Posted by SLS on April 14, 2009, at 16:15:01
In reply to SCOTT, posted by manic666 on April 14, 2009, at 11:54:36
> scott , a friend of mine on babble from america, who used to run her own site about venlafaxine an visits the site on ocation, told me you have triger with wieght an your meds,an you may have took the joke badly,i apologise i wasnt thinking friends were texting me jokes an i just posted it without thinking no hard feelings my freind.
I had not expected that you would reconsider your position on "fat lady" jokes. I am humbled by your humility. I'm not sure that I would have been as mature to post an apology. I really did try to look at your side of the issue. I came up ambivalent. The joke was not intended to hurt anyone, I know.
The rest is a bit of a rant that really has nothing to do with you as a person. You have a good heart. It is just a general set of feelings and observations.
My personal stake in this issue regarding objectifying overweight people has less to do with my own drug-induced weight gain (which is substantial), but, rather, having been a close friend of a morbidly obese woman for over 10 years. She has weighed in excess of 300 pounds. I have had intimate knowledge of how one is affected by society's tendency to separate out and ridicule such people.
In a way, "fat people" are the last subject of societal jokes for which comics have universal immunity. However, these jokes are extremely hurtful. Imagine being Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man. People did not see him as a human being with human emotions. He was just a freak to make jokes about. He certainly ended up feeling different from every other human on the face of the earth. In particular is the "Fat Lady", without whom nothing is over until she sings. In the meantime, she cries.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:889925
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20090331/msgs/890690.html