Posted by DRD #37 at 68.223.65.160 on January 29, 2004 at 13:27:05:
In Reply to: And how are you supposed to know? posted by Krickett on January 29, 2004 at 13:17:45:
....until I read "Let's leave it at that".
You're right in that it's impossible to tell by just a glance whether or not a person was born that way or became that way. That's why I reserve judgment until I know more. However, I have seen many obese men (and some women) working out in the gym - running on treadmills, doing curls, etc. And I hear a bunch of assholes in said gym make fun of them all the time for being overweight. I usually either don't say anything or I tell said assholes to shut the fuck up. However, I have also seen obese men (and, again, some women) sitting in buffet restaurants stuffing their faces with as much food as they can get their hands on. Some don't even bother to get up to get seconds, thirds, fourths, etc. - they get restaurant employees to go get it for 'em rather than make the effort to get up and go get their own food. There is an obvious distinction between those who are willing to try to be healthy and those who do nothing, expecting society to be fair to them just because they have a weight problem that they are fully capable of controlling.
Mocking the former and those who can't control their problem is something I'm firmly against. Mocking the latter, those who are overweight almost by choice, is perfectly okay in my book.