Monday, January 30, 2006

Slovenly, or Infected? Can the stigma get any worse for fattys?

It's not easy being fat, especially in a country that values youth and unrelentingly hyperexposes the population to concepts of beauty that are impossible to achieve. In the face of the onslaught of negative imagery, I have immense respect for people (large, medium or small) who are emotionally strong enough to be at peace with their physical selves.

For as long as I can recall, there has been a stigma attached to being "fat" in America ("gee, no kidding Scott! Brilliantly insightful observation there buddy!"). The common social assumption from my vantage point has been that, if you are fat, then you must be a lazy, undisciplined, slovenly, overeater with no self control. And by the way, so's your Mamma because you probably inherited that fat-DNA from your parental units.

As if that heaping plate of scorn that America heaps upon it larger citizens isn't bad enough, lets now add "infected" to the list.

In fact, research are now discovering evidence that the 60 million Americans defined as obese may in fact have a viral infection contributing to their situation.

Read about the Fat Virus here.

And if you ever learn about a Smart Virus, please email me immediately. I need to catch me some of that!

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