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Bending Over Backwards To Encourage Obesity
It seems a fitting title in light of the recent hunger striker memorials; tonight I watched a documentary presented by overweight comedian Ricky Grover on BBC Three (part of their Body Image Season) entitled F*** off, I'm fat. Subtle, eh? The documentary team followed Mr Grover as he and some incredibly obese people complained about how hard it was being fat. The thing that tickled me most though, was the mention that in America (where, unsurprisingly, most of these studies are carried out) it's been estimated that on average a "seriously obese" person breaks 3 toilets a year.
Is this the future facade of public conveniences?With the enterprising culture of the US, some genius has come up with industrial strength, economy size toilets that are tested for support of up to a tonne in weight, instead of the 20 stone of a standard toilet.
The main problem with the thrust of the programme was that, entertaining as it was, it was essentially an hour-long MOPE. Grover and his fat friends spent the hour complaining and moaning about all the things they have to struggle with daily, such as the arms of seats on the tube digging in, problems finding clothes (or motor vehicles) they can fit into and even travelling by plane. Yes, at a time when estimates are emerging that one-third of adults will be obese by 2010, and experts are saying IVF for obese women is both dangerous and wasteful, this documentary is trying to shift the responsibility for obesity away from obese people!
Follow up:
Highlights of the programme include Ricky calling in a favour from an engineer to adapt a Jaguar car for a "large" woman (who, if I recall correctly, weighed 27 stone), and taking two overweight young women shopping in the more fashionable shops on Oxford Street to discover that most of them don't stock sizes above 16 or 18. Oh, and he also takes a squad of them to Blackpool Pleasure Beach where, after munching on burgers and chips, they are "angry" when they find out they can't get on any of the rides or rollercoasters and even have difficulty getting through some of the gates, and so go to calm themselves down with an ice-cream.
It seems that Grover and friends expect the world not only to become "fat-friendly" to accommodate their lifestyle, but to bare the cost of upgrading all toilets to the monstrous constructions. Why? Because 'segregation' could be embarrassing and "fat people often don't have a choice about the size they are." Ballocks. You have a choice everytime you order that chinese or kebab, or order that desert. Here's an idea, if you want a wider seat on planes - pay for two. Better yet, airlines can start charging for passengers like they do for luggage; anything over a certain allowance and you pay per pound. With London facing problems with congestion I'm sure reducing the capacity of the tube by making the seats wider will be a great help (until of course people accept that level of obesity as normal and 'fat' people get even fatter). How about taking a walk? It's not like these people couldn't use the exercise.
The show's repeated this Saturday, Sunday and Monday. If you haven't watched it yet I really think you should. Despite the arguments being piss-poor, it's BBC Three, which should tell you this is more about low-brow entertainment than serious debate, and I thought it did quite well in the entertainment stakes.
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2 comments
Instead of feeling quite embarrassed that they had got to such a state whereby they couldn't even fit into a roller coaster seat, the presenter then berrated the managers that they didn't cater for the massively overweight! His point seemed to be that the population is rising in weight, so they should cater for it.
Indeed. There is also increasing levels of drug use. Do they want the theme parks to provide introvenous syringes and razor blades?
Just because something is occurring more often does not mean that it should be encouraged. If people are letting themselves fall into such bad health, then they need to deal with the consequences. They shouldn't be encouraged to continue in that manner by doubling the size of roller coaster seats to keep them happy!
1. I didn't see the programme
2. I am clinically obese
Secondly, I would like to tell you that it is because of people like you that some poor crazy goes mad with an axe or a gun. Ok, I agree that that is exaggerating the point but I hope the point goes home.
People who are fat have simply used food as a means to cope with problems they have difficulty coping with. Some people drink too much, some people take drugs, some people end up in mental health institutions or as above, go mad and start killing people. Why do they do that do you suppose? Could it be that the constant subtle criticism from family, friends, the media and complete strangers are making them rush straight to the only source of comfort they feel they have at their disposal? Is it not preferable to be fat than get high on drugs or booze and kill or injure someone in a road traffic accident, or threaten and steal from people for their next fix?
It is not funny or entertaining to belittle people and you should be sufficiently intelligent to realise that the media will slant their work to produce required results in much the same way that statistics can be warped to do the same.
When will utterly ignorant people like you do something useful for a change?
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