One of the prejudices that figures on both the left and right of American politics seem to feel quite free to express quite openly is to be "anti-fat." Just as pundits on the right fling the "fat" epithet at Michael Moore and Al Gore pundits on the left throw around the same insults. For example Wonkette's entire argument against Chris Christie appears to be "don't listen to him, he's fat."
Chris Christie Makes Fox News Tilt Left
Remind me again why it is wrong for "the right" to do this but not the left. Remind me again why it is wrong to discount someone's opinions on the basis of the colour of their skin but not on the basis of how much they weigh.
I agree. The fact that a person is fat is not a good reason to disregard what they say. The only good reason to disregard what a person says is when what they say is worthless drivel or horrifically evil, and I wish people would focus on that.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that piece really bothered me. It seems to me that the people who cry "fat person" over there are exactly the same people who (just a few decades ago) thought that "he's a fag" was an appropriate rejoinder to a political argument.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many of the people who like to preen themselves as forward thinking "liberals" are the type of people who make fun of anyone who wears polyester or looks like they shop at discount stores.
It is elitism, classism and bigotry and I don't really care what side of the political spectrum the speaker claims to come from.
I would add references to "trailer trash," "white trash," and "rednecks" to the list of terms that need to be reconsidered.
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