If I could find a way to get this post into the hands of every teacher, doctor, politican, and parent in the world, I would do it. I would print it on a t-shirt. I would make it into the world's longest, most-accident-causing bumper sticker. I would hire a town crier to wander cities and read it aloud.
In her post inspired by AP coverage of a new European initiative to provide free fruits and veggies for kids--but only to defeat the evils of Fat Children and not because fruit and veg are a good thing in their own right for all kids, fat or thin--Kate Harding encapsulates perfectly (and with inimitable style) the exact thing that I have long been screaming at inanimate objects:
...I am 100% in favor of free fruits and veggies... Free fruits and veggies for everyone! Local, organic produce for all my friends! While you’re at it, bring back gym class and train future phys ed instructors to focus on encouraging the joy of movement instead of forcing everyone to move their bodies in exactly the same way, regardless of any pain (physical and/or emotional) it causes! Subsidize exercise facilities until they’re affordable for everyone! Create more bike paths! Clean up local bodies of water so everyone can swim for free! Build cities on the scale of human bodies instead of cars, and keep the streets safe enough for everyone to walk around! Ban high fructose corn syrup! Keep fast food and soda and junk food corporations out of the schools! Raise the minimum wage and shorten working hours so people have more time to cook and be active! KNOCK YOURSELVES RIGHT THE FUCK OUT creating an environment that makes it easier for everyone to eat a variety of fresh foods and get plenty of exercise!
But don’t tell me that’s going to make everyone thin — and really, really don’t tell me that making people thinner should be the main point of such a plan. It fucking infuriates me that with all of the many, many excellent reasons to do all the things I’ve just suggested, the only potential outcome that can muster the political will to enact any of it is weight loss. Fuck having a cleaner, safer, more fun environment that might lend itself to people generally feeling more energetic and vibrant (which might also lead to more productivity, for all the hardcore capitalists out there) — unless we can get rid of the fatties, it’s wasted money.
Amen, Kate. Now let's get that message out there.