Sara J Russell, a favourite poet of mine wrote an article, The Culture of Spite, where she explored what she saw as a disturbing trend of abuse presented as humour. This excerpt on fat people is taken from it:

"...The ultimate disrespectful circus is the recent Celebrity Fit Club. It seems to have been filmed for maximum indignity and wobble-factor for the overweight contestants, who almost cripple themselves running around fields, starve themselves, exercise until they ache all over and simply get laughed at for their trouble, though at least they make money for charity at the end of it. Having been overweight myself at several stages in my life, I really feel for them.

I wonder what the reason for the new Spite Culture could be. Perhaps the abolition of dog-fighting and capital punishment has left a gap in some more savage, ancient sectors of our souls.

Perhaps we need to laugh at other people so as not to cry for ourselves. Whatever the reason, we always seem to be actively encouraged by the media to feel scorn for our fellow human beings, whenever they are humiliated on television. It's not cool or fashionable to say anything nice about anyone. No, that would be too gushy.

They say the devil has the best tunes. Maybe the critic has the best street cred. But remember, critics often pontificate about something they once failed at themselves."

http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?AuthorID=1775&id=8041

Being fortunate enough not to have to fight to stay lean I never really understood what it is like to walk in the shoes of a person who for whatever reason is overweight. However I think that Sara is onto something when she talks about the developing culture of spite which is also evident in Australia, along with a solid dose of envy and jealousy.

I don't know how these awful emotions have surfaced to become uppermost in Australian culture but they are there nonetheless. Governments playing one sector of society of against the other couldn't have helped.

I am always rushing and my editing often fails. Apologies. That last sentence should have been:

"Governments playing one sector of society off against the other couldn't have helped."

I agree with Lydia in her assertion that the TV program shows bullying of overweight people shamelessly.

The weight loss industry is big business. Many of the weight loss methods advertised set people up to fail, leading to them needing the programs/foods again, and needing to spend yet more money.

Merely saying that overweight people need to eat less is not helpful.
They already know this. And if it was that easy, there would be far less fat people in the world.

Human beings seem to want to criticize other human beings in order to make them feel better about themselves.

People also constantly criticize others for being anorexic,
smoking, taking drugs, mental disorders, birth defects,
different coloured skin, big nose, small breasts,
small penis, red hair, buck teeth, too loud, too shy,
body odours, too short, too tall, too nerdy, not sporty enough
wears glasses, wears too little clothing, wears too much clothing,
religious clothing, etc etc.

Is there anybody that hasn't been criticized for something personal about their bodies or appearance?
No? How did you feel? Bad?
Well then, shame on you if you criticize people for being overweight.

I am replying to the post by one Peter Hume, and I quote "Perhaps they should eat less?" There are many issues that can cause obesity, first and foremost in my mind is depression.

From an early age all humans learn that using the mouth for chewing and sucking is a pleasurable activity - hence the reason why babies like to suck on things (bottles, dummies, etc.). The action of chewing/sucking is linked to the brains pleasure centre, the baby find it is pleasurable to suckle and so it does while at the same time the action causes it to be fed. This fundamental connection between the action of chewing and the pleasure centres of the brain never fully disappears.

So how does this relate to depression, well having suffered from it myself I can say with authority that when you are depressed very few things can give you pleasure. One of the few that still works – thanks to the miracle of the mouth brain connection – is eating. So one eats when one is depressed, one eats which causes weight gain, poor self image, bullying, etc.; which in turn cause the depression to be worsened; which causes one to eat. And so the cycle goes on ad-infinitum. You will find that (as I have) that a great many people who are depressed are also obese, which then feeds back into their depression and so on. Bullying will ONLY EVER feed into depression and likewise into obesity in susceptible persons.

So Peter, yes perhaps they should eat less. But I can say as for myself after having lost over 35kgs put on by my own depression that if I didn’t have the escape of eating I wouldn’t be alive today! Boiling it down in my case to the simplest components it was either eating or suicide, eating got me through some of the roughest times. And before anyone says, yes it was quite literally like that – no joke, no exaggeration! So Peter, like everything else in life – it’s not that easy!!

Arthur,

Some people eat. some people drink, some people smoke. Some pick up a habit to help cope with a greater issue, some indulge in self-destructive behaviours because they dont have enough self-esteem not to, some because they dont know any better, and some because they bloody well just want to enjoy themselves (and dont get off on sweat)!!

Really, its human nature to pick on anyone a bit different Look in any school yard. Its been going on for-ever - hardly new just because its now on tv (although I am somewhat disturbed that this suggests a level of acceptability).

The biggest problem is that so many make the assumption of the inherent "goodness" or "smartness" of people based on their appearances. Its one thing for this to happen in the schoolyard, another thing for it to happen in larger life, particularly when we should mostly know better.

As for the biggest loser - the biggest losers are those that go on reality tv expecting to get something out of it for themselves. Humiliation on tv wasnt invented by this program, so any one lining up to go on it is lacking in the quality that I think most highly of - brains!

For once I agree with Cornflower, as well as Suzie and Arthur.

Here is an article that supports Arthur's comments and also explains some of the complex psychological factors that might result in obesity.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/120/1/e61

Other studies have shown that stringent dieting can result in a paradoxical weight gain (the body stores instead of burning because it thinks it's in a starvation situation); lack of sleep or poor sleep can result in weight gain or prevent weight loss; sudden cessation of exercise (often through age or disability) - especially in people who have been very athletic, can result in substantial, hard to shift weight gain; many medications assist weight gain; being dehydrated can tend to weight gain - people mistake thirst for hunger; various endocrine disorders and some genetic disorders result in a chubbed up body. I also think that our increasingly sedentary lifestyle, too much use of transport instead of walking and cycling; not enough getting out and staying in touch with the outdoors - makes it harder to manage weight gain.

Judgmental comments like, "They should eat less." are unkind and unhelpful. It's strange to me that people assess themselves (with some range of faults, like anyone else) as superior just because fatness is not one of their problems. Take Kirsty Alley - A beautiful woman no matter what her size but she has struggled with yo-yoing all of her life. Why should some skinny dope consider him or herself superior to someone like Kirsty? Do they think they will go to heaven with applause because they weigh less?