So a couple weeks ago I posted this in response to National Spirit Day in support of LGBT youth in America. It was just my own thoughts about how we treat people sometimes, the people we think we can get away with being mean to and not be ridiculed for it.
Shortly after that post I heard about the Marie Claire blogger, Maura Kelly, who is disgusted by the television show Mike & Molly because it depicts overweight people falling in love. If you are not up-to-speed on this topic you can catch up with this piece from the Huffington Post. It links to the original blog and many of the resulting comment lists, etc.
I have heard a lot of discussion of the topic and I suppose it is good that people are talking about it.
At the same time, aesthetics are different from person to person and while there is certainly an overwhelming media presence of beautiful people on television and in magazines there are people out there that do not enjoy seeing overly thin people on television either.
I was recently watching an episode of the new 90210 (go ahead judge, I don't mind) and a woman wearing a bathing suit was so thin you could see ever bone in her back and it truly revolted me. You cannot pick on skinny people though, they might be sick.
It bothers me that we treat anorexia as a disease and obesity as a problem.
In fact, Maura Kelly, admits to her own history of anorexia in her "apology" for her insensitive comments on Marie Claire's blog. And by apology I mean the "I'm sorry if anyone took offense to what I said" kind of apology that really blames the reader for being too touchy.
I have not watched Mike & Molly, not because I don't believe there should be fat people on television, but because I don't watch a lot of sitcoms. No one asked Maura Kelly to watch it either, certainly no one forces her or anyone to watch it if it makes them uncomfortable. It is one of CBS's top-rated shows this season though, so someone is watching it and enjoying it.
In a free society, isn't there room for everyone, even if some of us take up a little more space?
Right on. When I first read about this controversy, my first thought was "But nobody is forcing you to watch the show!" I don't like a lot of people who are on tv, but you know what? I change the channel, or turn the tv off!
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