Am I the only person that has noticed the amount of new television programs that focus on so called "fat people?"
I feel that this group of people are being terribly exploited, dehumanized and unfairly made to walk some sort of new galvanizing social plank.
THERE IS SOMETHING TRULY SINISTER AND IMMORAL GOING ON HERE....
I had made a vow to get rid of my television a couple of weeks ago in an experiment of mind and soul that I am giving a try.
But before it is yanked from my world, I was conscious enough last night to realize, we have got ONE REVOLTING PROBLEM going on in our so called "reality entertainment".
Why are we so interested in this side show of pushing people with weight issues to be so called "better people?" We don't care that much about ourselves in our own world so why now do we care so much about these people?
I tuned in for 5 minutes of "The Biggest Loser" to see this group of adults literally made to roll around in the mud with each other in some sort of bizarre competition. The producers had somehow forgotten about their human dignity. I don't think it was any coincidence that they were being portrayed as actual "pigs".
A couple minutes later, this poor woman was trying to run up a steep hill with some buffed trainer attached to her by a leash of some sorts. He kept tugging on her, making her fall and kept berating her in the process. She kept falling and weeping and he kept barking at her. It was really disgusting.
She looked like she was going to die or pass out.
IS THIS ENTERTAINMENT?
I changed the channel and came upon MTV where they were having a reunion show on some show called "I USED TO BE FAT". Never heard of the show, but it was one of the most ridiculous spectacles I had ever witnessed.
Something about how cathartic it was to be back with the rest of us, on a road going, I don't know where. In a world that was pure fantasy... The Hostess should be retired at 20 for obsequiousness and never allowed to utter another word again.
Someone should attach a leash around her ass and start a new show "I used to be skinny and a moron".
I quickly researched the other shows out there...... "Heavy, Huge, More to Love, Ruby, Drop Dead Diva, I used to be fat, Dance your ass off, The Bad Girls Club (plus sized), The Biggest Loser". Apparently there are more on the way. Are bells not going off?
Why do we want to pick on this group?. We are stigmatizing them, hating on them, and making them a social target, far beyond the years of incredible prejudice that they already have to face in their daily lives, probably from early childhood.
Some doubters who don't really care, and share a good "fat joke" here and there, might say that it's not just "fat people" but the media feels free to pick on any disenfranchised group. They will go after anybody in the name of dollars and cents.
Does this fact make it remotely ok?
Addicts seem to be right up there as well. If you have a life and death problem, lets film the person vomiting on the floor of some obscure bathroom somewhere with a needle in their arm.......why? Because we the "people" want to help you? Probably not....
.. because we want to feel that we are superior to you, and feel free to make our already shaky self-image a little more secure while we take our zoloft, beat our kids and cheat on our husbands. Probably.
People with a few more pounds on them, may have a slower metabolism or may actually be dealing with FOOD ADDICTION. Emotional eating is something we all can relate to; "comfort food" is something we start to gravitate towards in childhood. I know I did.
These issues need to be dealt with by getting at the core of the individuals need to push down certain types of feelings with food. This is not a question of WILLPOWER AND THEY ARE NOT SIMPLY LAZY INDIVIDUALS.
In any case, lets stop making these people out to be LESS HUMAN. It's not ok and it's not entertaining.
In the future maybe we will simply murder criminals on live tv and then get a direct comment from their families as it happens. Could happen.....
By the way, according to a health study at Harvard University, this idea that overweight people are committing suicide with their life styles, is highly controversial since the study shows that in the end, you only lose a couple of years off a full life by being overweight.
There is no impending doom, that the rest of society should feel comfortable just intervening on behalf of the greater good..Whatever that means.
You lose many more years off a full life by...... worrying, micromanaging others, fad dieting, binge drinking, anger mongering, etc etc etc....
Yes I understand the argument about universal healthcare costs and that true obesity needs to be treated and can be life threatening......Moving on......................Leave these people alone and move on..................
DO WE REALLY NEED TO PARADE THE WORST CASE SCENARIOS OUT ON TV LIKE FORGOTTEN GLADIATORS EERILY CHOSEN TO GET CHARACTER ASSASSINATED BY SOME NEO-NAZI NAMED JILLIAN MICHAELS ON PRIME TIME, AS THE SALES OF SALT FREE MARGARINE GO UP ALL OVER NORTH AMERICA. Cmon, don't we have more integrity than this. I am sure we do, somewhere.
In my mind, it's just about human dignity. We have obviously lost touch with this concept.
I just saw an article online that suggests that a study was done that shows that being overweight attracts bullying.. It is implying that the problem lies with the group that is being picked on, instead of looking at the nature of anger and insecurity in the perpetrators. Disturbing, that we want to point the finger of blame at the "fat" for simply existing. This reminds me of something.
I am not overweight right now and may never be, however I have a plethora of other challenges to deal with.
I want to feel that I am at least living in a world that gives me the freedom to allow myself to feel good about who I really am, or who I am becoming.
Does it really matter what I look like on the outside? Sadly, in this society it obviously does and it's alot more disgusting and dark than even that.
These brave people don't need my two cents, but these TV shows should be banned as an infringement on human rights. What is coming next? How much more base can it go?
I go it....Some sort of competition between Anorexics and Bulimics? Why don't we use an old concentration camp as the backdrop, I am sure the ratings would skyrocket if we could get the clearance for that. We could sell alot of Toothbrushes during that broadcast.
Rick
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