Is it bad that I agree with this?

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

And, just to get in trouble (and I've never seen the child of anybody here so it is completely abstract): Maybe your kid is fat.

You, sir, are on my last nerve.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

You, sir, are on my last nerve.

Sorry to hear that. But now that you are down to only one, which part of your body do you use it to feel?

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

You, sir, are on my last nerve.

He said he was doing it to get into trouble.

Besides, is there no one in the world that is fat? Or is that word verboten now?

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

He said he was doing it to get into trouble.

Besides, is there no one in the world that is fat? Or is that word verboten now?

No, it's not verboten. I call myself fat all the time. The word is 25% of my screenplay title. And I don't use it as a pejorative, just a descriptor.

I simply found what he was saying to be crass and glib, whether he knew what her daughter looks like or not. And in general, when people say they're saying things to "get into trouble" I don't hold what's said in much esteem.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

You, sir, are on my last nerve.

Somewhere in there, Alex has a valid point.

I was recently reading about a debate within the medical community. It seems that for a while now, there has been a tendency in the pediatric field to understate the degree to which a child is medically overweight. Namely, instead of "overweight" or "obese", doctors, to avoid hurt feelings, have been trained to use terms such as, "at risk for obesity", even when a child is overweight by an amount that would have doctors calling adults "overweight" or "obses". Personally, I think that's ludicrous. I don't want my doctor to lie to me to "protect me feelings." If I'm overweight and putting myself at risk for health problems, tell me I'm overweigth and putting myself at risk for health problems.

Obviously, a doctor vs. a school yard bully are two very different cases. But as a society, we seem to be sacrificing a certain amount of honesty in the name of "protecting feelings". Feh to that, I say.

[Prudence]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

But as a society, we seem to be sacrificing a certain amount of honesty in the name of "protecting feelings". Feh to that, I say.

I don't think society has much interest in being honest. In my experience, society is much more interested in hurting others to make itself feel superior.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Obviously, a doctor vs. a school yard bully are two very different cases. But as a society, we seem to be sacrificing a certain amount of honesty in the name of "protecting feelings". Feh to that, I say.

Oh, I'm completely open to doctors giving us the straight story. That's important. And it's not as though I think that self "fat acceptance" is OK without taking action to take care of yourself. I've said it before and I'll repeat myself: we must both love who we are, and love ourselves enough to take healthy action.

School bullies, or grown-up ones, sacrificing politeness and empathy in favor of being blunt isn't something that interests me, though. If people here spent their time teasing me because of my weight, or repeatedly pointing it out, or telling me how I'm ruining my life... I would not be here anymore.

[Gemini Cricket]

Kids used to tease my pointy ears and call me Mr. Spock. I guess the healthy path was to just accept that I had pointy ears and move on. Some may have wanted plastic surgery. I don't know if teasing is good or bad...

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

Kids used to tease my pointy ears and call me Mr. Spock. I guess the healthy path was to just accept that I had pointy ears and move on. Some may have wanted plastic surgery. I don't know if teasing is good or bad...

They called me Mr. Spock too! Well, not the kids so much, but my parents did! I grew into my ears a little, though they still point out at the tops.

And I think teasing is a crap way to teach anyone anything. Period. Friends can take the piss, I'm totally alright with that. But teasing in general isn't about teaching, it's about making yourself feel better by ****ting on another person, I don't care how old you are.

[katiesue]

Every kid gets teased at some point for something, weight, nose, glasses, braces, bad haircut, freckles, height. What bothers me I guess is that instead of accepting that you are who you are, kids are going to more extremes to fit in. Like high schoolers getting plastic surgery because they think a smaller nose or bigger boobs will help them in life. Or that they need to fit into a size 2 and go to extremes to get there. Or working out for hours and hours to have a hard body, in gradeschool. Granted all of this has existed to some extent, but it does seem to be a much larger problem now than when I grew up.

What happened to Free to Be You and Me?