I know people are pressed for time, and we all want information fast. We don’t want to take the time to read something that’s more than 140 characters or a quick status update. So I understand that some people have completely missed the point of what I’m doing here. However. If you’re going to take the time to click and read something, maybe you should actually, you know, read it?
Here’s what prompted this post. On Monday, I wrote about how some people assume they know what it’s like to live in another person’s body, about the frustration I feel when someone tries to ignore or invalidate my lived experience. Somehow, someone who “read” that post took only one thing away from it: I need help. Here’s a screenshot of our conversation (with his identifying details removed, because even though he really offended me, I won’t publicly embarrass him – unless he does it again):
This Guy never responded after that.
The only way I can figure that he decided I’m looking for weight loss help is that he saw the word “fat” in the text a few times. After all, here’s a word cloud of the current front page of the blog. Look at that terrifying word in yellow, writ large!
Sure, the majority of us fear and loathe that word. It catches our attention easily, and we likely assume that everyone feels the same way about it. But would it really have taken so much energy and effort to actually read what I wrote? To understand what I’m saying? It’s also pretty ironic that he “read” a post about not respecting my experience (that is, being fit and fat) and then… didn’t respect my experience by implying that I’m not fit.
I’ve already said too much, and many of you have stopped reading. So I could totally say something random here, like, Friday Night Lights is the best television show ever made Texas Forever Tim Riggins!, and maybe no one would notice. But just in case you are still reading, here’s a short and sweet rundown of what this blog about, boiled down to six simple yes/no questions:
- Is Big Fit Deal about weight loss? No.
- Are you trying to lose weight? No.
- Is this blog just a big fat cry for help? No.
- Can fat people be fit? Yes.
- Are you sure? Yes.
- Really, really sure? Yes.
Thank you for your time and attention.
