Look. All it is is a motorized wheelchair with a large basket. It’s intended as a courtesy for people with temporary or permanent disabilities, such as a broken leg or a spinal disorder and the like. It’s not any different from having a handicapped-only space near the entrance to a store, really.

Since so many big box stores nowadays are “self-service” before the actual checkout, i.e. you don’t typically have somebody there to push you around in a regular wheelchair or push your cart for you… well, it’s a viable enough solution.

You call it “crazy” or “madness”, I call it “corporate-level courtesy”.

That’s a stupid way of putting it. I get what you’re “trying” to say, but it’s still a dumb way of putting it.

Of course it’s not “only” genetics… but saying “If genetics played nearly as big a role in obesity as americans [sic] like to think, there would be fat kids in the videos of starving africans[sic]” is one of the stupidest, most hyperbolic arguments I’ve ever seen, precisely because if ANYONE actually actively STARVES, of course they lose all their body fat… and muscle. And other tissue! Which is why you don’t have fat anorexics!

But you can’t also discount the role that genes, hormones and the environment interacting can have on individuals. For instance: there’s a small bit of evidence that those who had to go on a heavily rationed but NOT starving diet shortly before puberty actually end up with healthier (more efficient) metabolisms and live longer… most Americans are too fortunate to have had this experience, even if they don’t pig out on cakes and pies, thus many of them will never have gained this boost.

Additionally, it seriously depends on what your ancestors’ niche was, as it were.

There’s some evidence that night owls actually have a biological difference from early risers in terms of being able to get by on less sleep by getting a “second wind” of sorts (both types of sleeping habits could be beneficial to either individuals or tribes, hence why we have both)… those who don’t get a certain amount of sleep per night tend more often to be overweight though, probably because their metabolisms are trained to horde for the times they stay awake for extra time.

There’s also a major difference, probably, between people whose ancestors developed to survive in temperate or tropical climates (in which excess weight could be a detriment), vs. those whose ancestors mostly grew up in say, Norway, in which you need a metabolism that can horde calories like there’s no tomorrow, otherwise you freeze to death.

And all of THIS is not even fully considering the fact that the vast majority of people, having come from a species that survived a few ice ages, have by default a metabolism that can easily skew itself towards “slow”.

This is, of course, NOT to say that none of us have any influence over how our genes are expressed but… seriously, dude. Get a better damn analogy.

…uh.

…careful. Some of that could easily be muscle, which is twice as dense as fat. It literally weighs twice as much, but is obviously a lot healthier to have. In fact, a lot of people despair when they start exercising and “don’t lose any weight” – because they don’t realize they’re losing FAT and gaining muscle.

Unless of course you’ve lost this weight entirely through physical exertion and the avoidance of Hostess snack cakes, in which case ignore this comment

Now, I’m all for “the internet is not always srs bsns”, especially on a “lolsite”… certainly, there are people who “take themselves too seriously”. BUT.

She has a valid point, or rather two valid points:

First, that there ARE doctors out there who, frankly, suck at their jobs because they’re so damn disconnected that they can’t treat their patients properly, and I do mean in a medical sense. And that the current system seems to cause a level of burnout that makes it easy for even otherwise good doctors to fall into these behavioral patterns. This goes even well beyond people who are overweight, into people with other issues, too; for instance, for years, many doctors thought (and some still do) that people were “making up” fibromyalgia symptoms… even when they weren’t. And a lot of doctors are reluctant to prescribe painkillers in case the patient “doesn’t really need it”… except, you know, this includes the patient who practically needs morphine to get through the day, so they do “really need it”, and thus have to live with a great deal of pain.

Her other valid point (to paraphrase) was that jokes like this AREN’T ACTUALLY FUNNY, in the sense of “telling it like it is in a funny way”… precisely because real life isn’t as conveniently open to cynicism as this chart portrays it.

In other words, you see “haha, lazy fat people joke. Those fat lazy bastards suck!”. What a lot of people who are or (in my case) who know people who are overweight BECAUSE of serious health issues and not vice versa, this becomes, “haha, joke that perpetuates a harmfully pervasive cultural stereotype that equates every overweight person with the people who are overweight out of laziness, thus making those who truly can’t help their weight have to live with stares and shame”.

No, not everything on the interwebs is srs bsns.

But not every joke is “harmless” either, and people have a right to complain a little if the see the not-so-harmless kind.

TLDR version: you’re a lot more self-absorbed sounding than that other woman and this joke actually falls under “Not cool, man. Not cool.”‘ simply because of reality; she has a right to say so.

(Btw, @Farris: there’s a sixth level now! He calls it “OH HELL NO”)

My mother for instance, has nasty arthritis, a damaged spine, and two bad knees. And fibromyalgia. The only exercise she can get is swimming, which she can’t do nearly enough to lose the amount of weight that she would need to to “not look fat”, not least because she works full time running her own business. She has literally even tried semi-starving herself to get her body to burn off the excess… all it does is make her metabolism slow up so that she doesn’t lose more than like 10 pounds before she starts gaining it back. She can’t walk anything but a short distance without one or two canes, and she can’t walk significant distances at all… she’s forced to use a wheelchair part of the time at work, an electric wheelchair around the house, and those riding carts when shopping. Yet she looks fairly young, and she sometimes lends her cane to my dad, so you can’t always “tell”.

Oh, and her insurance copays would be too high to afford any (mind you, already risky) surgeries like that stomach stapling thing.

So, yeah. This chart would be pretty funny if it weren’t painfully obvious that its maker doesn’t know anyone like my mother, who is unfortunately a good deal overweight, but literally can’t help it, and is also severely disabled in terms of walking. Then, too, we have my boyfriend – who has a herniated disc at age 24. Lack of insurance and sheer bad luck have made sure it’s unfixed at this point, and he’s gained considerable weight, precisely because there are very few types of exercise he can do for any extended period of time (he recently had to stay on his feet for one work shift, and came home unable to do anything except lie down until the next day). He actually does have trouble walking and most especially standing for long periods of time. Yet he tries not to walk with a cane at least some of the time, so there again, not even necessarily the obvious clue…

This reminds me actually of all those people who complain that a lot of the people who have handicapped placards and plates “look just fine OMG HOW DARE THEY, THOSE FRAUDSTERS”; it makes me wonder if they have ever even thought that there are some people with disabilities that aren’t outwardly obvious. :\

I never assume fat people on those things at any given place are automatically “just lazy”… I tend to assume they have frequent or occasional back and/or leg problems, which are probably contributing to their weight problems. In fact, in my area, we have a lot of middle-aged and older people who have exactly that kind of problem.

I know it’s easy to stereotype and even easier to wonder or assume that these people might be lazy… and certainly a few of them are, because that’s human nature. But a great number of them aren’t “just fine, only lazy”. :\ A lot of them look moderately-healthy-but-overweight, and in fact, are actually physically quite disabled.

Oh nevermind, too late.

You seem like one of those people who take things said on the internet a little too seriously. Sad.

Granted, when you think about what they put potential doctors through to earn that doctorate, it’s a wonder any of them come out of it sane. If you’d intentionally designed a program to remove all empathy for their future patients from would-be doctors, you couldn’t do better than what’s already in place. Even for those who go into it with the most sincere desire to help and do good, it takes a pretty amazing person to come out it with anything resembling compassion.

‘fluffy’?

I hope.

*feels ashamed for stealing comedic material*

Even more unbelievably, some of us even have rather nice lives, in which we have people to love and are — however disgusting and lazy we are — loved in return. We even manage to tear ourselves away from the feedbag long enough to have fulfilling careers and enjoyable hobbies, once our imaginary non-weight-related issues are treated, even though we’re _still fat!!!!_ How crazy is that? That placebo effect sure is something, huh?

Wonder if his blind, judgmental, uncaring attitude, his oh-so-clever and original rudeness, and his badly attempted cruelty brings him even half as much happiness and satisfaction? Probably not, or at least it’s not likely to, in the long-run. Petty, bitter people who indulge in casual cruelty and demonstrate a lack of empathy rarely have the capacity to form the emotional bonds which are necessary for a human being to achieve true happiness. Instead, they go through life with some vague awareness that something is missing, angry at everyone and everything for the lack of what they can’t understand, and eventually drive away everyone who tries to care for them. Ultimately, most of them never do understand what they’re missing, and end up old, miserable, and alone, hating their own company as much as everyone else does, but lacking the guts to put themselves (and everyone else) out of their misery. So, it’s not really something to get angry about, or let bother you — it’s something that is deserving of pity and compassion, a tragedy that will affect not only him, but countless others he comes into contact with, for the rest of his life.

Anyway, I wanted to thank you, too, for your comments in this thread. They’re a little bit of hope in a world which is vastly lacking in it.

Since the accident, several years ago, she’s developed severe neurological problems to go with the gross physical ones, and has been, obviously, unable to work. She’s gained a further fifty pounds, despite the fact that she’s basically stopped eating (I’m lucky if I can get that daily yogurt down her). I promise you that she is NOT inactive by choice, in any way shape or form, and not only would the exercise of walking through the store not be good for her, it could, in fact, cause further damage. Even if it didn’t, however, the excruciating pain it would cause would far outweigh any theoretical benefit. People think of walking as ‘gentle’ exercise, but when you have spinal conditions, it’s not. It’s torture, of the sort that would leave her unable to move at _all_ for a week or better, causing severe depression and self-loathing to go along with the physical pain, and thus do far more harm than good. Having people sneer and point and make nasty comments at ‘the lazy lard-ass wasting the cart’ doesn’t help, either. You don’t know the medical history of the people riding those carts — you’re not their doctor, if you’re a doctor at all — so you cannot justifiably say that it’s good for their health and metabolism, when you don’t know the details of that health and metabolism. You probably mean well, but the attitude is still hurtful, and born of ignorance of the actual situation.

It’d be nice if people, rather than assuming the worst, would occasionally think, instead, “Gee, just because I can’t see anything wrong with that person, that doesn’t mean there isn’t something, and they probably have a good reason for doing what they’re doing.” In other words, instead of an attitude that paints most people are lazy/selfish/stupid/inconsiderate/thoughtless/weak, it’d be nice if people would give others the benefit of the doubt, and assume that they know what’s best for their own health and are not likely to commandeer a very limited-supply item for no good reason. Frankly, such an attitude would be healthier and more beneficial to the person themselves, as well as those they’re looking upon — it’s hard to be happy when you think that everyone around you is a selfish jerk.