Here Is a Message for the Trolls Giving Fat-Shaming Cards to People in Public
I think I just lost all faith in humanity.
An idiotic group of trolls are passing out fat-shaming cards to people--mostly women, according to TIME.com--on the London subway. They call themselves Overweight Haters Ltd., and their harmful little notes have since gone viral on the Web. The frenzy started when London-goer Kara Florish tweeted hers, and others soon followed suit.
If you can't read this, here is Overweight Haters Ltd.'s despicable manifesto:
"Our organization hates and resents fat people. We object to the enormous amount of food resources you consume while half the world starves," the note reads. "We disapprove of your wasting NHS (National Health Service) money to treat your selfish greed. And we do not understand why you fail to grasp that by eating less you will be better off, slimmer, happy and find a partner who is not a perverted chubby-lover, or even find a partner at all. We also object that the beatiful [sic] pig is used as an insult. You are not a pig. You are a fat, ugly human."
The British Transport Police is currently investigating the jerks behind these shameful cards. Thankfully, Kara posted to Facebook she isn't upset by what happened to her, but it could potentially negatively affect people struggling with self-esteem issues. One man claims he saw a woman cry after receiving a note. It's absolutely terrible.
But I am royally pissed off. Where the hell does Overweight Haters Ltd. come off handing out cards to random people on the subway they deem unhealthy or undesirable? Are they dietitians? Nutritionists? You 100 percent cannot tell someone's health just by looking at them. This isn't just someone fat-shaming you and walking away (which is horrible in itself). This organization thinks it is actually helping people by spewing insults at them--as if calling people "fat" and "ugly" will give them motivation to make some kind of radical lifestyle change. It won't. It'll actually do the opposite.
As Kara pointed it out, it will hinder self-esteem. Severely. Take it from someone who has been fat-shamed one or two (or 12) times: It's a dreadful thing. You feel hopeless--unworthy of love and undeserving of even basic human decency. It gives you an even more intense self-loathing than you already had before. No good can come from it. The desire to get healthy is intrinsic and will only grow with positive reinforcement. Good vibes, people--this is what it comes down to.
Hell! This isn't even about that. All body types are beautiful, and no one deserves this level of public embarrassment. It takes bullying to astonishing new heights and reminds us that playground mentality exists in the adult world. And it's actually worse.
As long as you're healthy, that's all that matters--whether you're 110 pounds or 310 pounds. The monsters over at Overweight Haters, Ltd. need to take a chapter from first grade: Don't judge a book by its cover. The only "ugly" people in this scenario are them.