On the one hand, I don’t agree with fat shaming tactics employed by Nicole Arbour in her video “Dear Fat People” but the fact that a bunch of obese people who were offended could silence her, even for a moment, was tragic. Shame on YouTube for letting the angry masses trump the right of free speech.
I personally dont think that it does any good at all to shame people who are overweight. I agree with Nicole Arbour’s sentiments, just not her method. I agree with Nicole completely that telling obese people that they are poor victims of the obesity disease and their only hope is lots of expensive medical treatments is just plain cruel. People who are obese CAN lose weight with just exercise and good nutrition, I dont care what “disease” they have, they cannot defy the laws of physics. Giving obese people handicap placards for their cars so they can park at the front entrance of stores and mobility carts so they dont have to walk anywhere, makes their obesity worse, not better.
I believe in tough love, not personal attacks. Making someone feel horrible about themselves doesnt do any good at all. Depression and low self esteem are often the root cause of obesity so making someone feel worse does not help matters. Something is missing in this discussion of obesity. There *are* people who can’t lose weight but in my opinion, the problem is mental and not physical. Everyone obeys the laws of physics, reduce caloric intake sufficiently and you will lose fat – period. I can guarantee you with 100.00% certainty that if I were allowed to determine everything a clinically obese person ate for two years, they would have sixpack abs. I would simply tell them to use my custommealplanner with a 25% caloric deficit, done, easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Clinical obesity is often caused by a mental illness, most typically depression. Someone who is depressed knows what they need to do to lose weight but simply cannot do it. This does not make them weak, this does not make them lazy, it means they are sick and need help. The problem in America is that the insurance companies will gladly shell out $40,000 for stomach stapling but wont spend $5,000 to treat the depression that caused the obesity – go figure.
As an aside, several people have said that this video is “hate speech”. Just because you hate the speech or find it vile does not make it “hate speech”. Just because someone says or does something that we find painful does not mean that it was driven by hate. Sometimes there is nothing more painful than the truth. Even though what she said was brutally honest, I think her heart was probably in the right place. She is frustrated. There is nothing more frustrating that wanting to help someone and not being able to. I know this feeling because I get incredibly frustrated at every attempt I make to help those who are obese. I do a pillow-scream every time I read a “I cant lose weight because (excuse)” comment on my YouTube videos .
Here are a number of videos I have done on the topic of obesity and fat shaming, the first video is one of those frustration inspired videos.
