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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Sin is treating people like things

One of my favorite Terry Pratchett characters said that, and it remains the best definition for "sin" that I've seen.

So who's sinning today, Diana? you ask. Why, Marie Claire, of course! Presumably you've all heard about the horrific goings-on over there today, but in case you haven't...well, I ain't linking to that article. I refuse to give them the page hits. Instead, read Cleolinda's takedown.

I stand by my comment to her entry: articles in this manner, no matter who they're about, ARE TERRORISM. They are bigoted and hateful and mean (in both senses). They are about putting people down and keeping them down. Insert "gay" or "black" or "elderly" or ANYTHING in place of "fat" and the message remains the same: hate.

I am not fat. I am not even overweight. I'm a skinny white able-bodied cisgendered heterosexual young woman. I have every fucking privilege in the world. This article is not about me, right? WRONG. IT IS ABOUT ME. It's about me, you, five of my close friends and scores of other people whom I admire, my teachers, my colleagues, my students, people on the Internet I've never met. It's about everyone, because guess what? the bell tolls for you. There is no excusing writing like this, no matter what the topic or who the hate is aimed at. It's hate and it needs to end.

So fuck you, Marie Claire, for allowing this piece of garbage to be published. I hope your magazine goes belly-up. Dear readers, would you like to help that happen? Read one of these instead!

1 comment:

Carla Schmidt Holloway said...

Ugh. One of the few groups of people it's still okay to hate and tell lies about in America (fat people, atheists, Muslims, etc). A number of groups (blacks, women, gays) have huge groups dedicated to ending the prejudices and lies about them, but somehow it's totally acceptable to make fun of people who are "overweight" (in the most subjective definition of the word).

People think it's okay because they think people who are "overweight" are unhealthy, and they should be ridiculed for their poor health choices. Well, sorry, but it's people like me who are probably more unhealthy than someone with some natural curves. Okay, I've got a healthy behind, but still, I'm probably right on the edge of "too skinny" for my height.

I'm just so sick of this ridiculous narrow definition of "healthy" and "beautiful" in Western society.

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