Fat Shaming might not be effective, but that doesn’t make it wrong.

Disclaimer: While talking about fat/obese people, I am in no way including those who have gained unwanted weight due to genuine medical reasons. Read again — GENUINE medical reasons.

Fat Shaming was recently in the news (again) when some restaurant owner’s son, who was also working as a server, decided to get cheeky and refer to a customer as “fatty” in the receipt.

The customer got offended and posted the document in question on FB. Enough outrage ensued for the restaurant owner having to apologise and then proceed to fire his son.

Absolutely agree that addressing customers like that is against the very basics of the hospitality sector.

However, the primary reason for outrage in this case was the fact that someone was called out for being fat.

I CALL BULLSHIT!

Did you know that the customer WAS very obviously overweight?

Do you know what he was consuming? Beer.

For the sake of all things reasonable, WHY are we as a society getting increasingly afraid of calling a spade just that (a spade)?

Why is fat shaming not wrong?

You are fat because you eat too much. You eat MUCH MORE than is required by your body.

You will probably say that one person’s body shape is no one else’s business.

But it is.

Your fat is a result of conscious consumption on your part. Consumption, in a world where there is rampant starvation. Consumption, in a world where production and processing of the food that you eat results in the destruction of the planet that you live on, through an increase in areas farmed (deforestation), increase in animals raised for consumption (greenhouse gases), increase in effluents from the food processing plants, increase in pollution from the transportation, increase in plastic and other non-biodegradable materials used in packaging, increase in the energy consumption due to storage requirements and then processing the food at your end for consumption.

ALL of that is compounded by increase in consumption of fossil fuels to haul your fat ass to the nearest fast food restaurant and back.

For all of the unnecessary destruction and inconvenience you are causing, others have every right to call you out, and call you out without hesitation.

This is especially relevant in nations where medical services are subsidised through the tax-payer money and the financial fallout of obesity is borne even by those who don’t revel in excesses like you.

Why should you not be shamed for the excesses that very evidently layer your body?

A layer that is of NO USE WHATSOEVER.

Yes, you might be a wonderful person in every other aspect possible.

But please remember, fat shaming is not putting all the awesome that you are down. It is shaming that one aspect in its singularity, where you have screwed up, and there is nothing wrong with that.

When a person shoplifts, it does not matter if that person farts rainbows and the very epitome of, say, kindness. The person is charged for shoplifting, and has to bear the consequences for it. No matter what.

The same goes for you.

So while I absolutely am against body image manipulation by media (through use of photo editing software, use of exogenous hormones that the fitness models don’t own up to, so on and so forth) for setting up unrealistic body ideals just to fulfill their commercial interests, I also am against the mollycoddling of an unhealthy lifestyle just because an increasing majority subscribe to it.

Fat shaming might not lead the obese to the gym, but it definitely doesn’t need to be campaigned against just because the truth isn’t to your liking.

Now go. It’s time for your run.