Hey fatty boom boom

http://fyspringfield.tumblr.com/post/10980919320 

My husband has informed me that I am too quick to judge the fatties. When the slimming advert with Marie Osmond came on and she starts whinging about how bad she felt when she looked in the mirror I, allegedly, without missing a beat, started singing "Hey, fatty boom boom" to myself. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Either way, I'd like to point out the the reason I notice the butter balls is that the stereotype that all Americans are fat is far from the truth (despite what all their tv would have you believe! Seriously - think of all the sitcoms from the past 50 years. Male lead = fatty. Female lead = totty. WTF is with that?)

Yes, there are fat people in America (the fattest people I have EVER SEEN were in Texas), but there are also lots of skinny people and everything in between. Some of this is genetics, some of it is cultural, some of it class, some of it is career/lifestyle choice and some of it education. The poorer areas tend to have more fat people because they eat a cheaper diet that tend to be poorer quality and full of fat, sugar and salt to make crap ingredients taste nice.

I'm assuming the stereotypical high-fat American diet stems from a time when people were living harder lives and burning more energy. I'm not suggesting that people were scoffing Big Macs 100 years ago, but they were probably eating deep fried chicken, grits, buttery mash, deep fried dough. It wasn't a problem when we were still living in small rural communities, chopping down trees for fire wood and milking cows, or in crap, developing cities where we woke up early to stoke the coal/wood fires, walked to work, worked our arses off and then walked home. Eating high-fat, high-carb food was necessary you give you energy (although I'm fairly sure they had other problems, like rickets). Now people drive to work in sedentary jobs, eat at their desks and drive home to a ready meal (I know we don't all do that, but plenty of people do. I'm generalizing. This is a "do as I say, not as I do" situation, yeah? Calm the fuck down, people). High fat, high carb diet, with more processed sugars and added flavorings, but with no intention of using the calories to move around a bit.

Part of the problem stems from the fat pride reaction to fat shaming. I am super chuffed for everyone who is happy with their body, irrespective of girth, but when social media highlights a stream of chubsters in banana hammocks and bikinis with empowering statements like "big and proud" then the world starts to think thats how everyone in the US looks/feels. And don't even get me started on the "only at Walmart" meme. Hilarious, but if you've never been to a Walmart then you start to believe that it represents the average American.

The biggest issue here is that there are proportionally as many stupid knob heads outside the US as there are within it, so the stereotype prevails, because its easier to believe it than not. So, next time you want to judge an entire nation on one mutable physical trait, don't, just don't. It makes you look like someone who's never left the village.

www.gifbay.com

I, however, have learned nothing, so am off to throw donuts at the lumbering butter balls in the park. Good day.