I had a few minutes to spare so I checked out the NAAFA site. Despite the fact that most of these people are lazy, defeatist whiners lacking self control, some of them bring up some very good points about shortcomings and outright deceptions perpetuated by the diet industry. HOWEVER, some of NAAFA’s official stances made me absolutely livid. Look at this, taken from their website:
“NAAFA ADVOCATES:...That institutions such as the military, hospitals, schools, mental institutions, or prisons provide adequate food and not force anyone to diet against their will... That health care professionals and medical institutions never deny other medical treatment to patients who choose not to diet...That all commercials for weight-loss diets and diet products be banned from radio and television because of lack of product success, negative health consequences, and the extreme negative impact of anti-fat propaganda on the self-esteem and quality of life of fat people...”
“NAAFA RESOLVES TO:... Educate the public, the media, and potential dieters as to the low long-term success rates and possible negative health consequences of weight reduction dieting... Provide advice and emotional support to individuals who have dieted unsuccessfully and blame themselves, rather than the product, for the diet's failure.”
Please, this is in no way meant to slam all fat people (I was one for a long time); my hostility is directed at this organization and it's members. What are your thoughts?
This whole thing about people getting mad at NAAFA is futile. They’re fat, and they want to accept it and love it, so it seams. So let them be. We went to “their” site…!!!.. it’s not like they came into the t-mag forum and started preaching, if they did we could all jump down their fat throats quicker than a box of ho-ho’s…ya know, if they want to be fat, then fuck em’… let them be fat. Just let them live in their pathetic little world. No one will accept the fact that being fat is o.k, because is been proven time and time again, being that fat is unhealthy. and being unhealthy will never be in vouge, and the general public will never accept the negative notion that unhealthy should be accepted…NAAFA is an orginization for people who have given up, who are failures in their quest for weight management, and now they want to try to turn it all around and convince people it is acceptable to be fat and unhealthy… just let them be… besides, all those people will be long gone and dead in the next 10-30 years, and NAAFA will no longer exist…let’s just leave them alone to die peacefully.
I pitty them. But let them have their place where they can feel comfortable with what they are. Some people, the minority I would say, like to take control and the responsibility for their life. But in my experience the vast majority takes comfort in being a ‘victim’, be it of society, disease, their next door neighbour, whatever. Leave them alone and let them lull themselves in their lies.
Covert operations in work. This is going to become a very strong lobby unless it’s curtailed immediately. I don’t believe that many of the posters on the board are aware of these items, let alone believe them. I also believe that while many of the people who frequent that site are looking for support, they aren’t “satisfied” with their bodies and just don’t know where to turn. It’s going to be a long battle, but I believe it can be won.
No, you misunderstand me. If it were simply a matter of NAAFA wanting to be left alone, I would agree. They should be able to do whatever they want to their bodies. But these people are not simply looking for a place where they can feel comfortable. They are playing the victim and trying to force others to conform to their view, through litigation if necessary.
Look, I have no problem with fat people who don’t care that they’re fat, but these people clearly have another agenda. They don’t merely want to be fat and accept it and love it, as PODGE wrote. They want to be fat and force everyone else to accept and love them. They want people to believe that they got fat through no fault of their own. They want people to believe that there is no health risk associated with being overweight. Further, they want to DISCOURAGE OTHERS FROM DIETING because dieting is “dangerous and futile” and “negatively affects the self esteem of fat people”. They seriously don’t want the MILITARY to put overweight soldiers on diets. They want to REQUIRE doctors to prescribe medications to people who REFUSE to even try a healthy diet and exercise program to deal with health issues. They want to make it ILLEGAL for anyone to advertise diets and diet products on radio and television. Maybe you’re right, and they will never succeed. I certainly hope so. But what if you’re wrong and they successfully sue to make these things happen?
This is not about fat acceptance, it’s about FAT PROMOTION. Simply put, NAAFA is doing a terrible disservice to those who want to change their bodies and lives for the better. One of the posters in their forum wrote that he was very thankful that he did not discover their organization before he lost 260 pounds, as if he did he may never have even TRIED. It is for people like him that I get angry. How many of their current followers have been discouraged from even trying and thus have been robbed of a better quality of life?
There’s more to this than the surface shows. What’s the long-term implications of the NAAFA? They can become a strong lobby to the government and insurance companies to make them pay for all the problems that excess weight will bring on. “So what?” you say. Well, we ALL pay for that in the way of higher insurance premiums, higher taxes, etc. I for one am tired of paying for the “pity poor me” liberalists that cry and whine. Nip it in the bud.
Well, so they promote being fat and would like to spread their agenda. Nice for them. But as brider pointed out, there is an increase in health costs associated with obesity and I can’t see any way how this will be accepted. In a related post I compared this to the problem of smoking and how that changed (if you are old enough to compare the situation 20-30 years back you know what I mean). Anyhow, writing mails to this or their board won’t change anything.
What promoting an agenda is concerned - I don't see them posting on this board but at least some on this board are posting there. So who's spreading their agenda. Besides that - we do live in a democracy and pretend to have something like freedom of speech. Now we don't like what they say, but does that mean we have to shut them up?
Personally I think the pencil-neck 'Truth' guys should direct their campaigns now against fat people, preferably in some 'celebrity boxing' tag team match, live on prime time TV. We will have the overweight cheerleaders and Goldberg too if we can get him to finally gain some weight :))))
Kurt you were right whenyou wrote “Welcome to the Monkey House” AAAARGGG. I encourage all to read it, or watch Slaughter House Five. When you see the ballet sence you will understand.
After the many posts on this forum for the last month about NAAFA, I think it is time for Testosterone to interview NAAFA.
By the way I also hate fat people that wants to convince others that being fat is ok and that trying to have an athletic body is impossible. In case there is an obese person reading this: I have two friends that were obese since they were 5 years old. At 18 they decided to do something about it, they started lifting weights, and after 1 year and a half they aquired the "men's health" look. Right now they are 26 years old, and still in great shape.
Actually NAAFA was somewaht successful in their campaign to change the auto safety law/regulation to force auto makers to make bigger/longer belts for fatties. It was directed by this fat ass woman who couldn’t use the seat belt on a Honda Civic (the car she wanted), and Honda refused to make her a special belt because Honda said all its cars met the federal and state regulations for safety. It was a pretty interesting back then cuz she went to the national media to get support, saying how others do not value fatties’ lives.
To be honest tho…if they don’t care about themselves enough to improve their health and the way they look, why should anyone care about them?
BTW – I dont’ want to foot the bill for the lazy fatties who’ll go to the hospital for all kinds of diseases in the futre, so I’d appreciate it if these people would just stop with this madness and get their asses to the gym and stop munching on cookies and donuts 24/7.
Hey did anybody else hear about the school board in Pennsylvania that is sending letters of concern home to parents of obese children? It’s something like those letters that they send to parents informing them that their kid needs glasses or a hearing aid or a tutor or something–but now it’s to tell them that their child’s obesity is dangerous to his/her health and that the parents should begin doing something about it. As if a parent wouldn’t realize their kid is fat!!!
I’m sorry, I must have missed something. Who is NAAFA? National Association of Actual Fat Asses? Why have they become such a recent obsession (sp) on the board?
i can understand why you and others would be mad at them shoving “love us” bullshit down people’s throat. just ignore them. all normal, sane, and intelligent people will ignore them too… i don’t know what you’ve seen in media in your town, but i’ve never heard of NAAFA until i got on this site. so, ya know… big deal…who gives a fuck… BUT if those fat, lazy, excuse making low lifes start pumping out infomercials, t.v. press conferences, radio shows, sitcoms on primetime relating being accepted as fat people, ‘then’ i’d be a MAD SUMBITCH !! right now, i see no sence in it…(hundreds and hundreds of obese people have lost weight and kept it off… they have no excuse… )
Look… I went to the NAAFA site just to stir them up, and have some laughs. I wrote how I am 190 pounds ripped, and want to be over 300 pounds at 35%+ bodyfat, because people think Im an airhead and judge me by my looks. I asked for advice to gain weight.
Despite what I had expected, the general consensus was that it is not healthy for me to gain that much weight, and that I should be happy with my body as it is, not obsess over looks. You read that right. Most NAAFA members are not happy with the way they look and would do something about it, but dont know how. They even have an Exercise At Every Size forum.
But, as soon someone brings up losing weight, the mods either delete the post, or attack the wanna-be thin person about how shallow looks are or how diets are dangerous. Yes, a Keto diet can be dangerous, but only if you dont work out at all (ketoacidosis builds up), or live for years at zero carbs. But somehow, the mods forget to mention that. Its the mods. Blaming all NAAFA members would be like blaming all Afghanistans for 9-11 instead of just the ruling Al-Quaeda (sp?).
On another note, there (at NAAFA) seems to be a number of naughty little boys posting troll messages and irritating everyone (me included). One guy posted how he hurt his back, lay in bed for 2 years and now weighs over 700 pounds. Being immobile, he is completely dependent on his family, which hates him. I felt really sorry for Mr. Sparkle (his handle), untill I got to the part where he washes himself with a rag on a stick, little children peering through the window and shouting names like Porkbeast etc. Come on, thats straight out of Whats Eating Gilbert Grape! Maybe more of us could visit NAAFA forums and have some immature fun.
On the other hand… What if a normal, ordinary person visited these forums, and saw posts like: Where should I inject myself with XXX?, or: My knee teared on 600 lb squats, should I see a doctor?, or: Im not drinking any water for 3 days because I want to look good at the competition, or maybe even: My dick is small, what should I take? They would think we are a bunch of freaks. But do we care? Nope. Just like NAAFA doesnt care about our opinions. As a side note, I do not want to name names, but 95% people on the NAAFA boards spell, care about capital letters, punctuate and use grammar correctly. Over here, that is not the case. Sad. (And before you spell-check this post, let me remind you, Im from Europe and English is my 3rd language.)
By the time they get to TV and infomercials, public service announcements etc, the battle will be almost over. It needs to be squelched BEFORE it gets that far.
Folks, I’ll say it again…they have money, they have lawyers, and they have lifetimes of teasing and ostracism to draw upon. They ARE taking their cause to this country’s courts. Our society is becoming increasingly litigious (nod to Mufasa) and anyone with suitable funds and good legal representation can change the laws that affect us all. I did not go to the NAAFA board either to troll or post; I went there to get a sense of who these people are and what they are about. I certainly don’t think they are horrible, evil people. I do feel sorry for some of them, as it really is heartbreaking to hear of the cruelty that a few have had to endure. No one should have to fear that they will die unloved, alone, and miserable. That is why I think that we have a responsibility to help them. We know that there is a better way, as some of us have LIVED IT. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let my sympathy override my common sense. I refuse to sit back and let their lawyers run roughshod through the courts because they are unable to manage their appetites and maintain a healthy activity level. I also refuse to give up hope for the few folks that can and will change their lives for the better if they only receive the encouragement they need…encouragement that they aren’t getting from NAAFA.
I think that the scariest part is that as the number of morbidly obese people increases as a percentage of the population, is that NAAFA will gain more influence and power. People might start listening to them