt. Does she have a right to do it? Of course - it’s just business. ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/92 "2013-10-24T14:31:18Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > ::grabs popcorn:: > > Condescending to an Admin who is trying to be reasonable - _that_ always goes well. Reasonable? OK, well who doesn’t know about averages, or thinks that onion could be taken serious? Please. ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/93 "2013-10-24T14:32:21Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > ETA: Interesting direction for this thread. This is being discussed as a moral/ethical issue. That is NOT what this is - this is a woman using a time-honored approach to getting her business/name out there: stirring things up. It may be modern by being online, but this approach is older than dirt. > > Does she have a right to do it? Of course - it’s just business. True. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/94 "2013-10-24T15:06:01Z")
> [@Kable](#): > > No on average they do Lynn. Don’t you read about science? Actually, yes, I do read about science. And math, on occasion. I read enough to know that just because a particular group of people score higher (or lower) than average on a particular test, that doesn’t mean that each individual in that group will score higher or lower on that test. In other words, being Asian does not guarantee that a particular person will have a higher score on an IQ test. > [@Kable](#): > > Reasonable? OK, well who doesn’t know about averages, or thinks that onion could be taken serious? Please. I’ll bet that in fact I DO know more about averages than you, and I’ve been around long enough to have seen that sometimes Onion articles are taken seriously, until someone points out that they are from the Onion. I remember the very real outrage over bonsai kittens, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/95 "2013-10-24T15:06:38Z")
Quote: Originally Posted by CanvasShoes View Post Here is the problem. Words DO matter. The word “excuse” is a word with negative connotations, and whether you’re talking weight loss or what have you, it’s not going to be one that will be effective. Her claim is that she was trying to be inspirational. At best, she’s sadly lacking in understanding human nature and psychology, at worst (as most of us suspect) she is being bitchy and accusatory, NOT trying to be inspirational. Calling her on her meanness isn’t then “catty” by turn. > [@](#): > > I’d bet money that her words are getting her blog a lot of traffic. Probably getting her clients too. No one is arguing that this isn’t getting publicity. The OP is that there is a “firestorm” and WHY there is a firestorm. It’s simple really. She posted a snarkily captioned photo. People are irritated and comments by the thousands start pouring in. “oh Nooo, she claims” I was trying to be inspirational. The majority of people are calling BS on that claim. It’s as simple as that. There are about 2 ways she could handle this. - Be honest and own up to it. “Yup, I’m hot and thin, and I am calling out fat people”. - Apologize (if she really DID mean to be “inspirational” and in the heat of being so excited about posting her photo she just chose her words badly). Quote: If she’d have posted this same pic and said something like “Hey girls! I know it’s hard, but look, it can be done, and here’s how”. This would be a WHOLE different ballgame. > [@](#): > > Right none of us would have heard of her. Uh huh. Which pretty much supports my point. She intended to be snarky and bitchy about it. So stop lying and pretending you intended to be inspirational. Quote: The issue isn’t her body, it’s her poor choice of words. Maybe it was an honest mistake. But if that were the case, if she had any brains at all, she wouldn’t be digging a deeper hole for herself “oh no, I was being inspirational…really”, she’d be honest about it. > [@](#): > > Now she’s dumb too? She’s asian, they have higher than average IQs if you didn’t know. What are you 12? That’s an idiotic and stereotypical thing to say. Asian people have the same percentage of dumb, mean, and nice and smart people as any other ethnic group. Anyway, in this case yes, she is being dumb. If her goal is to actually HELP fat people she’s failing miserably. If it’s merely to toot her own horn at how slim and accomplished she is regarding fitness then yeah, she’s accomplished that. But once again, don’t LIE about it. Quote: The point is, she’s in a gym atmosphere for her entire work day with ample opportunity to be working out and otherwise have complete immersion in fitness facts, activities, learning opportunities and so on, other people have to do that AFTER a full workday and caring for kids, ailing parents, shopping, commuting, and housework. > [@](#): > > Being in a gym atmosphere all days burns zero extra calories, but now that I went to her website she’s not at a gym all day. Rather: > > "1. What do you do for a living? > I am a freelance writer, fitness blogger and director of a fitness non profit organization. I also manage residential care home facilities and recently built my very own! > > 1. What does a typical day look like for you? > > Since having kids my schedule has changed a lo **t. I am a stay-at-home working mom.** …snip. Yes, she’s quite the little miracle. The quotes you included make her look worse, not better. This is far off the typical “commute to work an hour each way, work an 8 hour day away from home, run the home, pay for daycare, etc.” that the average single mom has to deal with. Not only is she immersed in fitness information and activity all day long, she has free rein to intersperse it with any household duties she needs to engage in, without ever going anywhere. And by “fitness activities” is not limited to strictly workouts, it encompasses research regarding nutrition and exercises, scheduling (which she states herself in the interview that she DOES do regarding eating/hunger synchronization). Quote: Um, my previous job did, if you’d read my ENTIRE post and not just selected the things you wanted to disagree with. I was pretty much “working out” all day, and getting paid for it. > [@](#): > > What job was that? Do you even bother to read the posts people reply to you? Field work, I stated it in two previous posts now. Environmental field work to be precise. It involved a lot of hiking around the woods, bending over to sample soil, sediment, surface water etc., also lifting things like orphaned drums. I did it for years and only ever visited the gym because I like to dance. Quote: And as you yourself said above, obviously HER job does since it’s as a personal trainer or some such. > [@](#): > > Personal trainers don’t get paid to work out all day, and checking her website it sounds like she works out about an hour a day. At the gym at 6:30, back at home to wake her kids at 8. Asked and answered SEVERAL times above and in previous posts. Quote: No one is arguing that there aren’t too many overweight Americans. We’re arguing that messages of the type posted by Ms. Kang are ineffective, as well as not inspirational, as she claims she was trying to be. > [@](#): > > Sorry all the loathing directed at her really sounds like self loathing. Then your reading comprehension is extremely poor, as people have been very clear why they are annoyed with this. Quote: Where do you get the idea that I personally don’t partake in working out? > [@](#): > > I don’t recall commenting on your workouts either way. If you think Mrs. Kang’s body requires all day workouts to achieve then I will say you don’t know much about it. So maybe you should follow Kang’s blog. You should re-read your replies. Quote: My posts have concentrated specifically on the effects her poor word choice has on overweight people, not on me personally. Do I look like her? Hell no, I’m an ancient granny and I got to have my time to be hot when I was younger and as I’ve been explaining over and over, as with many other people, having a perfect body isn’t my top priority… That doesn’t then equal “never works out or eats right”. I am much too old to ever be “hot” again no matter how slim I get, so my interest in fitness is solely in the pain relief it provides these days. I"m not her target audience, but I still care how her nastiness is affecting those that are. > [@](#): > > Nastiness? Good lord. You really don’t read anyone’s posts do you? Quote: People’s comments and outrage aren’t from being jealous of her accomplishments, they’re from understandable irritation at her very bad choice of words. > [@](#): > > No, it sounds like poorly veiled jealousy. I’ll repeat what I said above. If that’s what you’re getting from either this thread, or the comments in the article, then your reading comprehension is extremely bad. The majority of people preface their comments with praise on her physical accomplishments and then go on to decry the WAY she put it. Quote: She IS lacking in other areas, it’s a mathematic certainty. There’s not a human on the planet that is perfect in all things in their life. We ALL are lacking in some areas of our lives. The reason it has been brought up (by me and others in this thread and the Yahoo comments), is that her implication IS that you can have it all, and what’s wrong with you if you’re not perfect, hot, fit, supermom, super businesswoman and so on? “Having it all” or being “supermom” is a myth. > [@](#): > > Of course nobody can be the best at everything, but you don’t have to sacrifice being a normal person, or even an exceptional person to avoid obesity. And in case you didn’t know, people who eat right and exercise have more energy to get more things done. That’s one of the benefits. Exercise helps you learn better too, increasing BDNF, you should read the book “Spark.” The whole point of us (and I’m not the only one making this comparison) making this statement is that of the really bad way she phrased her caption. “What’s your excuse”? She is assuming that everyone NEEDS an excuse and that HER way is the only way to be, that HER priority (that of fitness) is the be all and end all. There are a lot of different things in life to strive for. Perfection physical condition is but ONE. As others in the thread have pointed out, the same reaction would be had if someone was advertising climbing mountains 3 times a week and stating “what’s your excuse”? The majority of us aren’t asking to even BE “excused” we’re not going around whining “Oh why can’t I be a tiny size, it’s not fair”. It’s simply not on our radar because our time and energy is going to more important things. Quote: Bottom line is she’s claiming to have been trying to be “inspirational”. But her message was a HUGE fail if that was really her intent. Again, nastiness and shaming do not work to change people’s behaviour, particularly regarding fat. > [@](#): > > That may be true, a lot of fat people are too lazy. The reasons people allow themselves to get to that point are myriad. That’s totally beside the point. As a fitness professional, knowing the right exercises and nutritional facts are only HALF the battle. The more important half is the mental and emotional knowledge. And based on her photo caption she’s sadly lacking in that area. Oh, and by the by…environmental sci-tech was only my primary job. I also spent 12 years as an adjunct faculty member teaching Phys Ed at a University (for about 20 hours a week on top of my normal 8-5+ job). So I do know quite a bit about the physical fitness world. She’s missing a big chunk of the knowledge necessary to be a good teacher. Or as they say in the dance world? Looks 10, attitude 3. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/96 "2013-10-24T15:10:56Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > ::grabs popcorn:: > > Condescending to an Admin who is trying to be reasonable - _that_ always goes well. When I look like I’m being reasonable, there’s a very good chance that I’m giving someone enough rope to hang him/herself. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/97 "2013-10-24T15:13:32Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > ::grabs popcorn:: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/98 "2013-10-24T15:26:46Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > When I look like I’m being reasonable, there’s a very good chance that I’m giving someone enough rope to hang him/herself. 😛 Oh, believe me, I’ve seen you in action 😉 hence the popcorn. I remain…fascinated?..by the overlap between “tactics to get attention” and social/cultural issues. Miley Cyrus got tongues wagging (heh) with her silly, outrageous performance - which was _exactly_ what she was trying to do. By doing so, she got attention paid to her new album in this mixed-up, million-channel internet world - something very hard to do. By the same token, in politics, there are “wedge” issues - so named because they can be used by a party to inflame their base. Remember when Gay Marriage first reared it’s head? It was through Karl Rove, looking for a wedge issue during one of Bush’s campaigns. This is just the same approach, and she just happened to get lucky that it blew up so big. Actually, another one that this is similar to is the **Tiger Mom** kerfuffle from a year or two ago. That author _totally_ benefitted from the outraged attention her book got… ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/99 "2013-10-24T15:32:14Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Actually, yes, I do read about science. And math, on occasion. I read enough to know that just because a particular group of people score higher (or lower) than average on a particular test, that doesn’t mean that each individual in that group will score higher or lower on that test. In other words, being Asian does not guarantee that a particular person will have a higher score on an IQ test. OK again, [Urban Dictionary: Duh](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=duh) > [@](#): > > I’ll bet that in fact I DO know more about averages than you, Do you? Seems you know asians are smarter, now tell me about average IQ of obese women. Higher or lower than the mean? > [@](#): > > and I’ve been around long enough to have seen that sometimes Onion articles are taken seriously, until someone points out that they are from the Onion. I remember the very real outrage over bonsai kittens, for instance. OK, so for future information, if I post a link to an onion, I know I’m posting a link to an onion. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fit-mom-posts-facebook-pic-along-with-her-3-kids-asking-whats-your-excuse-firestorm-ensues/672010/100 "2013-10-24T15:38:57Z")
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