people get super upset when they realize fat activism exists because they're terrified they might lose access to their "health" scapegoat, the self-righteous flogging that returns everything to its right place whenever they feel bad about the randomness of existence

they just want there to be at least ONE THING we can all agree is completely evil and deserves to be punished out of existence, and that thing should be fatness and fat people

(it never turns out to be just that one thing for them, though...one scapegoat is rarely enough)

what I can tell you is that my health was never actually improved by the hatred of fatness, not even when I was thin

anti-fatness is not actually health promotion, it's a project of symbolic significance in which you render fatness a stand-in for evil and then try to vanquish it

it's some kind of allegorical psychodrama in which you play hero for targeting a literal body organ that literally all of us have

if you want to step outside the drama for a sec, here's the deal: people exist, and it is morally right to take care of them in the bodies they have

if all of this was *actually* about the health and well-being of fat people, you would hear a lot more language talking about taking care of fat people, and people of all sizes, in general

you don't

because that's not what it's about

you would hear a lot more talk about reducing health disparities, providing resources, more support, more access to health for everyone

you don't

because that's not what it's about

the "care" available to fat people is always mysteriously punitive in nature: invasive removal of otherwise healthy organs, medications with frightening side effects, inadequate nourishment, even something as human and joyful as movement transformed into corporal punishment

tell me this is culturally about anything other than violent scapegoating

tell me this is what "caring for fat people" looks like

you can't, because it's absurd

fat people, esp those marginalized along multiple axes, are supposed to be punished, and to suffer, to fulfill a cultural role: to make everyone else feel a little more significant and safe

and to give an outlet to express the anger and disgust we all feel about the fact that we are all going to die, we don't deserve it, and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it

Jillian Michaels is terrified, and more than that, *ashamed and embarrassed* that she is going to die, and that neither her abs or her shouting can make her less dead in the end

the humiliation she feels about this has to be projected somewhere

guess this time it'll be Lizzo