I read the article, and it's pretty short sighted.
There are a lot of fat people in this country. I know, as a lot of them are in my family.
I don't hate them for being fat. I'm honestly concerned about their health- my sister who is a couple inches shorter than me outweighs me by at least 100 lbs, and I'm not a waif.
She has both genetic issues and a physical problem that encourages weight gain, but
in addition to those she has terrible habits and a terrible job.
To claim "weight stigma" is a problem, I note that even the article tries to say with authority that the stigma effects are over and above the effects of being overweight and links to an article as proof. Clicking through to the article (not a "study" as the original article implies) you find an OPINION piece with a lot of "may" and "has potential to" wording.
I understand it sucks to be treated differently because of how you look. I'm also aware that people can be overly worried about their weight. My under 100lb wife is very concerned about her weight. I am thankful she is concerned about herself, but I also try to ensure she is being healthy.
If you don't want to see the doctor because he keeps talking about how you need to lose weight,
because it's his job to look out for your health, either do something about the concerns he has for your health or just accept that point is one he's always going to bring up.
If you go to the mechanic and say that you need an oil change and your muffler is falling off, he's going to mention it. If you choose not to take his advice and fix it, he's going to mention the muffler AGAIN the next time you see it. That's his job.
Now, there are undoubtedly people who can be healthy while they are classified as "overweight" or "obese". Seriously muscular guys are classified as "obese" by BMI.
That's not an indication that obese people can be just as healthy as other people, but that BMI is a pretty terrible way to measure health.
Personally? I could probably stand to lose about 10 lbs. I haven't weighed myself lately, but as my wedding ring is getting really loose, I'm fairly certain I've been replacing fat with muscle, so that while I might weigh only a little less than when I got married, I'm much leaner.
But it's not easy, and it takes effort and commitment. Claiming that fat people
1 AREN'T suffering from a lack of commitment and diligence is insane and the whole "body positivity" crap is simply encouraging people to find excuses for their problems.
On the other hand, once the socialists finally get control in this country, all the obese people will be prepared for the coming famine and starvation.
Final thought:
This was a "circus freak" fat man. At 6'2" they claimed he was 44 stone. (616lbs.)
First, having seen people at 600+ lbs, he's clearly not that heavy and the circus was likely padding the stats. SECONDLY, how many people have you seen that look like this guy, the circus freak from 100 years ago?
Now, clearly he (and the other circus fat men) would still qualify as fat today, but I see people riding the motorized shopping carts at Walmart or Kroger every day
2 who are comparable or worse.
I would suggest that we don't have ENOUGH weight stigma in our culture, not too much.
1: in this I'm not talking about people who are just a little overweight. People like my sister who are at least 100 lbs overweight are not simply suffering from having lost the genetic lottery. It takes choices and behaviour to get to that point.
2: well, every day that I go to those places, which is, at best, 2-4 times a month, but I ASSUME you can find examples every day.