Saturday, March 27, 2010

What Would You Do?

An interesting dilemma posted by KristySF yesterday regarding Facebook and making crude and hurtful statements about fat people has me posing a question to you all.

If someone on your FL - whether you knew them or not - was publicly posting vitriol of a racist or discriminatory nature, what would you do? I'm not talking about being politically incorrect here...I'm talking about really nasty, hateful comments.

My take on Kristy's situation is this...while many people view those of an unusually large stature as bringing the ridicule upon themselves, and while that is, at least in part, true, I know not one person1 who wants to be fat. Not one. It is an extremely difficult problem to have - one that cannot be hidden away generally - and, for most of us, it's a constant struggle every day to get thin or be thin.

Oprah has been extraordinarily candid about her emotional and physical battle with her weight. And yet, as evidenced by the posts to which Kristy refers, she is treated as though she is without feeling, lazy, and worthless to society.

And we all know that couldn't be further from the truth. Maybe you don't like her but to deny she's helped people would be just silly.

So...what would you do? Would you respond publically? Privately? Keep your mouth shut but quietly defriend the people involved in the thread?

And, perhaps more importantly, why would you respond/not respond in the way you think you might?


1: Except that one woman who's trying to gain weight to break the world record for fattest woman alive - and I don't actually know her.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

reading the comments that the others left on that facebook post made me sick to my stomach. I think that it is really sad that fat people are the last section of society that it is considered okay to make fun of. The fact that so many other people joined on the hate parade is what really bothers me. I would most likely comment directly on the post and then defriend them... The casual disregard for peoples feelings really upsets me
PJ

zero hour said...

I got into it with someone over the remarks made by shockmeister Howard Stern,( I know,,I know,,we expect that from him..) about the star of Precious, and how she would never work in Hollywood again ..yadda yadda..anyway I was surprised by the amount of people that agreed with him INSULTING her personally about her weight..yes it IS the last faction of society to be 'picked on'... so yes..that and other posts I have responded publicly.
And I would again...