# Rant: the War on Fat **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 7, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329 "2006-03-07T01:28:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/41 "2006-03-07T14:00:41Z")
> [@Ensign Edison](#): > > The degree of hysteria and hatred I see around here puzzles me No one said anything about it until the OP unfused himself from the couch and started a thread. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/42 "2006-03-07T14:03:40Z")
> [@Ensign Edison](#): > > The degree of hysteria and hatred I see around here puzzles me - I mean, when talking about normal people, not people fused to couches. What hatred and hysteria? The OP is a rather hysterical Pit Rant about how fat people are discriminated against, oh woe is me, it’s awful. The few dissenting voices have been fairly reasonable, and the (hateful?) jokes raised have all been anti-skinny people. Personally, I was just responding in kind, sorta. > [@](#): > > The normal fat people I know are not getting around on forklifts. They’re not morbidly obese, or even unhealthy, they just have slower metabolisms and better things to do than diet So, you have a slower matabolism, you still have to eat less. Just more less. 🙂 And WTF is time consuming about dieting, or eating less? 😕 Less time eating, I’d think. > [@](#): > > I’m curious - you fatphobes, since some people are naturally skinny no matter what they eat, do you hate them too when you find out they don’t diet and exercise? Phobic means irrational fear. I don’t see any “phobes” here. I’m not scared of any of my friends. No, of course I don’t hate people who can eat tons, not exercise and not gain weight. What an odd notion. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/43 "2006-03-07T14:03:53Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > No one said anything about it until the OP unfused himself from the couch and started a thread. But once he did, you just couldn’t resist, right? Why is that? ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/44 "2006-03-07T14:05:03Z")
Just when I thought we’d bludgeoned the topic to death … ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/45 "2006-03-07T14:05:06Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Ummm it’s called humor. Nobody is expected to actually DO it. Really? Oh, I guess I didn’t get that part. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/46 "2006-03-07T14:06:49Z")
> [@bonobo\_jones](#): > > Really? Oh, I guess I didn’t get that part. :rolleyes: Oh, bullshit. There is no way you actually thought anyone was seriously recommending punching people, let alone cannibalism. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/47 "2006-03-07T14:07:04Z")
> [@bonobo\_jones](#): > > What hatred and hysteria? The OP is a rather hysterical Pit Rant about how fat people are discriminated against, oh woe is me, it’s awful. The few dissenting voices have been fairly reasonable, and the (hateful?) jokes raised have all been anti-skinny people. > Personally, I was just responding in kind, sorta. Yeah, cuz people never get hostile about fatness on the Dope. :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > So, you have a slower matabolism, you still have to eat less. Just more less. 🙂 > And WTF is time consuming about dieting, or eating less? 😕 Less time eating, I’d think. > > Phobic means irrational fear. I don’t see any “phobes” here. I’m not scared of any of my friends. > No, of course I don’t hate people who can eat tons, not exercise and not gain weight. What an odd notion. Gawd, you’re dumb. “Eating less means more free time”? Are you whooshing me? There are uses for the “phobe” suffix that imply aversion, not just fear. Which you know. You just think it makes you look smart to say stuff like this, but really it makes you look even dumber. You’re a moron. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/48 "2006-03-07T14:08:10Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > Oh, bullshit. There is no way you actually thought anyone was seriously recommending punching people, let alone cannibalism. I think he’s saying he knew it was a joke but still found it hostile. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/49 "2006-03-07T14:12:05Z")
> [@Ensign Edison](#): > > But once he did, you just couldn’t resist, right? Why is that? This topic has been beaten so bad so frequently for so long it has fused into the couch. The only was to address it is through absurdity. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/50 "2006-03-07T14:16:56Z")
If being overweight (Body Mass Index [\>25](http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/72/3/694)) is a _metabolism_ issue, how come the US is so badly affected in particular? The overweight people I know eat _a lot_ - while not seeking “blame” or “fault”, surely it is not reasonable to deny overeating as a _cause_? ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/51 "2006-03-07T14:19:09Z")
> [@Ensign Edison](#): > > Yeah, cuz people never get hostile about fatness on the Dope. :rolleyes: > > Gawd, you’re dumb. “Eating less means more free time”? Are you whooshing me? > > There are uses for the “phobe” suffix that imply aversion, not just fear. Which you know. You just think it makes you look smart to say stuff like this, but really it makes you look even dumber. > > You’re a moron. No, I was being sarcastic. Just like I was being sarcastic when I implied I thought people were advocating making me into a casserole. And, I haven’t been here long enough to see hostility against fat people here, nor would I condone it. Well, I dunno. Doesn’t it take time to eat?? Or to wait in line at fast food restaurants? Every time I eat something, it takes me anything from a minute to, well, longer than that. Depending. Are you whooshing me? Does this make you a moronophobe? Heh heh. I have the day off work, it’s sunny and cold and pretty out. So, I am taking the dogs for an extra long walk. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/52 "2006-03-07T14:33:33Z")
> [@Digital Stimulus](#): > > First they came for the smokers, then they came for the fat people… > > Someone else end it with something witty. "… and then I thought, “Hey, free smokes and cheetos!” ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/53 "2006-03-07T14:54:19Z")
Americans do not have an obesity problem. Americans have a lifestyle problem, and one of the most apparent symptoms is obesity. Only and idiot would declare war on the symptom and not the disease. Fortunately, there are many, many idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/54 "2006-03-07T14:58:20Z")
> [@Waverly](#): > > Americans do not have an obesity problem. Americans have a lifestyle problem, and one of the most apparent symptoms is obesity. Only and idiot would declare war on the symptom and not the disease. Fortunately, there are many, many idiots. Correct. And the disease is that we eat crap, eat a lot of it and lead fairly sedentary lives. The cure for this would be to eat better, eat less and get more exercise. Which is what…_drumroll, please_…everyone here is saying that overweight folks should do. Ta-dah! See how neatly it all fits together. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/55 "2006-03-07T15:38:06Z")
I don’t know what the latest status is, but there has been research that suggests [obesity may be linked to a virus](http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/07/28/fat.virus.ap/). But whether there’s anything to it or not, there’s a long list of other factors that help explain why people today are so hefty. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/56 "2006-03-07T15:52:34Z")
> [@Digital Stimulus](#): > > First they came for the smokers, then they came for the fat people… > > Someone else end it with something witty. > [@duffer](#): > > “…then they came for the Dopers.” > [@Marley23](#): > > “Then they came for me, and I was too fat to run away.” > [@Case Sensitive](#): > > And made lots of soap and lampshades. > [@Ethilrist](#): > > "… and then I thought, “Hey, free smokes and cheetos!” _Nice._ A little levity in what we _know_ is gonna end up a trainwreck. 😃 On reflection, I think I should have made it: First they came for the smokers, who couldn’t speak up because they were stuck outside in the rain, 50 feet from the entrance. Then they came for the fat people, who couldn’t speak up because they were too busy wrangling over the last donut. Now they’ve come for the ranters, complainers, and whiners, but **I** can’t speak up because – you see, there’s this thread on the SDMB I just _have_ to respond to… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/57 "2006-03-07T15:54:50Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > I don’t know what the latest status is, but there has been research that suggests [obesity may be linked to a virus](http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/07/28/fat.virus.ap/). But whether there’s anything to it or not, there’s a long list of other factors that help explain why people today are so hefty. What **Thudlow Boink** said. Overweight people can’t always be lumped into the same “eats too much” category. Thyroid disease, for example, can cause weight gain. So can chemotherapy. And how many people in the US and Canada do you think have thyroid disease or get chemotherapy? You can be guaranteed it’s more than just a few hundred. There’s a whole host of other problems out there. It’s true that many people eat too much/exercise too little, but that **can’t be applied to everyone.** Anyone with an ounce of logic can realize that. And it’s been proven that the BMI chart is garbage. I don’t know why it’s still being used, since it doesn’t take into account body fat percentage, which is what really matters. According to the BMI chart, competitive bodybuilders are unhealthily obese. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/58 "2006-03-07T16:06:17Z")
That study strikes me as rather dubious, **TB**. I _do_ wish the press would have the patience to wait for actual publication in a reputable journal. > [@](#): > > Researchers do not know yet how adenovirus-36 causes obesity. … or, indeed, whether obesity somehow causes the _virus_ to become more apparent. > [@](#): > > Infected animals did not eat more than uninfected ones, suggesting that the virus decreases energy expenditure rather than increasing appetite. Which might explain the bodyfat ratio of those people whose calorific intake really is within the boundaries recommended for not becoming overweight. Looking around the world, I’d be surprised if that was more than a small minority. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/59 "2006-03-07T16:06:49Z")
First off, thanks to **bonobo\_jones** for the coining of “Eat More Less.” I predict that’ll soon be on posters everywhere, with no royalties, sadly, to friend **bonobo**. Second, I’ve heard and read OP’s complaint, or something very similar, with fair (and rising) frequency for several years now, and this (I’ll remember who asked me in a minute) is what I think: 1. No fat people were harmed – much – in the making of this OP. The morbidly obese, like every other significant deviation from the norm, have always been subject to frequent unwelcome attention and occasional abuse. The increase in volume (sorry) seems to have come mostly from the ordinarily overweight, the well-off, sedentary, decently-fed large chunk (excuse me) of society. So far as I can personally attest, these people are treated, by and large, perfectly decently by the vast majority of their fellow citizens, most of whom are also overweight and presumably sympathetic, and some of whom are not overweight but still somehow not inclined to mistreat others based on appearance. I’ve spent some time looking, and I haven’t yet seen any persuasive evidence that fat people are a persecuted minority. For one thing, it’s hard to get by the fact that in the U.S., fat people are not a minority. I’m perfectly willing to believe that people are often mean, and that they may target something visible and easy like size if they’re stuck for an insult. But encounters with mean people happen to everybody, and those who aren’t overweight aren’t immune, they’re just the target of different insults. I’m losing my hair, but I don’t seize on every bald joke or jibe or the narrowness of modern hatbands and dearth of bald supermodels as an ersatz basis of solidarity and oppression with every other bald and balding person on the planet, even if our collective stridency might gain us some fleeting attention and sympathy. In short, I hear about abuse of fat people, but never anything serious, specific, and from a verifiable source. 2. Fat people aren’t voiceless. They have the numbers, they have the money, and if they actually constituted an economic/political bloc with any solidarity\*, our _Sports Illustrated_ covers would be wider in February, our presidents would quit jogging down the street and falling off bicycles and go to work, Hollywood would be acclaimed for the quality of it’s acting and stories, and our news programs and magazines would go back to reporting news. If fat people were not themselves biased against fat people, or at least unmotivated to act on their behalf, they would rule the land. A very short time later, of course, leaner people would _inherit_ it, but they’d have had their moment. 3)\* They don’t, and the reason for this is that there are as many different paths to being overweight as there are people who are overweight. Sociological, psychological, endocrinological, any subset of the above, take your pick. I’m bald, ugly and have a bad personality. People discriminate against me. Sometimes this makes me sad, but it never makes me feel surprised and oppressed, because one thing I’m _not_ is naive. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329/60 "2006-03-07T16:10:38Z")
> [@Digital Stimulus](#): > > First they came for the smokers, then they came for the fat people… . . .but they couldn’t move them because they were fused to the couch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-the-war-on-fat/347329.md?page=4)