I watched a video the other day of these bratty evil children demeaning their bus chaperone by calling her names, making fun of her because she is fat and making her cry. Someone posted it and was raising money to send the poor woman on a well deserved vacation. The public outcry was so great that they've now raised over $500,000 for her! People were commenting on the awfulness of what these kids did and how bullying of any kind is wrong. And it is. The kids in the video are now getting threats - which while I admit they were horrendous examples of human beings - is also wrong. Again, the media is all over how awful they made this pudgy grandmotherly woman feel.
Today I saw a blog list from a well known humorous blog. The list was about Men Who Should Never Be Seen Without A Shirt At Anytime. I clicked the link and was taken to a photo list of men who were obviously out enjoying themselves at the beach, at the pool or on a boat. All the men had one thing in common. They were fat.
So apparently the lesson here is that if you are kid and berate someone because they are fat society will scold you and take you to task because you hurt someones feelings and that is wrong.
BUT - if you are a sarcastic comedy blog site you can go ahead and make jokes about fat people and even post their photos if you want because, hey, that's comedy and everyone should lighten up, right?
My point is this - how are our children supposed to know how to treat people who are different in any way if we have a "do as I say" attitude but what we actually do is oppositional?
My other point is this - as a woman who has had weight issues for all of my life, and who has been on the receiving end of stares, laughter, and out right rude comments - unless I start the joke about my weight it isn't a joke at all. Get it? I can make fun of myself but you don't get to do it unless I initiate it. If you feel compelled to comment, do it to my face and make it clever because I will always appreciate a clever comment but if you simply say "you are fat!" well...try again...because guess what Mr. Obvious...we can all see that already.
My real point is this - shut the hell up! Why would anyone go out of their way to hurt someone purposely and make them cry as the kids did in the video? And why would anyone continue to read a blog or frequent a site that perpetuates the notion that people who are not "the norm" (try to define that...really) are open targets for derision, ridicule and jokes? Because it is the same thing. It's all bullying. And it's all wrong. We are all different. No one is exactly the same as the next person. We should be teaching our children to celebrate our differences and to stand up when they see someone else bullying another because they are "different".
As for me? I will no longer be reading that blog. I have that choice. I will not strive to stop the blog from existing or changing it's content because I don't believe in censorship. But I choose to leave it. And I hope that if you've read this and you see something on the Internet or on television you too will make a personal stand to stop allowing people to hurt one another.
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