Getting angry . . . for the wrong reasons

thank you abcnews.go.com

The RNC came and went in a flash of lightning, didn't it?  I've just spent the last twelve hours or so procrastinating instead of unpacking and catching up.  First, there was that hurricane, then Ann Romney and Chris Christie talked about how much the GOP totally loves women, then Clint Eastwood totally upstaged Mitt Romney (which was probably the point, now that I think about it).

Of course, the national conventions do nothing if to further polarize Democrats and Republicans.  The POINT is that they are unabashedly partisan and utterly lacking in a substantive political conversation.

And of course, there has been quite an uproar from my news feed, which I imagine as a single, many-headed entity that breathes fire at even the most innocuously-stated right-wing politics.  Unfortunately, social media is not structured to generate brilliant political dialogues.  There's only so much you can say in 140 characters, and with as many people reading it as possible, it had better be snappy and/or funny. And by now, I expect most people are browsing with the awesome/evil Google Chrome, trying to show me as many things that I like as possible.

Look, I can't point my finger at the naysayers, as I have definitely been guilty of taking cheap shots.  Sometimes, it's so satisfying.  And it's easy.

But it's important not to channel that anger into your pithy, brilliant tweet with the widest possible appeal.

Guys, STOP being angry at Chris Christie for being fat.  We ALREADY KNOW that he is fat.

credit jerseynut.blogspot.com

I should note that as far as today's GOP goes, Christie is a moderate.  He supports civil unions and believes that non-violent drug users should be sent to therapy rather than jail.  He has created some incentives to support local manufacturing  of sustainable energy.

Instead, maybe you'll be angry for his propaganda-style portrait of the current administration's policies at his RNC speech.  For at his relentless attacks on unions.  Or joining the rhetoric on "American exceptionalism" and for spewing misleading information about New Jersey's budget.

Exercise your democratic rights and educate yourself.  You're going to vote for Barack Obama, but what don't you like about him?  Where doesn't he go far enough?

It's hard.  Not every one can know everything about everything.  And you don't have to.

But if you scoff at the RNC because Clint Eastwood performed a shtick with a chair and Chris Christie is fat, and therefore scary/ lazy/ a bad example/ any other uninformed conclusion, you clearly know nothing.

Putting "ghetto" to bed

Dear Readers,

I see it pop up on my news feed nearly every day.  I hear it peppering conversations.  It's about as inventive/descriptive as "random" or "lame", but friends, we should know better than to abuse

credit zazzle.com

When did "ghetto" evolve from a noun into a slang adjective?

THIS is a ghetto.

credit ushmm.org

This too.

thank you cjs.ucsc.edu

We all know what a ghetto is; a poverty-stricken urban area.  How would you put it, Wikipedia?

A ghetto is a part of a city predominantly occupied by a particular ethnic group that may be looked down upon for various reasons, especially because of social or economic issues, or because they have been forced to live there.

These are the things I have heard referred to as "ghetto": lesser versions of other things ("this is the 'ghetto' version"), and styles associated with Black people.  The adjective "ghetto" has become an ambiguous, catch-all adjective of our generation that we have loaded with negative connotations; especially problematic because it has become synonymous with Black culture.  

It's especially creepy that the historical context for the word describes a group that has been forced to live there.  Guys, this is messed up.  We can be more precise with our language and less racist in the process.  

But I'm not done yet.  You're probably wondering what this all has to do with a size acceptance blog.

First of all, size acceptance, as I have said before, is a feminist issue, which is a movement concerned with all things progressive, committed to addressing inequalities beyond gender and sexism: classism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, immigrant issues ... the list goes on.  And of course, feminism has a personal stake in these movements because patriarchy plays a huge role in creating these inequalities in the first place.  As feminists, we can and should leverage both our privilege and empathy towards minority groups to effect change.

And secondly, fat is both more commonplace and tolerated in the Black community.  And there is no group more patronized/exploited for comedic reasons than fat women of color.  The stereotype of the ghetto, fat black woman is always pure comedic gold.

I have heard the word "ghetto" used to describe fat Black men and women, since "fat" is seen as a bad word, and most people would go to any lengths to avoid using it as a description, but they still find it important to convey that they are indeed talking about a fat person.  So, following this line of reasoning, "ghetto" is for some reason a kinder word to use than "fat".  

This is irresponsible and judgmental.  I think it's high time we put the adjective "ghetto" to rest, don't you?

Fat elevator speech

It’s been awhile since my last post.  I had to perform the essential unpaid tasks of finding a job and a new roof over my head.  I wouldn’t say that they are thankless tasks, since now I can pay to not sleep in a box on the street, but I have particularly found the job search to be very demoralizing.  Well, I had to do it sometime, and I am probably the stronger for it.  At least I know that I can write one heck of a cover letter. Last year, I had a job in the non-profit sector.  It’s exhausting to explain, over and over again, what your organization does and why it’s important.  Eventually I perfected my “elevator speech” – a concise description of my organization in the amount of time it takes to tell to politely curious strangers during an elevator ride.

It’s been really nice to get positive feedback on my blog, especially from unlikely people, who I would not have thought would be interested in fat awareness/fat acceptance.  Even if fat issues don’t resonate with them, they respect that the issues resonate with me, so they are more open to consider my views.  Which makes me feel good about my advocacy. 

But I haven’t been able to consolidate a concise, personal description of why this topic is important to me.  That is, until a friend recently e-mailed me, asking, why the blog?

My response:

I've always thought it was messed up how mean every one is to fat people, even including friends who are so conscientiously inclusive and accepting.  I have come to learn that it all stems from self-hatred, which in turn stems from our massively fat-hating culture; once you tune into it it's everywhere.  And body shaming doesn’t just happen with fat; I hear people talk disparagingly about girls who are "too skinny" too.  In both cases, people make these comments because they're “worried about their health”, but shameful discourse does not foster an environment for a constructive conversation about health and size, especially since hurtful comments are often targeted at people behind their backs.  “Worried about their health” is not inclusive of every one's personal story, which is what I believe progressive thinking is all about.  People can be healthy at any size, and if they're not healthy it's really none of your business.

You can imagine the most common response I get: but how can you ignore the correlation between obesity and bad health?  I will reiterate: I am no health expert, but my blog doesn’t focus on causes of obesity. For the record, I am interested in having a smart, constructive conversation on health, but one that includes every one.