file this one in the “no duh” files

USA Today has an article about how weight discrimination could be as common as racial bias. This comes as a shock to abso-fucking-lutely no one who has ever been fat. Or who has eyes and a brain.

I would venture to say fat hatred is more common than racism. It’s mainstream and socially acceptable in a way that racism no longer is. Not that racism isn’t still alive and well, unfortunately. But you can still tell a joke about fat people without worrying overmuch that someone in the room will be offended. You can still yell “Lardass!” at someone who cuts you off in traffic without anyone getting too het up over it. Actors still put on fatsuits to get cheap laughs in movies and television. Blackface as a form of enetertainment has been dead for at least 50 years. (Tropic Thunder notwithstanding–it’s not a parody of black people, but a parody of douchebag actors who take themselves way too seriously.)

If you still doubt me, look no further than the actual article. The sidebars are all full of links about weight loss, personal trainers, low-cal foods: Fat people are lazy slobs who spend all day stuffing cupcakes into their craw! Fat discrimination is bad, but actually being fat is worse and if you don’t want to be called names, you should just lose some fucking weight, fatty.

Or look at the comments, but only if you don’t mind feeling stabby. People are actually comparing fat people to drug dealers and pedophiles. Look at those comments, substitute “black” or “Chinese” or “Albanian goat herders” for “fat”, and ask yourself: Would that be even remotely acceptable? Of course not, it would be hate speech.

catholicism wow! redux

Via copyranter: the Catholic Church is desperately attempting to prove they’re “hip” and “down with the young people” in time for their World Youth Day, to be held in Sydney, Australia. They took some ads out in the Australian version of Marie Claire that somehow prove Jesus is responsible for all of pop culture ever, amen, including the following:

Click here for larger version

You hear that, kids? The Church isn’t just a bunch of crusty old white men creepily obsessed with your sexuality! It’s cool!

glass of warm milk vs. red bull with a shot of pure adrenaline

It’s already been pointed out many times, but it bears repeating: Why on earth does McCain want to take Obama on in a series of “town hall meetings”?

I don’t expect you to watch the whole thing, lest you nod off, but compare McSame’s dull, soporific speaking style in a speech he gave in Kenner, LA on Tuesday night:

…to Obama’s compelling speech on accepting the Democratic nomination:

Yeah, there’s no way this is going to end well for McCain.

Reminds me of when they released their medical records. McCain’s people tried to bury his by releasing it on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, but there was still plenty of reporting on the various tumors, growths, polyps, kidney and gallstones he’s had removed over the past 12 years. The entire thing was like the size of a phone book, and included the revelation that “his buttocks are unremarkable except for some light tan freckling”.

(Disturbingly, there’s no record of him ever having received any kind of therapy, even though he’s got a famously bad temper and once called his wife a “cunt” and a “trollop” when she teased him about balding. Call me a pansy, but I think the guy that spent years in a bamboo tiger cage with a bag of rats on his head should occasionally talk to a professional about his mental health.)

Whereas Obama’s medical records was literally a one-page letter from his doctor saying the Democrat was “lean and muscular with no excess body fat”. Snerk! I say we decide the whole thing with a game of pick-up.