blamebrampton

Alcohol burdens the health system needlessly on a regular basis -- I'd argue it does so to a far greater extent than obesity can hope to, at this point -- but we don't stigmatise drinkers in the same way we stigmatise overweight people -- not even speaking of smokers (of which I am still one unfortunately). If everyone who made (arguably) unhealthy lifestyle choices were considered equally objectionable by society, I probably wouldn't have a problem with the "you should make healthy lifestyle choices so as not to be a burden on the health system" line of reasoning. Not even mentioning that fat people are not uniformly unhealthy. Additionally, low self-esteem may not be an "actual" medical condition, but it can be as damaging to a person's quality of life in the long run as physical disability (not damaging in the same way, obviously, but damaging nonetheless). Further, not everyone is in a financial or psychological position to make positive lifestyle changes at the drop of a hat. This post I read last year, and others I sought out after reading it, challenged a lot of the thinking and assumptions I (with my perpetually "healthy" weight) held about fat people.