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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   32962 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 13, 2023

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I've been listening to the Maintenance Phase podcast recently, if only for the entertainment of hyper-woke individuals spewing typical Fat Logic, and I've noticed a sort of Holocaust Denial vibe. They'll do very good episodes about how some diet or some other piece of health apocrypha is bullshit, complete with what at least seems like a fairly rigorous review of the scientific literature, which is fine and what makes it entertaining. But the conclusion you're supposed to draw from the series as a whole isn't that certain things in the diet ecosystem is bad, but that you shouldn't worry about your weight or anyone else's and that doctors are unnecessarily turning obesity into a health problem it's not. It reminds me of how people like David Irving will focus on minutia like whether a particular facility was used as a gas chamber and, regardless of the quality of the scholarship, expects you to draw the conclusion that the Holocaust never happened. Being obese is really unhealthy; any doctor will tell you that.

Two groups tend to be left out of the whole "fat acceptance" culture, though. The first is fat men. Fat women never had much of a problem getting fat men to date them. I suspect that a lot of this fat acceptance bullshit is really just trying to guilt thin men into dating them; you don't ever hear of any obese young women standing up for some fat Trekkie who's being made fun of. The second group is old people. I see a lot of stuff on the internet about being "healthy at any size" but it's always women under the age of 45 who seem to be the poster children for this stuff. You never hear about older fat people in this context, despite the fact that magazines love to profile active seniors who talk about how their lifestyle has prevented health problems. Of course, none of these people are ever fat, because there aren't many fat older people who do things like walk 9 holes every day or take ballroom dance lessons. Most of them are at home in front of the television, dealing with diabetes, or heart problems, or arthritis, or any number of other disorders that obesity increases the risk of.

I see a lot of stuff on the internet about being "healthy at any size" but it's always women under the age of 45 who seem to be the poster children for this stuff.

Phase one is beauty and fashion and dating instas.

Phase two is complaining about unfair beauty standards.

Phase three is assertions that chronic health problems have nothing to do with weight.

Phase four is turning into a shut-in due to immobility.

  • The first is fat men.

Fat men that are tall or built do well. Those that look like Jason Alexander do bad though on the market.

The second group is old people. I see a lot of stuff on the internet about being "healthy at any size" but it's always women under the age of 45 who seem to be the poster children for this stuff.

People the size of some of the hard to miss (300 lbs+ for women) fat activists die between ages of 45-55, which is probably why.

Being obese is really unhealthy; any doctor will tell you that.

More critically, your own two eyes will tell you that.

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