Tuesday, August 28, 2007

The Bible Belt needs to loosen that shit up

Sad but true:


The winner of fattest state, and still champeen, is Mississippi. Is it any wonder why God and obesity sort of go hand in hand? Maybe it's that "God loves me" complacency that keeps these people stuffing their faces and watching bullshit daytime television which keeps assuring them that their obesity is a disease and there's nothing they can do about it. Maybe it's the depression following the lingering ghost of the Civil War. Maybe Americans are just fat fucks. THERE'S ONLY ONE STATE IN THE WHITE ZONE!!! ONE!!! FUCKING!!! STATE!!!

8 comments:

mugwatch said...

Woah woah WOAH . . . WHAT are you trying to say about daytime television??

Unknown said...

I'm saying daytime television should contain no MSG. Wait, whose blog is this?

Hackett said...

If'n God wanted me ta be theen, he'd a done made me that way!

D.W. Jones said...

Alright, I'll try not to get all righteous and preachy, and I don't want to bring the otherwise cheery mood down too far, but here goes...

My father died on Saturday. He died from a heart arrithmea caused by a series of complications resulting from his obesity. He was very, very fat and had been for a long time. He never denied his obesity or tried to call it anything other than what it was. He certainly never called it a disease. Yes, he didn't have a great diet and he did over-eat and didn't exercise much in his later years. Those things were without a doubt the primary cause of his obesity.

But, they weren't the only cause. There were several factors which compromised my father's health and attributed to his weight. I won't go into them because most of it is personal, but there were psychological as well as physical causes. It wasn't just a matter of stuffing his face and watching daytime television all the time. And it certainly wasn't because of his faith in God.

I am, like my father was, very fat. I can attribute that to a number of things, but mostly I'm just a fat fuck who ate too much and didn't exercise enough. I could use the excuse that my particular metabolic make-up requires me to exercise a whole lot more and eat a whole lot better than most people, but I don't. I'm ok with being the guy that eats too much and doesn't exercise enough. Plus, I'm usually the first person to make fun of my fatness and I have no problem with people making fun of me for it. My skin is pretty thick.

What I do have a problem with is the often cruel and ignorant notion that all fat people can flip a switch and stop doing all the things that make them fat. Too many people have no clue how difficult it can be to lose weight, both physically and mentally. It can be a monumental task. Overcoming the psychological impediments which lead to overeating for many people is much, much harder than you will ever be able to understand. Those impediments are only compounded by the barbs and intolerance of so many thin people. And the inability to overcome them is what ultimately killed my father.

So, I have no problem with people criticizing the nation's obesity. It's obviously a huge problem that needs to be addressed. Being fat can obviously kill you. I'm ok with making fun of fat people. We should make fun of everyone. I'm definitely ok with people making fun of me. But I can't abide the intolerance and I can't abide the notion that there is a simple fix to the obesity problem.

Sorry to go on so long with this incoherency. Maybe I'm a little more sensitive right now than I normally would be, but I thought something should be said.

Sunnie said...

Amen DW!

My mom had gastric bypass 6 yrs ago and it has saved her life. Yes, she needed to exercise but that's hard to do when you're carrying 200lbs of excess weight. She went from weighing almost 300lbs to about 170 and has been able to maintain that for the past 6 yrs. I'm proud of her.

Anonymous said...

there's no 'incoherency.' it's just 'incoherence.'

Unknown said...

And there is no Dana, only Zuul. The irony's pretty thick in this post considering I'm an illiterate dope.

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