Fathletes...

So, work is almost over and I was doing my afternoon peruse of the facebooks and I came across this...

To the fatty running on the track

It was posted by someone (I'm sure with wonderful intentions) who said something about it being inspirational and how everyone starts somewhere.  The title of the article is "To the fatty running on the track this afternoon."  At this point I'm already pretty skeptical, but I clicked anyway.  I clicked because there are things on facebook that sometimes are misleading for purpose of shock value.  Like that one article people keep posting about the married guy saying marriage isn't for him when in all actuality the article is about how he should treat his wife like they are dating etc.  So anywho, I click and start to read.  I read the whole thing and then read it again.  I checked the website to see if maybe I was reading something on the onion, but no.  I wasn't.  LOTS of people actually found this article to wonderful and inspirational.  I, however, did not.  I found it to be extremely offensive.  I'm a little worried that people think that it is anything but that.  However 14 people have already liked the article that was posted.  Maybe I read it wrong??  Please someone tell me I read it wrong.

As a fatty myself, I'd like to say to the author of the article that I am a fathlete.  Yes, you read that right.  I am a fatty who is extremely athletic, eats healthy, moves quite easily, could probably beat you at softball, and has run a half marathon.  It is quite possible that I am MORE athletic, healthy, AND in better shape than non-fatty who decided that this would be inspirational to people.  Sometimes it's luck of the draw buddy.  Genes play SOME factor in our shapes and sizes.  Do I think that the people on "My 600 pound life" just got bad genes?  Probably not, but I'm also guessing that they were never 105.  The article is disgusting and condescending and I'm actually embarrassed for the person who wrote it thinking it would be anything other than that.  I don't need to say too much more because someone wrote an article about why this wasn't cool and it says everything I would say anyway.  Overview:

The second paragraph is supposed to make up for all of that. You see, it’s ok to trash a fatty if you bravely lift them up later.

The Facebook piece relies on tired stereotypes. He has no problem making guesses about this person's eating habits, exercise habits and psyche based on seeing her go past on a running track. Maybe she isn't a beginner at all

This person may weigh twice what the author weighs, but maybe she has three times the muscle mass and feels just as easy moving her body.

Maybe this person doesn’t like dessert, or doesn’t drink beer, or goes to bed at 8pm. Maybe this person doesn't feel that she needs to pay a debt for eating, maybe she is running for health, or because they like it

Maybe the runner loves her body exactly as it is, and her music free mantra is "I love my body and I love running and I wish that creeper would quit staring at me!"

It’s not a compliment to suggest that a fat person’s workout is any more inspirational than anyone else who dragged their tired ass to Zumba or the track.

For the full article:
Why it's not cool to think of fat people as inspirational