Fat Refs are Out
This is a darned fine article.
The NFL has decided to not hire overweight referees, despite a few recent studies that (get this!) fat people can do many physically demanding jobs just fine, thank you.
Mel LeCompte Jr.'s article is noteworthy, for it's in a mainstream publication (a newspaper for St. Landry Parish, Louisiana) and he's taking a very pro-fat stance. Or, at least, anti-fat discrimination.
The NFL has decided to not hire overweight referees, despite a few recent studies that (get this!) fat people can do many physically demanding jobs just fine, thank you.
Mel LeCompte Jr.'s article is noteworthy, for it's in a mainstream publication (a newspaper for St. Landry Parish, Louisiana) and he's taking a very pro-fat stance. Or, at least, anti-fat discrimination.
At the United Nation's bidding, the WHO has drafted a study hand-slapping the United States and other western nations. The assumption? We're eating so much, that there's none left for the other countries.Awesome, Mel. The NFL needs to be put up on a pedestal: yet another company that just Doesn't Get It when it comes to fat people, and beyond that, is doing something highly discriminatory.
"Prejudge globally, intimidate locally," should be the mantra.
Al Roker is Thin | ''The Fat Lady Sings''
Posted by paul on November 21, 2002| Anne |
November 21st, 2002 | Link |
I think we should all write
I think we should all write Mel a letter thanking him for his fine journalism, especially given some of the hacks we've seen in this blog lately.
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| Melissa, Baton Rouge, LA |
November 21st, 2002 | Link |
Woo Hoo!
We are becoming
Woo Hoo!
We are becoming "enlightened" here in Louisiana and trying to work our way out of #49!
Just kidding! :)
There are several of us who are trying to spread the word about size acceptance here. But... this might just be a case of common sense!
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| Melissa French |
November 21st, 2002 | Link |
That article was both
That article was both encouraging and enfuriating at the same time--just the way I like 'em. Fantastic job by the author. He acknowledged the facts ("National Institute of Health study which proves that larger persons 'can achieve impressive levels of cardio-respiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility.'")and isolated the problem not as one of compounding obesity, but compounding prejudice and discrimination against fat people. He did his homework, dug up cases of discrimination (some that I hadn't even heard of) and, in my opinion, portrayed everything in such a way that *everybody* should be infuriated by it. Fantastic.
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| Peggy Nature |
November 22nd, 2002 | Link |
I'm beginning to get really
I'm beginning to get really annoyed at the assumption that fat people are eating the world out of house and home.
Despite studies that show that fat people don't, on average, consumer more food than other people, this take on the situation is still popular.
But even more annoying, why has no one who blames fat people or 'fat nations' for world food shortages ever see fit to criticize the diet industry (that is, the MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR diet industry) for the massive amount of overconsumption it promotes, and the environmental and economic (not to mention health) consequences thereof?
In a quote from "Never Satisfied" by Hillel Schwartz, this exact issue is addressed perfectly:
"The image of the fat person as a selfish person is a sly, cruel trick of Late Capitalism. The fat person is not responsible for the fundamental inequities in distribution that make for hunger. This is the doing of capitalists, who may be fat or thin. Blaming fat people for world hunger diverts attention from the real villains who inveigle societies to consume ever more, regardless of consequence. Thin people are capitalism's ideal consumers, for they can devour without seeming gluttonous; they have morality on their side. Fat people are ideal scapegoats; they take food out of the mouths of the starving poor, and they mean to do so -- else they would summon the willpower to keep their weight down and their appetites in check."
You said it, bub.
Hmpth.
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| Peggy Nature |
November 22nd, 2002 | Link |
Oh, also, if anyone wants to
Oh, also, if anyone wants to compliment Mel on the great article, you can email him at
me@angelbutt.com
His website is www.angelbutt.com
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