Yesterday I was reading a commentary about how much hatred people tend to have against the overweight. This is an issue that has been getting more coverage these days whether it is Tyra in a fat suit or one of the many stories about the "obesity epidemic" which is covering America. The commentary I read was interesting because it was by the author of the book Fat politics and he noticed that off the cuff rude remarks that he would hear whenever he discussed his book. Particularly for well educated thin, upper middle class white people like himself.
The part I found most interesting is that he compared the attacks on fat people that he heard to the attacks on minorities that he heard when he was with a similar group of people and so they assumed that everyone in the room is like minded. He figures the random racial attacks have toned down since it is so passé to hate Black people if you live outside of the White House these days (sorry couldn't help it) but the overweight hatred is considered ok. The basic argument is that the afflicted class, whether it is the minority, the poor, or the overweight, deserve our disdain because their general laziness and inability to conform to society is to blame for their lot in life. Furthermore his research showed that the more antagonistic someone is towards the overweight they more likely they are to hold basically racist or classist views. The idea at the center of his commentary was basically highlighting the fact that laziness is considered the low point in American society and so it is the fall back excuse that people always use in the modern century to justify their irrational hatred. And furthermore, hatred of all types of groups is generally connected by fear. Where I differ is that I believe that the fear that most people have is of being at the bottom. If you buy into the idea that America pushes that the best, brightest, and hardest working get to the top, if you do not have larger numbers of people to look down upon, you get insecure in the American system.
However, the more you realize that America does believe in welfare on all levels. That the rich are not the rich because they are the best, they are the rich because they were the rich and they play the game well. For instance, even though I know its cool for revolutionaries to hate bill gates because he owns the Mega Corporation, in my opinion Bill Gates puts more fear into the system than anyone. If anyone remembers Microsoft got convicted of Anti-trust violations and the company was supposed to get split in two, however it never happened... why? It's simple, Microsoft was found guilt of anti-trust violations because Bill Gates was the Richest person in the world and did not give any money to politicians... That is completely unacceptable. Once he started donating to both sides of the aisle, particularly since he pushes to party orthodoxy, the punishment for the crime is postponed until he decides to cut off the checks. However, he did not just start playing the game, and this is what makes him dangerous. Take a second to look at the bill and Melinda Gates foundation. They are amazing. He has almost given as much money to public education in this country than the federal government, except he has used it to build top of the line schools in underserved neighborhoods, and actually lets professionals run them. You may not agree with all of his policies, and it may be self serving to create an American workforce loyal to Microsoft, however it my opinion that is how capitalism should work. More corporations need the understanding that the better off the people are, the more money they will be able to take in. Bill Gates is dangerous because he is doing this on his own, outside of the government. And it is happening more often in the cases of some of the Celebrities during Hurricane Katrina finding out that they can actually get more things done more efficiently than the government. The more this begins to happen the more the people will realize that the biggest impediment to the government helping the people is the government and they will demand better services for their tax dollars, and that is when the system all comes tumbling down. Because how will all the pharmaceutical and oil companies stay in business without the government subsidizing them against the interests of the people? How will insurance companies make it without a government that acts to protect their interests first after natural and terrorists disasters? How much longer will America be satisfied with a government structure that holds these as priorities?
People need to wake up and realize that despite the conspiracy theory there are some basic answers. Despite the fact that some parents may be lazy cheap food is fatty food and anyone who has tried to even find healthy food on the South side of Chicago knows how difficult it is, and how expensive it is. Despite the fact that some minorities may make wrong decisions, institutional racism in real, and it will always be difficult for minority students to make it through the education system and the corporate system without someone addressing the fact many of the basic norms of this country are the antithesis of our home cultures. And despite the fact that some people have carried themselves up by their own bootstraps, most people have gotten help to achieve or to stay on top, and that the American system depends on poverty to keep the rich rich, and the powerful in power. There are no solutions because the money is in the problem...
And that is soap box Monday...
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