TV: "F*** Off, I'm Fat", BBC3 [warning - includes vitriolic tirade]

[Toad in the Hole]

Has anyone seen this abomination?  On BBC3 regularly at the moment.

Excessively fat comedian Ricky Grover gets other excessively fat people together to whinge about how not enough is being done to make things comfortable for excessively fat people.  Each example annoys me intensely.

The theme park example

Our mate Ricky and a few of his fat mates (including the fat head of some sort of theme park appreciation society) go round and demonstrate how difficult it is for them to get on rides.  They can't get on several of the rides – and some they can only get on a few fatties at a time.  From a trading standards point of view, as they're still paying full whack, I have some sympathy.  There should be better guidelines for them.

The car example

Our mate Ricky takes 28 stone Vicky, who likes driving, round a few car dealerships.  She can't get into half of the cars she tries, and can't get comfortably in to most of the others.  Ricky goes and visits some bloke who designs stuff, and tries to tell him that in 5 years time 70 % of the population will be overweight or obese.  Bloke fits out a Jag: with tiny steering wheel, removing half of the door paneling, pushing the seat back to make a huge Jag a 2 seater, as Ricky complains that "if only people made a few alterations, they'd sell loads more cars".

There was also a horrible one where a load of beauty therapists were lectured by a similarly 20 stone plus woman about finding inner beauty.

My problems with this:

1.  It's stupid to say that there should be more facilities for extreme fatties.  They are still a very small minority group in society.  I'm sure most of us feel we could lose a few pounds, but very few people are the 20 / 25 / 30 stone plus examples Ricky uses to make his crude point.

2.  This programme is really irresponsible.  Surely programming on the BBC should be focusing on trying to promote exercise and averting this – unqualified or explained potential future – statistic of 70% overweight in 5 years.  We need to focus on eradicating or minimizing the problem, rather than creating solutions for it.

Has anyone else seen this abomination?  Was anyone else as riled by it as me?

[Oscar]

I didn't see the program, but you've got to question the logic of asking for the attention and sympathy of others by telling them to "Fuck off!", the obvious answer to that is "No, you fuck off, I'm not interested."

[Artemis]

This programme also seeks to validate a condition which they should be actively trying to avoid, not celebrating. Being fat is, forgive me for being inpolitically correct, not actually an admirable quality. I'm not saying fat people are always to blame for their weight, but what's wrong with asking them to work towards a healthy BMI instead of going way out of the way to accomodate obesity?

[Toad in the Hole]

I wouldn't have a problem with it if these people were suffering from PCOS or something like that which is acknowledged to cause serious weight gain.  But even then once you get the meds right there's no real excuse there.  I know a girl who went from huge to quite petite once she got PCOS meds sorted out and went to the gym etc.

But these people are just FAT, and they want sympathy.  It annoys me.

[Circusfire]

Has anyone else seen this abomination?  Was anyone else as riled by it as me?

I was slightly riled by it. I think if I had to sit on one of those massive loo seats I'd probably get piss all over it. They really are way too big for healthy sized folk.

One thing that really pisses me off is fat women referring to themselves as "real women". Like I have no ovaries just because my stomach is toned.

[Sovereign]

I didn't see it, but as a card-carrying fatty I can sympathise with those examples. Like or not a substantial minority of the UK are overweight and those people shouldn't be treated like lepers. Besides, isn't obesity considered a disablity of kinds? No-one would dare argue with the idea that people in wheelchairs should be able to enjoy a full life, so why does it piss people off that lard-arses would like similar treatment?

It was probably a terrible piece of television, but it does annoy me that if your body is not distinctly average that your going to be put at a terrible disadvantage in your everyday life. The idea that fat people are just weak-willed or greedy and therefore deserve to be treated with disrespect is a very real and nasty form of discrimination. I can't be arsed looking up the statistics but I seem to remember seeing a study where equally qualified applicants, one fat and one thin, applied for jobs and the fatties were much more likely to be turned away than the thin ones. There have even been tentative calls for fatties to have to pay a tax for the extra health care they are on average likely to recieve, a call that had it been made for other groups that recieve more healthcare than average, like the disabled and the elderly, would be condemned.

For the record I am a robust 18 and-a-half stone and about 6ft4. My fatness has never needed medical attention, and I have cost the taxpayer nothing apart from a two week stint in Halifax Hospital when I had glandular fever aged 15. People who are seriously obese, 25stone plus, should recieve treatment not patronising and discrimination.



PS sorry about the size, if anyone's willing to show me how to re-size photobucket images then I will.

[Artemis]

People who are seriously obese, 25stone plus, should recieve treatment not patronising and discrimination.

They invite criticism when they go on TV telling me to fuck off because they're out of shape. They don't want treatment, they want a pat on the back and two seats for the price of one. They can fuck off. Right off, if you ask me.

[Mr Colossal]

Just caught the repeat of this....

There are people in wheelchairs with genuine disabilities that will NEVER be cured with something so simple as a little motivation.


Whatever next?

[The Region Legion]

Yeah, I saw this a few weeks ago.

It's not that I don't have sympathy for them but Ricky's wideboy, common-man way doesn't do him any favours. Perhaps when he was talking to that manager at the theme park, if he'd just calmly put his point across he might have got a lot further. All they needed to say - ONCE - was "sure, being fat isn't a desirable quality and all of us should lose a stone or two to make our own lives easier, but while we're doing that we should also have the options everyone else has".  That's all, and I could have taken everything else with a grain of salt.

Unfortunately, this documentary comes from the point of view that obesity is OK, and it isn't. However, western culture does encourage weight gain. Social occasions are almost always accompanied by excessive quantities of alcohol or food, our lives are often far too busy to go to expensive health clubs/gyms or really think about what we eat - and then when some of us do get obese, lots of things no longer accomodate us, and that is unfair.

Although at the same time, do they really want a fatties section on theme park rides etc? Won't they then just come along and say they feel segregated?

[High Roller]

Besides, isn't obesity considered a disablity of kinds?

If just any person who can't be bothered to eat properly or take exercise can be considered disabled then it's a disgrace. This sort of attitude give fat people a bad name. It reminds me of parents that cannot be bothered to raise their kids properly just claim they have autism and therefore destroy the belief that autism is a genuine illness/disorder.

Some people are obese due to medical reasons and cannot help it. That could be considered as a disability. Fatness through being lazy and eating the wrong food should be abhorred.

No-one would dare argue with the idea that people in wheelchairs should be able to enjoy a full life, so why does it piss people off that lard-arses would like similar treatment?

I don't think people in wheelchairs are lazy. They can't do anything about their condition.

The idea that fat people are just weak-willed or greedy and therefore deserve to be treated with disrespect is a very real and nasty form of discrimination.

When I'm stuck on a train or plane next to someone that's obese I find it disgusting that I have to have their rolls of fat bursting over the seat onto my space. Then they insist on raising the are of the chair to crowbar themselves into half of your seat and you're stuck with a blubber blanket sweating away on you.

I think it should be like luggage and you have a reasonable weight allowance and you charge for anything over this!

I can't be arsed looking up the statistics but I seem to remember seeing a study where equally qualified applicants, one fat and one thin, applied for jobs and the fatties were much more likely to be turned away than the thin ones.

There was some test with really young kids in schools and who they would sit next to and it was always the fat kids people avoided. I can't remember if it was Panorama or something similar.

There have even been tentative calls for fatties to have to pay a tax for the extra health care they are on average likely to recieve, a call that had it been made for other groups that recieve more healthcare than average, like the disabled and the elderly, would be condemned.

Once again the disabled and elderly cannot do much about their condition. Smokers pay a massive amount of tax on a packet of cigarettes (unless you import!) and therefore are paying a tax on healthcare. If a tax were put on fatty foods such as McDs, BK's and junk food etc then that would help and be a fair tax. You don't have to buy it but if you do you are paying for the consequences

My fatness has never needed medical attention, and I have cost the taxpayer nothing apart from a two week stint in Halifax Hospital when I had glandular fever aged 15.

Like smoking it's in later life you have problems.

People who are seriously obese, 25stone plus, should recieve treatment not patronising and discrimination.

What treatment? Like smoking it's down to each individual person.

PS sorry about the size

Irony?! ;-)[/quote]

[Circusfire]

I can't be arsed looking up the statistics but I seem to remember seeing a study where equally qualified applicants, one fat and one thin, applied for jobs and the fatties were much more likely to be turned away than the thin ones.

Aside from the odd obese comedian shouting at us to fuck off, most fat people seem to have their confidence affected by their body shape, certainly most fat people I know are very concious of it. That may be why they are turned away quicker than people of a healthy weight. It isn't that employers are worried fatties will eat the walls, it is more that the chubby folk do shit at interviews.

[23 Daves]

There is that general belief that fat people are lazy or unmotivated though, isn't there?  If potential employers carry that idea around with them, it might also explain why they have a lower success rate.

Not sure about all this "things should be made bigger for us!" stuff, though, since I'd argue that providing better facilities for disabled people should be a more immediate priority before we turn our attention to that (I have disabled friends and there are still plenty of holes in the system).

[aaaaaaaaaargh!]

PS sorry about the size, if anyone's willing to show me how to re-size ......then I will.

Snigger

[Labian Quest]

I don't think I've ever given anyone shit for being overweight and nor would I, but I don't really agree with what I'm hearing about this programme (didn't see it though) it sounds like they're trying to shift the blame onto the rest of the world for the problems their self-inflicted condition is giving them; It's just a way of avoiding taking responsibility for the problem and therefore exercising a bit  of willpower and doing something about it. Here's another example of how being overweight affects *other* people:

"Compared with normal-weight women, those who were obese or overweight before pregnancy faced double the risk of having babies with heart defects and double the risk of multiple birth defects"

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/04/08/health/main548286.shtml

[jutl]

Our mate Ricky takes 28 stone Vicky, who likes driving, round a few car dealerships.  She can't get into half of the cars she tries

It's a genuine problem and it extends beyond the overweight. For example, the only reason I don't drive a Porsche 911 is that the small chassis wont accommodate both me and my enormous cock.

[fanny splendid]

my enormous cock.

You don't need a porsche, then!

[butnut]

How did Purple Tentacle guess Jutl's password?

[Purple Tentacle]

I let him borrow my cock for a bit.

[Mr. Analytical]

It's interesting as it's quite an American thing to complain about things not fitting.  A lot of size-acceptance websites obsess about the length of different cars' seat belts and so on.

I don't think I'm disabled and I don't think I need special treatment.  It's easy enough to come to terms with the fact that you're not going to fit into certain clothes and certain pieces of furniture aren't going to be comfy... that's no problem and I certainly wouldn't go around demanding that people design things for me.

However, I do think that size discrimination is a real problem in the following way : Being fat is the only health condition where people not only feel they are entitled to "offer advice" but generally do so in ways which are simply rude.

If someone's a smack head or a drunk they don't get teased and shouted at in the street.  If someone smokes themselves into an oxygen tent nobody then feels justified in going "You wheezy cunt! sort your life out!", and that's without mentionning the treatment people get growing even at the hands of their own family which can cause real long-term psychological damage and even drift across into outright child abuse.

As I see it, people hate fat people and think it's okay to taunt them and to mistreat them.  When challenged, like all bigots they find a way to justify themselves "Oh it's unhealthy" or "But he could so easily lose the weight!" but if it really were about health then they wouldn't behave in such a manner.

The truth of the matter is that if you treat someone differently or are unkind to a person because of their size then you are a bigot... you're not "concerned" or "trying to help" you're a bigot and the only thing I require of the skinny majority is that they realise this tendency witrhin themselves and act in order to stamp it out.

Not least because studies have shown that "tough love" or whatever you want to call it tends to do nothing more than make fat people want to eat because they feel ashamed and vulnerable and turn to something that makes them feel better... namely eating.

[Drumlake Old Boys Club]

Some people are obese due to medical reasons and cannot help it. That could be considered as a disability. Fatness through being lazy and eating the wrong food should be abhorred.

Wow, this is quite a hot button issue for you, isn't it? Let me tell you about another side.

Part of my job is caring for someone who is overweight, and one of the things that I have to do in the hope of eventually making her better is shield her from the attitude that she is fat because she is lazy. She sees this attitude everywhere. It has made her agarophobic, depressed and paranoid. Helping her is very hard when so much of society is against her.

Worse still, society is wrong. She is overweight because of a series of medical problems, which unfortunately have also led to poor lifestyle choices. These things go hand in hand - if you are depressed and putting on weight, it's much harder to exercise and eat healthily.

I don't think people in wheelchairs are lazy. They can't do anything about their condition.

Because there is a possibility that she might be able to do something about her condition, all discrimination against her is justified? No matter how slight that possibility might be?

Our society has disposed of most forms of discrimination during the last 50 or so years, but hatred of overweight people remains. It is frankly shocking to see intelligent people take the attitude that "it's their fault, so fuck them". Being overweight is not a matter of choice (who would choose it?). And even if it were, there is no way to distinguish between people who have chosen to be fat and people who are fat because they are ill, because the two are linked. So there is no way to distinguish between the "deserving fat" and the malcontents (to reuse some Victorian-era terminology).

The "it's their fault" attitude can also be applied to other social groups, by the way. Like people living in poverty - "why don't they get a better job", or the homeless - "why don't they join the army", or immigrants - "why don't they stay at home? coming over here, taking our jobs...". You don't often hear those views anymore. Why is that?

[Circusfire]

However, I do think that size discrimination is a real problem in the following way : Being fat is the only health condition where people not only feel they are entitled to "offer advice" but generally do so in ways which are simply rude.

Being fat is a very visible condition. My knee is totally fucked but I don't get advice on it from strangers on the street. Maybe if I wore a t-shirt stating that my knee is fucked people may offer me advice on the street. And if they did I'd tell them to keep their fucking nose out of my medical problems.

If someone smokes themselves into an oxygen tent nobody then feels justified in going "You wheezy cunt! sort your life out!"

Yes they fucking do! I had a chest infection a while ago and the verbal abuse my Dad gave me for my self inflicted illness was simply charming.

and that's without mentionning the treatment people get growing even at the hands of their own family which can cause real long-term psychological damage and even drift across into outright child abuse.

Well one could argue that feeding kids shite which makes them obese is also child abuse. And for christs sake, nasty treatment at the hands of families isn't just limited to fat people.

As I see it, people hate fat people and think it's okay to taunt them and to mistreat them.

Not true. I think part of the problem is that fat people invite abuse on the street by having underconfident body language.

[Deadman97]

Well one could argue that feeding kids shite which makes them obese is also child abuse.

Once certainly could. I have a nine-year old niece who weighs more than I do. Her dad (my brother), for reasons known only to himself has taken her to McD's a few times a week since she was just out of nappies. She's been locked into a pretty rigid "food=reward=happiness" cycle for her entire life; it's horrendous, but I remember vividly one of her first words being "Macdollands!", said with a big grin of innocent joy. Now, she's almost ten, almost in secondary school and is already coming under intense bullying in her junior school. Her doctor has diagnosed kidney trouble and hip erosion issues already (I'm not exaggerating, she's nine and weighs more than i do). When she gets to secondary school, she's going to come under severe attack from other pupils. Her quality of life is already poorer than a "normal" nine-year old, but is this her fault, or has my brother's shabby parenting already condemned her to a life of poor health and marginalisation?

[MonkeyDrummer]

The theme park example

Our mate Ricky and a few of his fat mates (including the fat head of some sort of theme park appreciation society) go round and demonstrate how difficult it is for them to get on rides. They can't get on several of the rides – and some they can only get on a few fatties at a time. From a trading standards point of view, as they're still paying full whack, I have some sympathy. There should be better guidelines for them

Oh come on. There's loads of people who can't fit on every ride at a theme park, it's for safety!!! I've paid full price for my neices Beaver Creek wristband and she can't go on every single ride! Did I get a discount? Did I harang the operators to redesign the rides to accomodate a dare-devil 4 year old? No. What about unusually short people? What about them? Should we start designing rides so that everyone one from the largest to the smallest can fit? Imagine a ride developed for overweight people it would be shite AND you'd have to refuse entry for normal sized people who'd just slip out of their seats.

[Purple Tentacle]

I saw a bit of this, and switched off in disgust fairly promptly.

As a newly formed fatty myself (I've finally reached that golden 25.5BMI score I've been hankering for), I've no problem with people gorging themselves if they want, it's really twatty to judge other people's personal habits, just because they like shoving cream cakes sideways into their mouths.

However, isn't it obvious that if you are in a certain condition, certain things will be beyond your ability?

I'm a (sort of) vegetarian, so is this programme the equivalent of me going to a Vic & Bob style Meat Festival and asking where the vegetarian option is?


"Excuse me, do you have facilities for dolphins?"

[variant]

Why fat people should be allowed (forced?) to go on theme park rides:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3URHL-2Gvg

sorry its not in the youtube thread but I thought it was more relevant here.

[Timmay]

That fatty is nearly slipping out of the seat belt though. Similar thing happened to me on the corkscrew at Alton Towers about 15 years ago - I could swear was slipping out from under the bars, and if I hadn't held myself in I'd have been a gonner.

I thought this programme was ridiculous too, for the same reasons most do here - if I'm excessively tall (or fat, as they are) I'm not going to go and try to get in a Ford Ka, as they did. It's a small car, that's the point. I'm surprised they didn't complain that they can't get in size 8 clothes, and campaign to get the size 8 standard made bigger.

Some people are 6'9" tall, some are 4'2" short - you're fat, deal with it or get down the gym.

[Frinky]

I've paid full price for my neices Beaver Creek

I really don't have a quip for this.

[jutl]

Why fat people should be allowed (forced?) to go on theme park rides:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3URHL-2Gvg

sorry its not in the youtube thread but I thought it was more relevant here.

Poor little fucker - that's horrible.

[Oscar]

Once certainly could. I have a nine-year old niece who weighs more than I do. Her dad (my brother), for reasons known only to himself has taken her to McD's a few times a week since she was just out of nappies. She's been locked into a pretty rigid "food=reward=happiness" cycle for her entire life; it's horrendous, but I remember vividly one of her first words being "Macdollands!", said with a big grin of innocent joy. Now, she's almost ten, almost in secondary school and is already coming under intense bullying in her junior school. Her doctor has diagnosed kidney trouble and hip erosion issues already (I'm not exaggerating, she's nine and weighs more than i do). When she gets to secondary school, she's going to come under severe attack from other pupils. Her quality of life is already poorer than a "normal" nine-year old, but is this her fault, or has my brother's shabby parenting already condemned her to a life of poor health and marginalisation?

Your brother is a total shit. Any other form of physical abuse that resulted in a child having kidney trouble would end with her being taken from him.
I can understand that he might make a mistake to start with - working out the limits for kids is a trial and error thing - but how, how? can he justify continuing with this behaviour when he sees his child's body and mind wrecked by his behaviour?

[Steve Lampkins]

Why fat people should be allowed (forced?) to go on theme park rides:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3URHL-2Gvg

sorry its not in the youtube thread but I thought it was more relevant here.

Poor little fucker - that's horrible.

That's happened to me too. I'm not fat though, just the bar kept coming up. Was not funny at all.