Recently, this video has been going around called "Dear Fat People". I'm sure you've seen it.
"Dear Fat People" is a viral video in which a woman goes on a 6 minute rampage on fat people. The star, a YouTube comedian, targets fat people by comparing them to Frankenstein and zombies, and goes off on a tangent about the walking dead and having semen hair. It's lackluster with the laughs and in general, it's the normal fat shaming spiel. That being said, however, it's really having an effect on the fat community.
In case you didn't know:
Bringing people down isn't a joke.
Satire isn't satire if you believe what you're talking about.
And, the US First Amendment only protects you from government intervention, not a company (i.e. YouTube or Google) or another person. You can't scream hate and then say you're protected by the 1st Amendment if someone gets mad.
Let's not tiptoe around this video and call it anything other than hate. It's not a comedy video, it's not a vlog, it's not a satirical view on the current state of health in Northern America, no, it's a viral hate video. It's under the guise of "oh, this is for your health because I care about you!" No, because telling people to only eat once or day or not at all isn't caring about anyone. Telling people that they aren't allowed to be happy in their body isn't caring. You can't add a footnote of "this isn't for anyone with a disease!" and then bash people for having heart disease. That isn't a proclamation of caring, that's hate. And, it's bad comedy. She is bad comedy.
Caring would be donating money to the Children's Obesity Fund to help prevent childhood obesity. Caring would be petitioning for a higher minimum wage so that people can afford organic and fresh food. Caring would be donating money to low-income neighborhoods in your city to make fresh food accessible and affordable.
Caring is not making a hate video.
So, let's get everything in order. Fat people are not inherently unhealthy and thin people aren't inherently healthy. Fat people are not ignorant to the effects of carrying extra weight. You can't look at someone and know they have a medical problem that causes them to be overweight, meaning you can't making sweeping generalizations about fat people, because you're including the very people you were trying to exclude. You can't look at someone and immediately see their diet or lifestyle--overweight or thin--and make generalizations about it.
I can't believe we have to dissect the video to show people how bad it is. I can't believe people shared this video and it got viral. I'm not in awe because of the content (fat hating isn't new), I'm in awe because people find her statements valid and true and they find it honestly funny.
This world has a long way to go when accepting all body types.
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