Little things that make you smile - the anti-peeve thread.

[Yellow Mage]

I think you're confusing "troll" and "bully."

A troll is just someone who wants chaos and subverted attention.

Some of the worst bullying, however, is done completely in private, person-to-person, where the bully intimidates the victim into not telling anyone what said bully is up to.

Casting light on this sort of bully, much like casting light on an infected wound, can aid in clearing out the problem. If anything, it subverts the shame (rightfully) onto the bully, for participation in such cruel and underhanded intimidation tactics that would never be acceptable in public.

On the contrary, if you stay silent about the bully, you're giving said bully free licence to carry on pushing around other people. Even if your own personal mind is above it to where it lends the bully no room, not everybody is yet as strong as that. Those are the people the anchorwoman in question is concerned for, and that's why she rightfully exposed the idiot for what he is, on local television.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Let me reset what bullying is so we are all understanding. Oddly enough I believe we have all been bullied in the past but some of us are having troubles grasping what bullying is...

1. the act of intimidating a weaker person to make them do something
2. a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people.


Now if you haven't read the letter from this guy in it's entirety, please stop trolling and go post somewhere else. If you have read it, you will see this guy is in no way trying to intimidate this lady, and this lady is not smaller or weaker. He's giving his opinion in a polite matter of fact way. He didn't post this on the internet nor did he try and draw attention to himself or this issue, that was done by this lady's husband. He merely posted his opinion, agree with it or disagree ( i disagree btw) but he's entitled to his opinion, and his opinion is in no way bullying her.

Someone was stating how another person should live and did so by cowardly means (anonymity) - that is known as "shaming" and to do so rather anonymously in a public forum is considered bullying. What he posted was well-worded asshattery. Articulate assholes are still assholes. We don't know what he looks like, what his eating or exercise habits are and even if we did it would be irrelevant because what works for him might not work out for her.

You can whip out dictionary definitions, but it seems popular opinion sees what he said as shaming and bullying. Bullying is seldom far removed from shaming.

Now, I believe I posted it in this thread because it was a positive message. Things that make us happy. People who are confident in who the are make me happy. This woman was and I see nothing wrong with passing something positive along. I don't see how that is trolling just because you happen to be on the dissenting side here.

----------------------------------------

And now your moment of zen...

[Aksannyi]

Totally want that skirt, that's awesome.

There's a big argument on BG about the same issue. What if it were the fat kid in an elementary school being told that he's a terrible person because he's fat? Is it bullying then?

Just because people grow up doesn't mean their feelings die and they can no longer be hurt by things people say. I'm 31 years old and some of the things that people used to say to me when I was a young child still hurt. I can regale you all with tales of my #foreveralone childhood which seem to parallel directly with my #foreveralone adulthood, but I'll spare the details. One time being called something may seem innocent, but you have no idea what the history is there.

Regardless of whether or not she was truly hurt by it, I don't think there's anything wrong with someone in the public eye speaking out against bullying. You want to know what years of bullying does to a person? You guys have all seen the posts I've made here - I have trouble even talking about it, but you all know that I have a history of severe depression, and I know I'm not the only person here. If this woman's message stopped one asshole from pushing one poor soul over the edge and into the abyss of feeling as worthless as you've all seen me feel, then good on her. As it is, I'm subject to a lifetime of seemingly innocent things triggering months of pure hell, thanks to a few assholes who thought they were cool.

I'm sure it was all in good fun though, after all, they're just words.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Totally want that skirt, that's awesome.

Geek Chic Fashion by GoChaseRabbits on Etsy

According to Destructoid they're all hand made, so they tend to come and go in limited quantities.

[Aksannyi]

The thing is, while I love it, it wouldn't match anything I own. Great novelty item, but I'd probably never wear it. I tend to dress more goth than anything, so I can't see that really working with my wardrobe.


Smile: Old episode of That 70s Show where everyone's voices are a little bit higher in pitch because they're all so young.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Seemed relevant.

Pic #1 - Same body
Pic #2 - Actual women

[Armando]

He did not "bully" her and that's a fact. He gave an opinion but in no way bullied her.

He went out of his way to try to make her feel bad about her appearance. He was also telling her to lose weight or GTFO of the TV news business. That meets both the real criteria of being a bully (cruelty to others), and your made-up criteria (intimidating someone weaker into doing something.)

It doesn't matter how polite or articulate his letter was. It doesn't matter that he didn't try to take her lunch money. It doesn't matter there was no physical confrontation. At best you could argue he was trying to do the world a favor, but then again bullies must think there's nothing wrong with their behavior in order to justify doing it.

The WORST POSSIBLE WAY to handle an email from someone that is trying to get air time is BY PUTTING IT ON THE LOCAL TELEVISION.

You obviously missed the part where discussion was sparked on Facebook, which means the situation wasn't confined to her inbox. And the part where a lot of people sympathize with her. And that the worst she could've done was cry about it publicly. So obviously you're wrong, and she could've done much worse. Your opinions aren't fact. Deal with that.

[Taskmage]

I wouldn't have batted an eye at the first on its own, but in light of the second, those models all look like Jack Skellington.

[Armando]

I wouldn't have batted an eye at the first on its own, but in light of the second, those models all look like Jack Skellington.

Yeah, when those 8th grade girls were protesting beauty magazines that's one of the things they complained about. "You don't have enough diversity" "But we have people of color!" Facepalm.

[Feba]

I would like to see data on how harmful to society obesity is. I expect there are effects in things like lost productivity and additional load on healthcare facilities, but I'm doubtful as to whether those externalities are significant enough to bother condemning.

Ignore the health factors-- just look at the energy consumption factor. It takes energy to produce food. It takes energy to ship food from production facilities, to retail, to homes. It takes energy to prepare foods, and the extra weight of obese people consumes extra energy in transporting them. This alone causes harm to our national energy demands; it might seem like a measly difference on a day to day scale, but when it's spread across a huge percentage of the population, over a scale of years?

Or look at it from a national defense standpoint. With the huge amount of people who couldn't possibly go fighting, if the US needed a large amount of soldiers for whatever reason, it would be a huge detriment to our national security. Look at it from a consumer design standpoint; the increasing amount of obese persons also demands increased resources from companies designing to and working to suit their needs, that could otherwise be put into other areas. Especially at restaurants, where the portion sizes are ridiculously tuned up and up year over year, to keep a fatter and fatter clientele satisfied. Not to mention the studies that show obesity spreads through social networks like a disease; where your likelihood of gaining weight can be influenced by friends of friends, including people you never meet... Fat is contagious, in a very literal sense.

[Raydeus]

Are most women in the US really that big or was that ad campaign targeted at married women with children? o_O




And just to cover it, sorry if it sounds offensive somehow. <_<

[Armando]

Ignore the health factors-- just look at the energy consumption factor. It takes energy to produce food. It takes energy to ship food from production facilities, to retail, to homes. It takes energy to prepare foods, and the extra weight of obese people consumes extra energy in transporting them. This alone causes harm to our national energy demands; it might seem like a measly difference on a day to day scale, but when it's spread across a huge percentage of the population, over a scale of years?

Sure, but there's a lot of other shit we need to fix that would yield more savings for the energy expended. Like literally throwing away money on pennies and nickels that are worth more in raw materials than money value. Or the whole meat production/consumption thing.

You'd also have similar food and weight problems if everyone got into powerlifting or bodybuilding, which I'm not saying is gonna happen, but I think dictating the way people live their lives should be the last thing we do to fix the national budget. And again you have to distinguish between obesity and simple overweightness. Obesity is a serious condition, being overweight not so much.

[Taskmage]

Ignore the health factors-- just look at the energy consumption factor. It takes energy to produce food. It takes energy to ship food from production facilities, to retail, to homes. It takes energy to prepare foods, and the extra weight of obese people consumes extra energy in transporting them. This alone causes harm to our national energy demands; it might seem like a measly difference on a day to day scale, but when it's spread across a huge percentage of the population, over a scale of years?

Or look at it from a national defense standpoint. With the huge amount of people who couldn't possibly go fighting, if the US needed a large amount of soldiers for whatever reason, it would be a huge detriment to our national security. Look at it from a consumer design standpoint; the increasing amount of obese persons also demands increased resources from companies designing to and working to suit their needs, that could otherwise be put into other areas. Especially at restaurants, where the portion sizes are ridiculously tuned up and up year over year, to keep a fatter and fatter clientele satisfied. Not to mention the studies that show obesity spreads through social networks like a disease; where your likelihood of gaining weight can be influenced by friends of friends, including people you never meet... Fat is contagious, in a very literal sense.

Ok, some interesting points, but defense? Don't we already have the largest military in the world? What could we need more for? Ground invasion of Russia/China? Increased cost of consumer products? Economically should be offset to the companies via increased prices, which are then a localized detriment to the obese person.

The social network angle is ... interesting. Not sure if I believe that study. Energy consumption seems like a valid point, though. Not to mention the huge economic inefficiency of spending our global food resources on people whose returns on those products have diminished into the negative. I wouldn't be surprised to learn those numbers are very significant.

Are most women in the US really that big or was that ad campaign targeted at married women with children? o_O

The ad probably selected people that are slightly over average weight to show a bigger contrast with the frighteningly slender models, but if it tells you anything, almost none of those women look big to me.

[Melody]

Sure, but there's a lot of other shit we need to fix that would yield more savings for the energy expended. Like literally throwing away money on pennies and nickels that are worth more in raw materials than money value. Or the whole meat production/consumption thing.

You'd also have similar food and weight problems if everyone got into powerlifting or bodybuilding, which I'm not saying is gonna happen, but I think dictating the way people live their lives should be the last thing we do to fix the national budget. And again you have to distinguish between obesity and simple overweightness. Obesity is a serious condition, being overweight not so much.

Child Obesity.

Are most women in the US really that big or was that ad campaign targeted at married women with children? o_O

You and Armando, two people who make me smile, aside from Satori and Mezlo.

[Feba]

- Armando, I'm not suggesting we "dictate" how people live for the budget, but I think it's pretty damn hard to argue that obesity is good, whether for the individual or society. It's pretty obviously harmful, no matter how much we argue as to the degree of its harm.

- Taskmage, we don't have the largest military, just the most expensive. There's a big difference.

still, these are just some of the less talked about side effects. Obviously the impact on health is the biggest reason to say "Get on a treadmill, fatty"; but there are more, too.