wednes | Grrrrr...

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Grrrrr...

Once I move, I am going to get much more serious about going back to work.

Our bills are going way up, of course, so we will need the money. Also, I miss work and am looking forward to seeing what kind of position can be created for me by the good people at M.R.S. Last I heard, it was to be something in CS or advertising. Neat, eh?

However, I was reading over at Big Fat Blog today and found this disgusting display of illegal stupidity.

Take this asshole, for example:

"I think fat people are weak people," says Tom who works for a major bank. "I was a fat kid. I mean, fat. I was teased. ... But I saw the moment I started to lose weight I got respect. And I started to respect myself. I had to realize that the price I'm going to pay to be successful is that I have to drive past McDonald's, and there's nothing I used to love like a three-Big Mac meal. Now, I realize not everyone is like me - I know how difficult it is to lose that kind of weight, so I'm sympathetic - but I don't want real fat people around me. (Wha--?!?)

Now I like McDonalds as much as the next guy, but the very idea of eating 3 Big Macs makes me want to vomit. While I think it's sad that this guy didn't know he was worthy of respect while he was fat; I have no sympathy for someone so prejudiced and deluded. Did you get that? He's "sympathetic" to those people he will not hire and doesn't want around him. Because "I can't hire you, and get the hell away from me" just screams sympathy. Not that any fat person nessesarily wants sympathy from this asshat anyway...

Officially, it is illegal in Michigan to discriminate on the basis of wieght. But try telling that to Chelsea Teddy Bear Company, whom you should boycott, BTW. Of course I also have the added handicap of not driving which has cut me out of jobs like Q16, Oasis Hot Tubs, DiBellas, and of course Blockbuster management.

So anyway...new apartment, new job soon...should be cool.
Plus I'll be able to excersize in my new place w/o moving furniture! Yeah!
Anybody want to give me an excesize bike? I miss my old one.

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Congrats on the new apartment! Is there a Craigslist or a Freecycle group in your area? Might be able to get a free or really cheap exercise bike that way...just a thought.

As for the fat discrimination, yeah, people like that just chap my hide. I was once told by an online "friend" that I couldn't possibly be fat (he'd never seen me.) Why? Because I had too much self-confidence. Um. WHAT? Dumbass.

I have more energy and ability to multitask and higher productivity than any three skinny chicks at my old office, NOT because of the relative sizes of our butts but because that's just how I am and just how they are. Plus, I'm smarter than they are. *snerk* And for the record? McDonald's sucks. I can go literally years without eating fast food, and guess what? Still fat! Hrm. Perhaps some assumptings are what, incorrect?

I know, preaching => choir. Sorry. *heh* I should know better than to read crap like that. Hey, on the bright side, if the trend continues the skinny idiots will be outnumbered by fat people (idiots and non) very shortly anyway. Of course, then the upper end of the bell curve will just be heavier and STILL get crap...

The stereotypes that exist with regard to fat people are perplexing. It's as if these people don't know anyone fat in real life...which can't possibly be the case.

Unless there's some chubby gal out there eating constantly and giving the rest of us a bad name...
;-]

As for the excersize bike, summer time means Garage Sales!!!

That is the core of the "Fat Bias" I think. That overweight people are just uncontrolable eating addicts who constantly have burger shaped objects heading towards thier mouths. Of course my best friend growing up ate twice as much as I did EASILY, and we had the same "Exercise schedule" (Hey, lets play guns.. Hey lets play hide and seek.. Hey lets play with fire..) and I was always the Hardy to his Laurel. While I won't totally deny a "Self control" aspect, the same could be said about anything. I'm sure if we critically examined this guys life we'd just learn he is probably a chronic masturbator now instead. ;-)

Exactly! Even if someone is a "food addict" that shouldn't disqualify them from most jobs. I suppose an obese person might not make a good cross country trainer or fashion model...but most jobs have nothing to do with wieght.

Cool, one pressing life problem down, more energy freed up to attack the rest.

And as for el assholio, I hope he finally fucks with the wrong person and gets his ass sued. Because denying someone a job because of weight--when weight is not a legitimate requirement of the job (say, jockey, where size is a necessary attribute) should be illegal everywhere.

It's weird, we don't so much lose our prejudices as shift them around. It's currently considered OK to look down on fat people and smokers, and even to come up to them and offer "helpful" advice. Though I do find the gradual cutting down of the list of acceptable prejudices a hopeful sign.

The list doesn't ever really cut down. It just changes. 30 years ago you would have been laughed out of the state legislature for suggesting a smoking ban on all bars and restaurants. Now, we will probably have one in Michigan within 5 years. If not this year.

I fear you may be right. But I'd have to make lists and *eurg* do some work to verify my feeling that the general prejudice level is on the wane. I see a lot of the current craziness as long suppressed garbage boiling to the surface, kind of like--uh, let's not go any farther with that tortured analogy...

Smoking bans just make me wonder why we can't find more adult solutions to our problems. I mean, there are ways to give people a choice of air flavors without anyone having to shiver next to the doorway or have to try to eat in a room where they can see the gray tendrils in the air. The Victorians managed just fine. They had a quaint convenience called the smoking room.

And really, we're freaking out about smoke when we all breathe partially burned hydrocarbons daily?

I am constantly explaining to people that they do their lungs more damage by driving to work in rush hour traffic than sitting in the non-smoking area of a restaurant. But they still want the smoking area removed, even though they willingly choose to eat there.

There're plenty of people who even want cigs criminalized like weed. It's ghastly I tells ya!

Yeah...it's just taking so long though.

I mean, I'm an overwieght non-driving pagan in an interracial relationship. So it's going to be a while before I can be free of the arbitrary prejudice of idiots. And I'm not remotely the most oppressed person I know.

Jobs:

Remember that one of the MOST IMPORTANT things to consider when selecting a career is the EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT.

Work at a health food store? 35% off Granola? So what?!

Nice bookstore? Lattes at cost? %10 off book purchaes? Free stripped books?
Better.

Video store? Free rentals? Free posters? "No, boss, they only sent us ELEVEN copies of Land of the Dead. not Twelve!"

Hope this helps.

If I ever meet this banker, I will eat him.

Unfortunately, I worked in a video store before making the switch to DVD's.

Blast and damn.

Thanks, though. ;-]

Yeah, it is. And I think a lot of us have missed a chance or two because of this kind of idiocy. Few people understand how to see it from the other person's POV, or want to. Doofus, for example, has been fat. He ought to remember how it feels and know better than to do the crappy things that have been done to him to other people. And he also ought to know that heroic effort does not exempt one from common courtesy, tolerance, or basic empathy.

This whole idea that it's OK to judge someone on externals has got to go. People don't realize how much it limits what we see and what we're allowed to do. If you fit the ideal, you don't notice as much, but what if you don't? And me, I like variety. People come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors after all. Why do we limit ourselves to such a narrow range? Why do we limit ourselves to clothing that only makes that range look good? Sure, you can wear whatever you like, but be prepared to pay for the privilege in casual abuse. I mean, why can't I wear face paint and my leather Elfquest tunic to work without risking harassment in one form or another? Why can't a guy wear a skirt if he likes? Why can't I have a range of body types and clothing styles to entertain me and to push my boundaries of what's pleasing to the eye whenever I turn on the TV or go outside?

Aaah, it's all Burger King's fault. They've said we can "have it our way" for so long we've begun to believe it even when it isn't true.

So I guess what you're saying is that we should turn society into the Ann Arbor Hash Bash. ;-]

Well, in a way, yeah. The tendency used to be more general, I used to be able to run around Santa Cruz wearing whatever I wanted, and see many other interesting folks doing the same. But that was a long time ago. Now you can only do that if you have an "excuse," such as an event to go to. Lifestyle has become something you haul out for costume parties. Sad, very sad.

I can agree with that, even though I haven't been able to wear any crazy thing I want since college.

LOL--exactly.
Once you enter the workforce you get locked into the dress code...

Speaking of boycotts, McDonalds is a great place to start.

Maybe I'm just snowed by the Ronald McDonald House but I don't mind giving them the price of a value meal (although I'm not a big fan of their bottled water) every month or so.

I worked for them for almost 10 years off and on (during high school, college, and just after grad) and it was not so bad for fast food. Some of the franchise owners are total assholes, but it was not a bad job for a kid.

Yes, they have a nice public image at times but it's their record in the realms of keeping minimum wage exactly that and helping keep the idea of a reasonable living wage completely out of grasp that I find worrisome. As someone who is looking for work and all, I just assumed you'd be onside with this. At the business core of McDonalds, there is no heart whatsoever.

Most businesses don't have a heart. And I have nothing but pity for any adult/non student/person with rent payment or mortgage who works there. But in all fairness, thier wages aren't any worse than the rest of mainstream retail and food service. Not that that's a good thing, but they are no worse than any other junk business.

I need to hate a company a little bit more to boycott them. And they need to be doing something more dastardly than loving money to the detriment of workers happiness. I think working to legalize prostitution would be a better use of my time.

Oh yeah! For sure. That's a cause that I am for all around. It's my annoying stance when asked about the legalizing pot issue...I insist that time would be better spent on this legal matter because nobody I know has troubling finding weed and lighting it on fire.
I hope I'm not coming off all preachy here...just commentin', you know? I try to give as little as I can to any industry or company that is involved in this. I'm growing into one of those annoying 'No Logo' lefties or something. I can live without fast food forever and I don't need to clothe children so I can afford to shop at smaller, independently owned businesses. I understand why some can't and I don't hold it against them, but I am perplexed by the cyclical nature of the problem of low wages making people need to shop and spend with companies that are helping to knock them down and hold them there. It's not good.

I certainly see your point. In some ways, I feel powerless enough about The Machine that I don't see where my giving up the simple pleasure of a Big Mac really has any impact. I mean, I should boycott FOX and Viacom in general but refuse to give up Simpsons, Family Guy et al. Everything else on FOX ranges from kinda shitty to damned offensive.

But of course, any and all non-hateful opinions ar welcomed here in Wednesbury US (there's a actual town called Wednesbury in Germany in case you didn't know). One of my fave things about America is the vast array of opinions a person can be exposed to.

As for prostitution, I feel that criminalizing the only industry where any woman can make a good living regardless of education or status is just another way to keep women subjugated. This is over and above the American (read: fundie influenced) attitudes about sexuality that state that any sex other than that between a married man and woman for procreation is evil. I have never met a person who said "no, I don't have sex, I don't want any more children."

I think you can learn to do without anything and that menas the Simpsons too. I haven't seen an episode in years and I used to be a fan. I may have seen two total episodes of 'Family Guy' and I'm still okay. You can live without those things, you know? If these are the 'important' things (this isn't a comment directed at you, mind you) in life than I think it's a sad reflection of our society. Cancel your cable and go to the park with friends instead. Life can still be rewarding and if enough people express discontent, something might change. It's unlikely but I like to hope at least a little..

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