In a nutshell, he was asked to get off a full plane because he was considered (by the people on the ground dealing with him) that he was too fat for a single seat (which was all that was available) and so was a safety hazard.
Well, there's a lot been said about it and much of it by those involved, so I'm not going to hash any of that over again. Instead I'm going to talk about being fat.
It's something I know a little about, in that I've been on the "over" side of the weight debate for a large proportion of my life. Not by a HUGE amount (I was never morbidly obese), but enough that I surely wasn't the sexiest stud around. Enough that I'm somewhat familiar with the pains and humiliations of rotundity.
At the same time though, I do avoid the worst of it, the black (or awestruck) stares, the derogatory remarks, the general social ostracism from a culture that worships health and youth.
So being as I am pretty much in the middle, once again I'm in a position to moderate. Yay.
It seems like people treat being fat as something new. True, it's entirely possible that the Ballooning of America is reaching new heights, but historically speaking, girth is associated with wealth, and America pretty much defines "first-world country". In other words, despite the mammoth deficits and debts the country is in, it's still a rich country. And its citizenry do reflect that.
Now I guess some people are going to blame eating disorders and mental issues and all kinds of other stuff. Personally I consider these to be excuses. They're not the disease, they're symptoms.
I see this as a battle between economics and aesthetics. Also personal space, but that only applies to airplanes and buses.
But see, economically, it behooves the entire country to eat a lot. Because larger portions mean higher prices. Proper nutrition education is lacking, but so too are accessible and affordable healthy alternatives (which a dark corner of my mind wonders if these aren't deliberately so). Mostly though, people are in a hurry or are bored, and so they don't pay attention to what they eat. So maybe they didn't notice the portions growing bigger.
Bigger burgers and fries mean the ranchers and farmers can sell bigger herds and crops (going all the way to the far end of this particular chain). It's all a matter of keeping the highs high in terms of revenue streams. You don't want it to decrease or stay level; it needs to go up.
On the flip side of this is the popular artistic culture which promotes the hell out of beautiful, lithe young men and women who apparently lead lives of charm and grace (except when they don't), staying on the bleeding edge of fashion, gadgets, cars and sex partners. They show us the world we want, that we would give our collective and/or metaphorical left nuts to have.
Except of course, we're fat. We're also in debt. And aging, sometimes poorly. And we don't all have faces like those we see on screens all around us, and we don't all have personalities that inspire the interest and adulation of millions. (True, it's doubtful those pretty young things all do either. Just saying.) And most importantly, we don't have a team of writers to ensure that no matter what happens, we'll all be okay in the end, just before the credits roll.
But hey, we can forget about that for a bit with the help of a beer or six, or some chocolate ice cream. It's easier to do this, the perceived gain so much more immediate, than taking the real-world path to that heavenly life.
Because in the real world, true success doesn't come easy. The deck IS stacked against us, we the people, the washed or unwashed rabble. In the quest of the almighty dollar (and I'm being charitable as to objectives), economic structures were put in place decades ago that make debt and destitution inevitable to the unwary.
By the time we're old enough and hopefully wise enough to see it, we're already in the hole. And we're now too weak and tired to haul ourselves out.
I paint a grim picture, I know. But see, it's not that it HAS to be that way, merely that unless you're willing to work at it, from the cradle, yes, to the grave - it's the likeliest scenario. It's not enough to have talent, not enough to be a special snowflake.
But I digress.
Back to the whole business of being fat, and being discriminated against thereby. Well, I gotta say it: Fat people ain't pretty. And it's the nature of the human beast, that oddly enough, we don't want to be near things that aren't pretty.
Now, I'm not taking SIDES on this, or saying it's just or fair. But it's how it is. I mean shit, look at me. I know I'm an FLK. Were I fit, I'd probably be all right, but I'm not. So yes, it probably IS too much to ask that I have the prettiest girls, the ones who attract by the very rawness of their physical appeal. Because on bodies alone, my lack of physical aestheticism repels stronger than they attract me.
Now of course we all know that what really matters ain't looks. That's really not the point here. Because it's a lot harder to get the hotness inside if you can't bring yourself to get close enough to see.
Naturally, people who are themselves tubby, provided they have a realistic self-image, aren't gonna care so much. But to people who did take it upon themselves to work at being fit, who strove after those ideals and put in the effort - the tubbies harsh the buzz. It's like they're letting the team down, man. Here's me, they say, working hard in the gym, trying to stay young and hot so I'm at least not uglier than my environment, and I take that to the job too so I can afford the nice clothes and the baubles for my crack-model wannabe girlfriend, and so I can afford to get my teeth lasered and that, sir, is how I keep the economy going and isn't that so much better than being a fat slob and sweating on me?
Thing I've noticed though? With exception of those blessed with perfect metabolisms, the fit ones don't seem to think that great. Because all that running around and counting reps doesn't often leave much room for the higher order thinking that makes society worth living in.
Oh, nor do the bulbous ruminants, to be sure. Because they're hungry and usually thinking about dinner, or how horrible that man was to me when I was just walking past and the tremors I caused dumped his coffee in his lap.
And now you all know why I'm actually generally okay with being in the middle. See how I turned it around on myself? I'm a total attention whore sometimes.
No but seriously: No one's perfect. Not perfectly good nor perfectly bad, either. And no "way" is perfect for everyone, or in every facet. And every conflict I see, every Big Fat Deal someone makes, it seems to me that they always come out of forgetting the important detail that one day the problem will be you. So you'd at least better make sure today isn't that day.
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