Obesity, Racism and Cruelty

Dan as much as those Japanese seem to bother you, what the heck are you doing over there anyway? Why not get your butt back to the good old USA where you can be as fat as you want, and regardless of how fat that is, there's always someone fatter you can look at in disgust.

I'm proud to be a fat American, and I wouldn't want to be one anywhere else.
 
Ben Arown-Awile said:
Dan as much as those Japanese seem to bother you, what the heck are you doing over there anyway? Why not get your butt back to the good old USA where you can be as fat as you want, and regardless of how fat that is, there's always someone fatter you can look at in disgust.

I'm proud to be a fat American, and I wouldn't want to be one anywhere else.
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6'2 and 250 lbs in Canada. :) Proud to be here, and lots of open space in which to exercise if I decide to lose the weight. :D

Chris
 
2 more years...

Chris,
I'd appreciate it if you didnt go digging thru every one of my posts and quoting lines here and there as you see fit.
 
that's when my sanity egg-timer stops ticking...

(for a variety of reasons, we are looking at two more years)
 
Hm. I almost don't remember a time before I was aware that I was chubby. I learned at a very early age that I was short and overweight. Looking back at very early pictures, I really wasn't that much over, I just needed more exercise and a healthy diet, but my mother was projecting her fears about herself onto me. I gained more weight as I grew older, partially because my religious beliefs interfered with my playing with children in the neighborhood, so I mostly stayed inside and read.

When I left for my first, abortive year of christian college when I was 18, I was 5'5" or 5'6", weighed 169, and had virtually no muscle.

I started losing the chub when I was 19, mostly through dramatically upping my activity level, and paying some damn attention to what I was eating. I stopped eating mayonaise and fried foods altogether. I had an 8 pack before I was 20, and had dropped down, at my lowest, to a very muscular 132 lbs.

My weight varies a little here and there. When I was at Fort Lewis, about 18 mos ago, I was drinking a good bit (maybe avg of 2/day), paying no attention
to what I was eating, and was only exercising during team PT. I woke up one day, and asked myself what I was doing. I had gotten flabby again, and was up to 164.

Well, I stopped drinking for a couple of months, started paying attention to what I was eating, and started hitting the gym on my own time every day. I dropped 6 lbs, while gaining the most muscle I've ever had.

For me, it's a matter of asking myself, "Hey! What are you doing?" when I'm losing control of the whole diet thing (I'm a major sugar junkie). Then I eat reasonably and exercise. No magic, just hard work.

I have been discriminated against because of my religion. I have been discriminated against because of my height. I have been discriminated against because of my sex. I have been discriminated against because of my "orientation". I have been discriminated against because of my age. I have been discriminated against because of my political ideals, my clothes, and other possessions.

I have been discriminated against because of my weight- but I kinda think I had that one coming. Yup, I've known morbidly obese people that could do things that most people wouldn't think possible of anyone- things I wasn't *quite* capable of doing- but that doesn't mean (with the exception of those
who have genuine medical issues) that I don't feel that those who are more than a few pounds overweight are short-changing themselves, and if they care so little for themselves, why the hell should I care much for them?

I don't believe in being rude to anyone, especially those I disagree with, and saying rude things to people is just bad form. Danny, in your position, anyone
laying hands on my belly suddenly had better be damn cute, or they'd be drawing back a mangled hand. I suppose I admire your restraint. Touching is
assault, and you are entitled to defend against it.

John
 
DannyinJapan said:
2 more years...

Chris,
I'd appreciate it if you didnt go digging thru every one of my posts and quoting lines here and there as you see fit.
Click to expand...

Reply coming off-forum, which is where I asked you to take it if you felt the need to reply.

Chris
 
I can see where you're coming from Danny. While i don't see someone being overweight having the same plight as those fighting racial issues, i can see where it can hurt people's feelings. I will be honest. Taking the "fat" shot is an easy and hurtful way to get a jab in durning a heated argument. I am guilty of calling someone "a fat POS". While really the fat part had nothing to do with our argument. He could have been fat, skinny, black, asian, retarded, etc. That had nothing to do with what we were fighting about. It was a cheap shot that i have made several times. I for one understand that i'm lucky geneticly and appreciate my youth. I come from a family of fit brutish men on one side of my family and on the other i had a grandfather that never weighed anymore than 155 and could pack a 'fridge by himself. I'm very lucky. The only thing that i can fault you for, Danny, is grouping yourself with all overweight people. Sure, there are people in your situation that were born fat and will never be slim without radical operations. However there are also a good number of people that simply are fat and lazy. I'm not saying that you shouldn't be offended by it. Hell no! Next time someone has a problem with your weight give him a good shot to the windpipe. Suddenly your weight doesn't seem to matter to him as much as his collapsed trachea:D But seriously, be proud in what youv'e accomplished by your own merrit. Fat or not fat. Hell man, i WISH i could do half of the things you've done. Left your country, adapted to a different culture, studied the way of the ninja. How frickin' cool is that!:) IQ wise, you guys blow me out of the water. I feel dwarfed (or little-personed if you like). Here i was, sitting all smug with my 135 IQ. Sitting at the lowest end of the "gifted" range. Its no wonder i can't keep up with any of you guys. Now i know why after 2 years of hanging out on the forums why i haven't been able to bring anything to the table. I'm not smart enough, have no practical knowledge, or have a clever sense of humor:) If nothing else, this forum teaches me that i'm not as cool as i think. i'm not as smart as i think. i'm not better than anyone else be he fat, skinny, black, white, Muslum, Christian, Jew, whatever. Humble pie doesn't taste too bad to me:) I just appreciate you guys listening to me.

Jake
 
I appreciate that, Steely.

Never feel inferior because of a test score. I am terrible at the money thing.
I've never made more than $30,000 a year, even with a college degree.
(The loans for which I still owe)
 
I'm impressed with the high-IQ testers we have here....never knew that.

Of course, I'm also impressed with skilled martial-artists, great dancers, brilliant musicians, persistant auto-mechanics, creative writers and so on....

The key for me....is application. Can you apply what you know in a meaningful way?


Anyone here taken the Power/Mega/Titan tests? Fun stuff. ;)
 
Danny - I've never been negatively affected by the "weight thing". I'm 6' and 252 lbs. Not a slender guy, but not terribly obese either. Maybe those at the MWKK could say if I look obese or not. Doesn't matter to me. I can still cut up a good rug on the dance floor. :p


I did, however, have a coworker who was definitely treated because of his obesity. He was in a catch-22. Couldn't get stuff off his chest at work because he'd be labeled a whiner.....couldn't bottle it in, because it made his situation worse. So, he took it out on me instead. :D
 
I am 5'9" tall and tip the scales at 230lbs. I have tried to never let it bother me if people thought I was "fat" or not. Sometimes it has but for the most part in my life it hasn't. Let me add that I have always had roughly the same build since I was a child, take that pic of me (and everyone) that shappa posted from the Blade Show and make me shorter and you have me from childhood to present. In fact for many years I went out of my way to be on the heavy side. My high weight was 267lbs. It was back when I tried my hand at submission fighting for several years and only being 5'9" (compared to the 6'1"-6'4" people that I fought I was short) and being stuck in the heavy weight division I used the extra weight in how I fought. With my size came strength (not saying that is the case with everyone) and I took pride in the fact that at 260lbs+ I was still in better shape then alot of "skinny" people that I knew. And the ladies knew who to come to when they needed some stuff moved. ;) I can understand that people are bothered when people make fun of them for any reason. For me it taught me personal strength and wish that others could use peoples cruelty and poor taste to improve themselves instead of letting it beat them down. Yeah I took some abuse as a child but in the end, for me, I think that it made me a better person. Just my 2 cents here. Thanks all. Mark
 
I have no idea what my IQ is, and don’t really want to know. Several years ago I found out my GRE and SAT scores qualified me for Mensa. When I got in there I found there were even more elite clubs, like the Triple 9 Society, which requires scores above the 99.9th percentile on any one of a number of tests. My GRE and SAT scores qualified me for that too so I joined. I got mightily bored with the interactions in those clubs and soon let my memberships expire. Membership here is much more stimulating.

It is interesting that this group should be discussing the various ways others have hurt their feelings or bruised their egos. We ourselves grant others the power to do that. Epictetus the slave addressed this issue a couple of thousand years ago.

[color=black said:
Discourses by Epictetus, book 1, part 2, ( http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/epictetusbook1p2.htm )[/color]]
CHAPTER 21

Against those who wish to be admired -

When a man holds his proper station in life, he does not gape after things beyond it. Man, what do you wish to happen to you? "I am satisfied if I desire and avoid conformably to nature, if I employ movements toward and from an object as I am by nature formed to do, and purpose and design and assent." Why then do you strut before us as if you had swallowed a spit? "My wish has always been that those who meet me should admire me, and those who follow me should exclaim, 'Oh, the great philosopher.'" Who are they by whom you wish to be admired? Are they not those of whom you are used to say that they are mad? Well then do you wish to be admired by madmen?
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Epictetus' point goes much beyond admiration. A perusal of his writings shows he would definitely apply the idea of what can and can’t be controlled by the individual to things like insults, discrimination, etc. I find his writings to be well worth my time and recommend consideration of his viewpoint to those for whom insults are a burning issue.

We have little control over the insults of others. However, we do have control over what flows from our own mouth or pen. Epictetus might say that we should worry about that over which we have some control.
 
IQ: 164. Not sure how relevant it is- it's not always good predictor of success. You might find yourself getting more satisfaction from reading or puzzles than making more money.

I don't believe in making degrading remarks about anyone based on weight, race, age, financial status, or anything else. I do have one bias, or quirk, as a martial artist, I hold other martial artists to a higher standard. This doesn't mean body mass index. I just mean that a high level martial artist should strive for personal growth, genuine ability and make the effort to be your best. I guess I should qualify that, I try to hold the martial artists around me to a higher standard, in that I try to be supportive of them. It's not really my business what anyone else does, as long as they are not harming others.

I recently lost 20lbs. I'm trying to loose another 5-10 and it's hard, but I think I will be able to do it. The one thing that I learned from someone who lost over 70lbs, is that I had to love and appreciate myself no matter what weighed, before I could begin to change. I learned that by doing that, I wouldn't be fighting myself.

I believe that everyone has a "painkiller", food, sex, cigarettes, etc. And that trying to rely on the Creator instead of the painkiller is a hard, but worthwhile pursuit- and certainly one that I haven't mastered.
 
If any of you guys are interested, IQ is generally based on stat information taken from a normal bell curve. Ya know, small and skinny at each end that terminates at the top of a bell shaped curve. In layman's terms (which is all i'm qualified to explain given my poo poo general psych degree), at the far left skinny tail you have the very unitelligent, extreme mental retarded. On the far right skinny tail you have the really smart fellas and gals. Most standard IQ tests top out around the 180 range. At the highest point of the is where most of us fall. A standard IQ of 100 is dead on even. Now it would make sense to say "OK anybody with a 99 IQ does not have a normal IQ and anyone with a 101 IQ has a high IQ." However, this is where standard deviation comes into play. A normal IQ general has a standard deviation of 15 points. that is to say, based on gathered stats, a person with an IQ score of 85 to 115 is of average intelligence. A person with a score less that 85 is considered below average. A person greater than 115 is above average. 130 is usually considered gifted while 140+ is thought of as genius. Keep in mind that i am NOT a psychologist. My wife to be is, but i did not further my education enough to apply any of this stuff. This is a very watered down explination of how IQ is measured. Now if you ask anyone with any psychological background WHAT IQ is, then you'll open a can of worms that you never wanted to be involved with...trust me;)

Jake
 
Spot on Howard!

Danny it aint the fat that is the problem, its the bulling as a child, tHAT STILL HURTS YOU.

If you were skinny & didnt fit in you wsould have had, "ow youve got a bit of cotton hanging of your shirt!


o now it isnt its your arms!" or somesuch instead & the FAT KIDS WOULD HAVE PICKED ON YOU FOR BIENG A SKINNY RUNT.

Life aint fair life aint easy, deal with it as best you can & accept yourself.

Thats the key.

Spiral
 
Lion's Roar said:
I believe that everyone has a "painkiller", food, sex, cigarettes, etc. And that trying to rely on the Creator instead of the painkiller is a hard, but worthwhile pursuit- and certainly one that I haven't mastered.
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Well said, LR.
 
Yes, Lions Roar, I liked your post too.
Yes, I do have painful memories from childhood teasings. Even my own father said unkind things to me about my size.
However, as I mentioned, these things still happen to me and to others.
So, this is an issue that affects all of us.
 
truly. My wilfe is brilliant, but is dyslexic, which makes some tests difficult. She's an artist, college grad, a CFP, and a proud mother.

Howard, I think Mensa draws the line at 140, FYI.

Keith
 
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