Popular scapegoats go in and out of vogue with less swiftness than say, fashion, but they certainly do change with the times. Blacks, Jews, illegal aliens, gays, conservative Christians, radical Muslims and round and round it goes. No matter the scapegoat du jour, one group that is always available for a whipping boy position is fat people. And with our nation’s current conversation - healthcare reform - it seems to have been kicked into high gear.

The thing about making fun of fat people is that we aren’t afforded the same consideration that a person would take when reconsidering a racist or sexist joke.  Having a Jewish friend often makes a person less inclined to make or laugh at anti-Semitic jokes. I can’t say the same for having fat friends…

One Tumblr, someone who I’d place somewhere between acquaintance and friend, posted a photo of an overweight woman at an Anti-Health Care reform rally, noting the irony that a fat person would cry foul now, but as soon as she is felled by her fatness (diabetes, high blood press etc etc) she would be BEGGING for that public option. So, because she’s fat, she can’t have an opinion about health care?

I’m not so self-centered to think that anytime a person I know makes a comment about a fat person they are attempting to directly insult me but… what I am I supposed to think?

Just today another person (and yes I’d call this person a friend) posted about some fat chick he saw on the train who was apparently copying her homework from someone else. This was then parlayed into a mini rant about her inherent laziness (fat) being directly related to her desire to cheat on her school work and this is the attitude that is bringing about the downfall of education!

Yes, we are lazy. We don’t have self-control when we eat and we don’t go to the gym. And because we are lazy about physical activity (we ride those Rascal scooters everywhere of course) we are also lazy about everything else. We don’t want to do anything ourselves. We cheat. We also single-handedly drive up the cost of health care and how dare we not want reform.

Oh and also, because we fat we are also ugly.

So I guess I said all of this to say: I’m so sorry I’m fucking up your lives America.