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Wednesday, October 03, 2012
Pleasantly Plump News Personality
Before I offer my thoughts on the subject I want you all to watch this, even if you’ve seen it already, watch the entire thing. WKBT news anchor Jennifer Livingston got a viewer e-mail critical of her weight and here is her on-air response:
I disagree with her on several parts of this:
1) She chose this profession. It is a very superficial profession by nature. If she didn’t want to be judged largely based on her looks she should have chosen a different profession. And if she wanted to be on TV despite that, she should learn to ignore.
2) I thought the letter was fair and thoughtful. It didn’t call her a fat pig or a dumb bitch. It pointed out her visibility in the community and how she should be a better role model. If she were smoking cigarettes on air she’d get 100 letters like this. We’re going to create laws restricting what people eat but we can’t point out when people are overweight. That’s a little too much “love the sinner, hate the sin” for me. I’m a big personal responsibility guy we can’t expect people to have proper eating habits if we apologize for them when they get fat as the result of those bad habits.
Note: please don’t come at me with “maybe she has a medical condition.” There are very few medical conditions that make it impossible to be thin. Certain ailments or medications make people put on weight. But even so, it is possible to control your weight, maybe a little more difficult perhaps.
1) This guy was just being mean. He had no prayer of opening her eyes to healthy eating habits and an exercise regimen. He just wanted to be nasty and hurt her feelings. Not sure why that would give him any satisfaction but that’s why he did it.
2) I think she looks nice. She’s very pretty. She’s a little overweight, not obese on a fair standard and at her age probably not at risk for many obesity-related illnesses.
3) “If you are at home talking about the fat news lady, guess what? Your kids are going to go to school and call someone fat.” She’s right about that. Parents are the examples for kids. To teach them how to have healthy eating habits and to teach them how to treat those that don’t.
I think that's a very fair assessment. I'm sensitive to weight issues, and think she handled the situation with class.
ReplyDeleteGenetics, body type, and speed of metabolism do play a role. I have many thin friends that should be fat based on how much they eat and/or don't exercise but are rail thin. I know some people who are fat that seem to have reasonable eating habits.
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of people who are deservedly thin or fat based on the choices they make. But there are just as many who have less control over their pyhsical appearance.
My roommate and I basically eat the same amount of food. He weighs 160, eats like crap and is a couch potato. He gets a pass because his appearance doesn't represent that he's lazy and eats junk every meal. Just the opposite is true for mang heavy people. They have a reasonably balanced meal and go to the gym, yet might look like that news lady, not a slob but certainly not fit either.
Very well said Jems. I also think that body size and weight do not necessarily represent health accurately.
ReplyDeleteI consider myself to be very healthy - I don't eat red meat, rarely eat desserts, have pretty good cholesterol and blood pressure levels, and I can run for miles without losing my breath. But I love to eat and I'm 15-20 pounds overweight depending on the month, and probably look less healthy than I am. Jems' roommate is probably less healthy than I am, but I'm much more likely to be perceived as lazy or unhealthy.
I feel like the term "bully" is being overused lately. Just because someone is an idiot and may say something that isn't particularly nice, doesn't necessarily make them a bully.
ReplyDeleteDictionary.com defines a bully as "a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people."
In this case, I believe that man was perhaps an a-hole, but not a bully.