Media Thinploitation vs Social Obesity Promotion

Should people be paranoid about their weight?

Should people accept who they are and be happy with their condition?

No doubt, people should feel good about themselves. But then, people shouldn't feel good about themselves at times, either.

If I fail my final exam to graduate, SHOULD I feel good about myself? If my marriage fails because I had an affair, SHOULD I feel good about myself? If I weighed 90 pounds all my life, and I start eating and not exercising and one day I wake up and realize, "Hey, I'm 230 pounds"; SHOULD I feel good about myself?

Should I just say, "Well I'm a good person and I'm fat, so I'm OK!" If I have always been 250 pounds and I'm short, SHOULD I feel good about myself? Just accept the condition? IS that healthy? Physically, of course not. Mentally? Emotionally? Even if it could be considered healthy, and only if it makes you want to commit suicide could it be considered healthy, it is still somewhat delusional. When you accept your shortcomings, don't you set an example for others?

Doesn't being overweight cost everyone something? Flying on an airline is a prime exemplification of this. If you are not to pay for an extra seat, then everyone would need to chip in on your bulk. If you are healthy, in shape, and have perhaps too much muscle, well, OK, I suppose I can let that one go. But hey, you too are costing us (probably) Mr. Musclebound. Do YOU really need all that extra muscle? Or is it just there to stroke a questionably healthy ego? Getting back to the point, if you are just lugging around useless amounts of fat, well, I'm not so willing to chip in on your hobby. You are costing us, in food, fuel, healthcare.

Or should I think about what happened to my self discipline. My motivation. My self respect? And do something about it? Is aesthetics something to consider?

Is it good to just accept me for "who am am" now? Or, should I buckle under and get to work? Get busy, change my life, if that's what is making me fat. Or stupid. Emotions, as my son likes to say, can make one stupid. If I have test anxiety, I can fail a test. Stupid, because I knew the answers, I just allowed my emotions to mask them from me so I don't have to deal with the possibility of failure. Emotions, get in the way of rationality.

Is it good for people to be paranoid about their weight? I would argue, that a little of anything is OK, or maybe even healthy; but too much, is just destructive. So being a little paranoid about your weight is productive. But being too paranoid, just as in being too accepting, is counterproductive.

There is definitely a bias in media and advertising about being thin, perfectly muscled and beautiful. But all it should be is just a goal to shoot for. Something to attain, a direction, nothing more. Don't expect to be that, who has the time for that? These are models, people paid to be perfect, so of course they have the time to do all that.

After all, it is fun to watch, and frankly its fun to be, or to be around. But just because you aren't like that, doesn't mean you should go the opposite direction either. "If I can't be beautiful, I'll just shoot for being lazy, unattractive and overindulging?" Thereby shooting for a lack of effort and just doing whatever feels good?

No. I don't think so. If for no other reason than to put a little effort in a positive way into being better, simply makes you feel good. We need to choose our self-indulgences. So choose one that makes you healthier.

As a culture, we really need to stop being such babies. Cease the self pity parties in the head and start with the boundary settings and the "effort parties" on body and mind. Work, or if that scares you, play, but play hard, and play healthy. And eat food. Real food. Right combinations, right proportions.

Got it? Do it! Be IT! But have fun with it.

Even if you can't ever be that perfect person, you can certainly try and you can certainly BE, more than you can be. And without, joining the Army. Its worth the effort and after all, you DO deserve it. Everyone deserves being healthy, and attractive. Because being healthy IS attractive.

Don't get me wrong. I don't mean, be perfect: perfectly toned, perfectly beautiful.

But, there's no reason we can't try to beautify the world by being healthy and happy. It actually takes effort to be fat and ugly. Its just that its easy to not notice it because we are punching our pleasure centers to do so. So put some effort into not going in that direction. I'd rather be around a bunch of healthy, happy and not really beautiful, not fully well toned people, than a bunch of perfectly toned, gorgeous but unhealthy, unhappy people. Both types of people should just try to come a bit more to the center. If its your job, well, then you chose that profession and you should do your best at it; still, don't become psychotic over it.

Don't stress about it, just think about it. ACTUALLY, think about it. Put some effort into it and try. The biggest issue with not looking good is related to weak motivation, or a lack of motivation; basically, a its a lack of self discipline. Something I see running rampant now a days. Much of that comes from two things. Being unhappy with your life and not being busy enough; that is at least, not in the right ways. Yes, there is the push button mentality, but I think there is more to it than just that.

The problem with being unhappy is that most people aren't willing to make the changes they need to redirect the course of their life. They feel trapped, they don't want to change, they fear change, they have a million reasons why they can't change. Because it seems like to change for the better is just too hard, that we aren't good enough to be able to achieve it. So we might as well not try.

Regarding not having enough to do, many of us either have too much to do in order to survive our lives, or we THINK we have too much to do. The first is insidious, the second is simply delusional. Neither sadly, is unusual.

Either of those issues requires rethinking our position in life. Step back. Examine it with a critical eye. Ask people. Get opinions, and don't ignore them if their responses aren't fun to hear. Then, consider what you can do to invoke some change, the needed change. And consider that Change is good. Sometimes getting rid of that "blob" in your life, whatever that may be, is a good thing. You can almost feel the relief, just thinking about it. That fresh Breath of Life appears to you, appeals to you, in just your considering the possibility of that blob no longer being there weighing you down.

That blob can be a spouse, a job, a lifestyle, what we do to relieve our misery in life, a relative, a friend, or even a child. Some of those, are not so hard to cut from your miserable life. Some are, like children. But, you brought them into this world, you need to deal with them. And hopefully you feel you want them. Sometimes, in actually dealing with them, in making their situation a prime priority, you find relief right there. Its a motivation, an orientation, a purpose. Is that what you are lacking? Purpose? Think.

Whatever in the world you decide it is, do something. If you are going to do something any way, as doing nothing IS doing something after all; then pick a path of positive acceptance. Not least resistance, and not one of simply accepting what is. When what is simply is not good, nor healthy, not pleasant, and not really, desired.

IF, you have your lot in life and you can never change it, then indeed, be happy anyway. Only then accept it. Make the best of it. But you know what? Of all the people in the world, those who fall under that umbrella, are maybe 1% of 1% of 1%. And guess what, you probably do not fall into that category.

So, stop being so accepting of the negative and start doing what needs to be done in the way of the positive. If you do need to do something, and you probably do, as typically we all do, the first step is to stop thinking about it, and start doing it.

Then you can start feeling sorry for those others who aren't doing any thing about it and know that people aren't feeling that way about you any longer.

And start feeling good for someone who did do something about it.

You.

[It was pointed out to me the word "stupid" can be misunderstood as it is used in context here. Look, if you're too stupid to understand the intent, I'm really not overly concerned. I'm not saying that fat people are stupid. I'm saying that everyone is highly intelligent about something; sometimes its just hard to find what that might be. I do personally suspect however that if one chooses to be fat, that is stupid. Or, lazy. Its really one in the same. Its quite normal not to choose be "less than", unless there is something wrong. Choosing otherwise, is abnormal. Speaking of which, try tightening those abs; it all comes easier after that.]