Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Discrimination comment....

Yesterday I had a comment regarding my post on the obese nurse who was obliged to stop working in OR. Here it is:

Anonymous said...
You should read this. And open your mind.

So, like the close minded person I am, I went to the website and checked it out.

I read the post this link brought me to. For the record, I know thin people who are unhealthy, who can't climb a flight of stairs without being completely out of breath. And I know large people who are active and healthy and can run up that same flight of stairs without batting an eye. I know thin doesn't equal healthy. That wasn't my point, Anonymous.

Then I looked at the rest of the site. Which, for the record is very interesting and well done.

The jokes regarding the Lane Bryant shooting* are absolutely sick. I'm honestly shocked that anyone would actually make jokes about something like that. Because it has nothing to do with the fact that these women were overweight and twisting it that way is completely sick.

The BMI index - well duh. Most athletes, it seems are at least overweight, not far from obese according to that thing. Why people lose sleep over their BMI is beyond me. People, check out the BMI Project which illustrates just how riduculous the BMI actually is - and this very interesting article.

Well, Anonymous (I hate it when people don't have the courage of their convictions enough to sign their comments, even with a pseudonym as most of us do on the internet), this close-minded blogger was quite happy to check out the link you gave me and the rest of the website. I learned stuff, I saw stuff I already knew. I know it's hard to be fat in a society as look obsessed as ours. I don't hate fat people, I don't have anything against them, hell, I'm far from "thin" myself. But I still believe that if you are physically incapable of doing a job, you shoudn't be doing the job. Period. God knows, I could never be a firefighter - there is no way I could handle the physical aspect of the job. I have the upper body strength of a kitten. I also know there are tiny women who are firefighters and can handle it. More power to them.

OK, that's it. I'm done.




* all links from http://kateharding.net/

17 comments:

Cycling Goddess said...

2nd attempt at leaving a comment...

Wow, it's always fascinating to see how society is obsessed with labels: fat, obese, thin, not so thin, average, healthy, unhealthy...

I totally agree with you re the anonymous poster. What does that tell you about their view on body image?

Interesting site but what saddens me though is that a lot of posters there are devoting such an amount of time and energy to be accepted by the rest of the world. If you truly accept yourself for who/what you are, then who cares about the rest? Why need the validation?

Rachel said...

As a deaf person, I totally agree with you regarding ability and jobs.

while its true that with accomadation, any limitation can be superceeded, the fact is that some necessary accomodations CANNOT be met. I can't ask employers to waive certain requirements just so that I can do the work I want to do: it doesn't work that way. the fact is that all jobs have their standards, and while many standards can be accomodated, there are many that cannot be.

people with disabilities and people with physical limitations or restrictions need to accept that.

Lori Stewart Weidert said...

Amusing when people merrily post their names on something cheerful, but hide behind anonymity when they're too scared to back up their own convictions.

I'm still with you: If you can't do the job, or if you hinder the ability of those around you to do theirs, then you need to move somewhere else...regardless of the reason...or the job. But a job where other people's lives are on the line (surgical nursing!)...when I'm on the operating table, I pretty much want everyone to do their job as efficiently as possible!

Ian Lidster said...

None of this changes my agreement about what you wrote. And, anonymity is the last refuge of the coward.

furiousBall said...

As someone with an abnormally large penis, I struggle every day with people judging me.

Rachel said...

btw, I want to thank Anonymous for leaving such a great, informative link.

I didnt find anything there for him or her to need to hide behind "anonymous". I just can't understand why people cannot fearlessly, repectfully, disagree! that link did and his/her disagreement with your stance, didn't warrant a "anonymous".

Jazz said...

HD - I guess they figure they have to force society to accept them because there is, indeed, a lot of fat discrimination. However, I'm totally with you that accepting and loving yourself is the most important thing.

Rachel - Thank you for that comment. Maybe coming from someone with a physical limitation it might go over better.

Gnightgirl - Hell, a pseudonym would do. Damn, my name isn't Jazz but if I leave a "not so nice" comment I'll still leave the name Jazz and link to here.

Ian - coward no less? Ouch...

Furiousball - you poor poor dear. It must be so tough to be you... espcially when you're running in spandex. ;-)

Rachel - It is a great website isn't it? And yeah, if I didn't want people to disagree with me, I wouldn't have comments. Life is boring if we all agree.

ticknart said...

Jeez, wouldn't it be nice if people actually read the blog post before jumping to a conclusion? What did your original post have to do with the BMI or health of the 300 lb women being too large large for the operating theater or having her sweat create an unsanitary environment?

Sure, that page Anonymous linked to has some good information, but what did it have to do with what you wrote about?

Jazz said...

Ticknart - Hmmm,nothing actually. I suppose Anonymous felt attacked because I said I didn't believe the hospital was wrong taking her out of the OR because of her size.

Evil Spock said...

I have a blog that I've wanted to write about the obese and fat acceptance, but I've censored myself from writing it because it was a little cruel even for my evil alter-ego.

geewits said...

Jazz,
Cool of you to even bother with this "person." I'd like to say to this person (and I hope they are reading this) Hey Person, you lost me when you started talking about diets. Healthy lifestyle choices are not about diets. They are about eating a normal amount of food every day and not a bunch of junk. People with common sense that eat regular food never have to think about diets. Okay, I could go on and on but now I want to play poker. But really, geeeez!

pissed off patricia said...

furiousball's comment made me laugh so much, I forgot what I intended to say.

Jazz said...

Evil Spock - That must've been a helluva post, knowing your alter ego.

Geewits - Such common sense you have ;-)

POP - Furiousball just cracks me up.

Susan Tuttle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ian Lidster said...

I didn't mean you were a coward for using a nom de plume, but that anonymous folk are cowards. Sorry if my comment was misconstrued.

Jazz said...

Ian - No dear, I knew you weren't talking about me. 'cause you luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuvvvv me 'n all.

Anonymous said...

ood for you, Jazz. Anonymous was missing the point.