Fat Girl Off a Bike

This makes me both sad and mad. Mad at the a-holes who spewed their venom at Sarah, and sad because I only lurked at FGOAB and never left a comment telling Sarah how inspirational she was to me. I had hesitated leaving such a comment because she said she found it a little awkward to be called inspiring ... she just wanted to be treated like any other triathlete. So now I'm sad that I never got to tell her how much I admired her. Sarah, if you're reading this, I hope you know how much you are missed. I hope you come back some day.

Sarah,

Don't let the asshats chase you off the internet, or off your bike, or off the track you are on. You should be proud of yourself for being you and loving yourself the way you are. Self-loathing is all too easy; loathing others for being fat is certainly way WAY too easy. You are one of my heroes, and I hope you can see that in yourself.

--Harriet
harrietbrown.blogspot.com

I once heard someone say that there was nothing worse than an enthusiastic idiot. These people have just proven that—in spades. I am both angry and sorry that Sarah's been the target of such vicious stupidity just because she's dared to do what she has, and (worse yet!) that she's actually had the nerve to talk about it.

I hope she makes her blog public again one day; I always enjoyed reading it. Those numbskulls had no right to attack her like that (last I heard, "free speech" did not extend to verbal abuse), and I think it's utterly appalling that they did it so thoroughly that she felt she had to protect herself by taking her blog down.

She's absolutely right: Our bodies are NOT public property and neither are thin people's. People need to learn to mind their own. They also need to learn to expand their minds to encompass the idea of a fat person AS a person. Then they should consider what it would be like to be subjected to constant scrutiny and criticism based on what they LOOK like to others. But it's not likely this will ever happen--as far as they're concerned "they" are just fine, so of course it would be ridiculous if others were to subject them to the same horsehit to which they subject fat people. After all, their tortured logic goes, fat people are, you know, fat!
I know I'm not saying anything new. It's just really disturbing that people can live in this day and age and still not have grasped the evils of prejudice; how they can still cling to the idea of an "other"...and enjoy doing so because it makes them feel better.
F- these people, Sarah. Blogging or blogless, you rock.

I found Sarah's blog maybe a year ago, researching a move to Vermont of all things. What a great blog! She was the first to show me what 190lbs can really look like.

When I saw it mentioned last week in re. the BMI pictures blog, I went to try and find her, but it was gone. If there is a private list of people for whom she'll make the blog public again, I'd love to be alerted via email.

Good grief.

The human capacity for cruelty never fails to amaze me. What gives these people the right to be a-holes to her?

As much as I love the Internet, I do think it gives a lot of people the "freedom" to act like jerks because they can't see the person they're offending - they don't risk getting socked in the nose, or having the person look at them and go "You. Are. An. Ass. Hat." and walk away (well, that's kind of what Sarah did, but the asshats will think they won).

I don't know. This just makes me sad. There is no safe place on the Internet; the jerks can find you whereever you go.

There is no safe place on the Internet: the jerks can find you wherever you go.

So true. And it seems to be absolutely everywhere you turn online. YouTube, Flickr, even the post-modded BBC - the anti-obesity sentiment infecting society has emboldened these morons. Armed only with a childish pseudonym and a modem, one now has the power to cause havoc with no risk of repercussions.

I did worry about the fact that the BMI project was hosted on Flickr; which I have found from personal experience to be something of a hotbed of fat hatred. I took my stream down a couple of years ago after holiday pictures of a fat ex-girlfriend and I were blitzed with spiteful comments, and I won't be using that site again until they at the very least sort out their complaints policy.

It makes me desperately sad that yet another proud fat person has found themselves hounded from the public eye by an idiotic yet vocal minority. Sarah should be an inspiration for everyone, and as a number of contributors to Kate Harding's blog noted, for every idiotic hater (none of whom have probably come close to completing a triathlon in their lives) there were undoubtedly twenty people who found Sarah a breath of fresh air.

I hope she can re-emerge from this with renewed vigour and strengthened self-acceptance.

I just think it's really sick that there's so much open hostility on the internet. This makes me both sad and mad too and honestly, makes me wanna pull a Rodney King. Why all the hate -- and for people these trolls don't even KNOW???

Are they afraid that fatties are going to take over the world and thus leave them out in the cold? That kind of mistaken belief can drive fear, which drives hatred. Someone who either has low or no self-esteem may look for someone radically different from them to trample upon in order to make themselves feel better. And you have to admit, it's so much easier to do on the internet, they don't know you, you don't know them, and the only repercussions are the replies, if anyone is willing to respond to blatant bigotry and hatred. They probably wouldn't think of being that vitriolic in person because you never know, that fatty they're verbally bashing might just come back with a clue-by-four up side the head.

it's all right to be crazy, just don't let it drive ya nuts!

I think perhaps part of it has something to do with insecurity. I was teased a great deal as a child (not for being fat - actually, I was kind of skinny as a kid) - but because I was a "brain."

My mom reminded me regularly "they're just jealous of you." Or: "They're insecure about who they are and they lash out at other people to make themselves feel better."

I think that's a big part of it - a lot of the troll-y type people come off as big losers - people who aren't happy with themselves or their lives. And so - to make themselves feel better - they try to make other people feel miserable.

It sucks, but it's kind of how the world works.

The secure people are the ones posting supportive notes, or who aren't saying anything mean or "ad hominem" if they disagree with what someone is saying.

I think that's a big part of it - a lot of the troll-y type people come off as big losers - people who aren't happy with themselves or their lives. And so - to make themselves feel better - they try to make other people feel miserable.

That might be part of it, but as another person who was bullied as a kid (for being fat, but also for being too much of a dreamer and just generally not being cool enough) I think that it is also about people simply not caring or not understanding what they do to others when they bully them (after all "words don't kill...") and not being willing to question their prejudices. This applies perhaps even more to the bystanders and the people who provide a willing audience for the bullies by somehow expressing agreement or amusement, or - in the case of fat - the people who express that the bullies should change their tone but that after all they have a point because "fat kills" or whatever. (Even if you believe the latter why do you need to bring it up in those specific situations?)

I don't know Shara. I've been to her blog, when it was up, a few times trying to get the stones up to get back on MY bike and the one thing you HAD to realize if you have any brains at all and sufficient literacy skills to read, was the fact that this is a VERY STRONG person. Not JUST physically but mentally as well. Still, even a lioness has got to give ground if enough hyenas show up to cause problems. Hopefully with a step back, a little recharge, and as much support as she might want, she can reach back and call on that strength to step back into the ring but I , for one, will not fault her if she decides not.

I think that it is also about people simply not caring or not understanding what they do to others when they bully them (after all "words don't kill...") and not being willing to question their prejudices.

Let us not forget the 'For-your-own-good' crowd or the 'Yeah, but. . .' Parrots. For me, Trolls and Flamechimps are just part of the landscape. They HAVE no opinion. They don't CARE about whatever it is your discussing one way or the other. They may, literally, not even UNDERSTAND what it is your discussing. For them it's all about the REACTION. Provoking one. Getting one. Goading until SOMEBODY replies. Then they sit in front of their computers with their cyber buddies chuckling and drooling. Sitting there like Beavis / Butthead in front of the Tube mumbling 'I made them say 'Fuck You'. . . Nyuhuh-nyuhuh-nyuhuh!' Wasted brain matter.

The ones that get me redlined are the ones I mentioned earlier. Trying to convince fat folk that every thing they have to say is in our best interest. That they know what's good for ALL those misguided fatties. 'We know just how to fix you you poor, ignorant fatty, fat, fat!'. I'm sure, had I been in Shara's position, the 'Yeah, but. . . ' Chimps would have had me on a ballistic trajectory. 'You can run a 10K marathon? That's great! YEAH! . . . BUT don't you realize what your doing to your body?' ARRGGGGGGHHH!! How's about a nice big, frosty, mug of SHUTDAFUCKUP!!. . . . . Sorry. Trolls I can ignore. These brain damaged simians just seem to strap on their alpine spikes and climbing right INTO my nose. Irritated is NOT the word.
Anyway, here's to hoping we see Fat Girl BACK On Her Bike.

I should think there is also a strong undercurrent of jealousy on the part of these trolls...something to the effect of, "What do you mean this fat woman can compete in triathlons?! I am thin/less fat/male/*other descriptor*, and I can't do that!" People often act very strangely when forced to assimilate facts which do not fit within their pre-existing construct of The Truth. Cognitive dissonance is a bitch.