Letters to the Editor
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Here we go again . . .
The problem is not the content of the article per se. If we are all honest with ourselves, we know that obesity is a problem among black women, differing standards of beauty and all. The problem is the vitriolic self-hatred that this truth is wrapped in. I agree with the earlier poster; is anything redeeming about being Black to Dickerson? Doesn't seem so.
Its not enough just to be provactive. Seek to inspire, or if that's asking too much, why not just be informative. I've read at least 5 other pieces about this subject that were more informative and balanced. Personally, I'm tired of blatant race baiting presented as sophisticated journalism. Not impressed.
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Here's the deal
Being overweight is unhealthy.
It leads you to a higher risk of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure, that might otherwise be avoided.
Many if not most people are physically capable of losing weight if they change their eating and exercise habits for the long term--not just temporarily.
Some people may not be able to, but for the majority of us it is more useful and encouraging to believe that you can do it, rather than that the choice is taken away from you and there is therefore no point.
If you choose to remain fat, Ben Dover will not find you attractive and therefore not ask you out on a date, which would be completely tragic.
You can diet down to a size six and there will always be someone out there, who will be willing to call you fat, because it's the easiest way to shame you, especially if you're a woman, and make you instantaneously feel like shit. Refer to the movie "The Truth About Cats and Dogs," where Uma Thurman's boyfriend repeatedly calls her fat (she plays a model). Uma is not fat.
However, it's still good to get as close to your ideal weight as realistically possible, for your own longevity and happiness, and to shut out the droning of the assholes...many of whom you'll find lurking here.
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It's steatopygia not obesity
Debra, Debra, Debra. You and I could eat outselves into blimpdom without every acquiring haunches like Buffie's. It appears she has the inherited trait for steatopygia - check it out in Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steatopygia This is an adaptive mechanism that evolved among women in hot climates, allowing them a greater body mass that allows cooling.
Your body Nazi approach to muscling others to follow your rules would benefit from a greater understanding of human diversity.
Bonnie B
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Ok - be fat but why should we pay for problems caused by your lifestyle?
It is funny to read comments from black ladies who go overboard defending their right to have unhealthy lifestyle. I live and work close to areas where there are large black populations. Beiing white and a foreigner the obesity problem in these communities is shockingly visible. However it appears that being surrounded by fat people have made themselves get used to it and defend it.
Since black communities are proportionally poor and likely use health care subsidized by my tax dollars I have a valid beef with it. US spends the most money out of industrialized countries on healthcare and still it is a mess. These people use up more than their fair share of this resource. We should set some kind of sliding BMI scale . Excercise, stop smoking and you keep the bennies, else pay for your habbits.
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????
Just have to jump in here.
I'm sure 2,926 people have already said this, but...Buffie doesn't look obese to me.
She looks like an otherwise nicely proportioned young lady who happens to have a ginormous butt, for which she is now famous.
Hey, spesking of big butts...does anyone else hate Tyra Banks with the heat of 1,000 suns for tearfully asking us to kiss her fat ass on behalf of marginalized Big Girls everywhere...and then turning around and losing 30 pounds in five months?
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I totally understand what you mean, itonix
But luckily I guess you can go back to wherever you came from if it really bothers you that much.
Unfortunately, I'm paying for a war in Iraq I never asked for, taxes for social services for people who can't seem to function in all sorts of ways, people have humongous families of four or five or more kids and schools get overfull, people injure themselves doing stupid things and I'm sure those medical costs get spread out, auto insurance rates in my state are sky-high because enough people drive like idiots...so again, if you don't like it, leave. Because you sound kind of like a Nazi.
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Debra's dinking the haterade again
Does is really surprise anyone that when DD was a self described buff gym rat she scolded her office colleagues about their lunches?
Anyway, from another poster, this is really the point:
"Also, Dickerson's article completely ignores the link between obesity and poverty to make her argument that black standards of beauty are responsible for obesity."
Bingo. DD, in her typically sloppy way, mangles any good points her essay might make. The overuse of "thicknes" as a euphemism for way too freakin' big and the subsequent health problems that may bring is ridiculous but it has little to do with Buffie's ass. Contrary to DD's claim, she is not the poster girl for the issue.
That's a bad example but it's an easy target which allows DD to to adopt her usual tiresome posing as some sort of independent black iconoclast and usual tiresome stances; for example:
"It's fairly common knowledge that many black (and Hispanic) men prefer their women larger than do other groups, a reality that launched Buffie on her path to glory. It is perhaps less well known that that preference has contributed to extremely high levels of obesity among black women."
Of course. It's Black (and Hispanic) men fault.
"My own mother found my buff body distasteful, though it would have taken Gitmo to make her admit it (my family deputized a representative to ask me if I was gay)."
Of course. It's your family's fault.
"But the best way to get a gargantuan ass of urban-lad-mag size is to be obese;"
While I know from one of her earlier essays that she has sequestered herself in upstate NY to the point that her own kids express shock when they see other "burnt" black people, so she's probably unaware that there are plenty of "gargantuan assed" black women and hispanic women and, quiet as it's kept, white women, who are not obese at all. Btw, most of the urban lad mag women don't have Buffie sized asses. More like Melyssa Ford who, if DD ever got a look at her, would probably cause her to drown in a tidal wave of haterade.