Comments on: Holier-than-thou, and getting holier.

By: freakapotimus.com » Blog Archive » Good? Bad? I’m the girl with the brownies.

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:16:14 +0000

[...] seems that many people divide foods into categories like good and bad, assigning a moral value to nutrition that should never exist. I mean, if you are allergic to peanuts then perhaps fork-pressed peanut butter cookies (one of my [...]

By: Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:23:01 +0000

Yeah, and you know — people who don’t operate as though the theory of evolution is a pretty damn good explanation of how we came to be — well, that’s just a whole other level of craziness I’m not prepared to address.

I’m a science student, after all. That’s my bias.

I think you might be onto something about the underlying reason people conflate biological realities with individual moral worth, however. Good call.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:39:34 +0000

You’re right about the shaming message not helping people to take care of themselves — some research has confirmed this. Shaming fat people may actually cause them to engage in detrimental health behaviours, like binge eating.

So, you know, it’s ironic (read: total bullshit) that all the haterzzz are supposedly so “concerned” about our health.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:36:44 +0000

I dunno, rachael. Greedy and gluttonous are words with a moral definition.

Doing what we are influenced to do, biologically, when it doesn’t actively harm anyone else, is hardly a moral issue.

Peeing is not a moral issue. Shitting is not a moral issue. Sex is not a moral issue, assuming it is between consenting adults.

Eating is definitely not a moral issue, except in cases where you’re considering the treatment of animals or the sustainability of the environment and the food system.

But eating, itself, because we’re hungry and we are biologically predisposed to like food? Not a moral issue.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:25:43 +0000

Alrighty. I’ll get right on that, then.

By: Candice

Candice — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:27:50 +0000

You know, as I read this I had a thought: your response “assumes” evolution as truth. There’s so much crap denying evolution that I have to wonder if the same people who think eating certain food is just a lack of self-control (Puritan style) are also people who don’t believe in evolution and, therefore, don’t believe a biological urge to consume certain nutrients and quantities. Hm.

By: Jodie

Jodie — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:06:51 +0000

You are my new hero – great words and commentary!

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:59:58 +0000

Word.

By: rachael

rachael — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:52:33 +0000

You are absolutely right about those innate desires. We desire to eat more than we need because of how we’re biologically configured. So by definition then this absolutely *does* make us greedy and gluttonous, because that’s what those words mean. That’s the human condition. We are greedy. Our wants are infinite. We have to make trade-offs between them.

By: Kath

Kath — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:03:24 +0000

Go get ‘em girl!

I’m so tired of fat equating gluttony and sloth. About bodies, food and exercise being about morality. As I keep saying on my own blog, your worth is not your physical body, it’s your heart, your mind and your soul.

By: Lily Strange

Lily Strange — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:58:46 +0000

Thank you for presenting a less biased view. While kids do need to be taught proper nutrition, attaching a moral value to overeating or to eating “bad” foods is not helpful to anyone. This “thin is holy, fat is evil” attitude is not helping anyone become healthier, it is only making a certain segment of the population hate themselves. I for one would like to be able to like myself at any size, but the message is that while I am heavy, I should hate myself. I have self-esteem issues as it is and this message surely does not inspire me to want to take better care of myself.

By: jase

jase — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:44:04 +0000

Nope, not gonna happen. Fat people eat, fat people get dinged. Stop eating = stop getting in-the-face scoldings. Only way.