fatbodypolitics:

fatanarchy:

I would really like to encourage Jon Stewart and the writers on his show to rethink the statements that they commonly air about fat people. Fat people are the last socially acceptable humans to ridicule, dehumanize and erase simply because society has bought into the myth that being “overweight” is a choice. We all know people who can eat whatever they want and never gain weight;  there are people who can be on the most strict diet and still be fat.  It’s been scientifically proven that you are 25 times more likely to survive getting shot in the head than to stop being fat (http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/fat-officially-incurable-according-to-science/).

There are plenty of media outlets that continue to make the diet and beauty industry billions of dollars a year by perpetuating this myth and making fat-hate acceptable, but of all places, I wouldn’t expect it from the most respected team in news (ha!).

Recent comments have been made by Jon on air about Chick-Fil-A consumption and gaining weight/acquiring type 2 diabetes. This simply “attempts to oppose gay bashing by fat bashing. It also demonstrates some of the beliefs by which people justify their weight bigotry: being fat is a choice; being thin is a choice; anyone who chooses to be fat deserves to be reviled and punished; anyone who chooses to be thin deserves to be praised and privileged; only fat people eat fried food or fast food; eating the wrong foods causes people to be fat; only fat people are homophobes, racists; only fat people destroy the environment and only thin people care about the environment; only southerners are fat; weight prejudice is a good kind of prejudice and something to be proud of; finger pointing and yelling, “Fat!” is a good way to make a convincing argument on totally unrelated issues but especially issues of social justice or the environment.” (http://jezebel.com/5931275/i-know-youre-mad-at-chik+fil+a-but-stop-taking-it-out-on-fat-people)

Of all people, the people who work on TDS should be smart enough to know that bashing people because of what they consume (fat-shaming comments were also recently made in correlation to Mayor Bloomberg’s attempt to outlaw certain size sodas) is not only weak and derailing, but helps to promote the idea that hatred is okay, as long as it’s only toward fat people.

TLDR? Stop making fun of fat people on air, especially at the expense of trying to make points that are unrelated to fatness. Please, at least use your critical thinking skills and do some research.

Love,
Your devoted fan.

I would note that fat people are not the last acceptable group of people that are ridiculed. On a regular basis POC, the LGBT+ community, people with disabilities etc are ridiculed. We need to stop thinking that because fat bodies are not treated in the same regards to those groups that it means they do not face marginalization as well.

With the above included, I am all about this letter.