Health and austerity

[sabotabby]

I've mentioned before that there is really no reason to harp on the Honourable Wife-Beater's girth when there are so many other reasons to bash him (for those keeping track, he beats his wife, may be abusive to his children, is a dangerous drunk driver, is incapable of doing basic math, hates queers, immigrants, and poor people, uses racist slurs, wants everyone to choke to death on car exhaust, makes rude gestures at six-year-old girls, is a pathological liar, and probably can't read, either. Also he has a stupid face.).

I'm against fat-bashing. Let's critique his policies. Let's criminally charge him for the illegal things that he's done. If we're going to talk about Ford's issues with food, let's talk about how he threatened to cut school breakfast programs for poor kids. But I don't give a shit if he's fat or not.

However, in a desperate saving throw, the Honourable Wife-Beater is publicly going on a diet. If there's one thing the idiot public likes, it's a diet success story—even though in real life, dieters have only a 5% chance of keeping the weight off long-term, so it's not the greatest of all examples to set. This bollocks had even the Star and its commenters wishing him luck.

Well, I don't care if he diets or not—what concerns me is the vocabulary of austerity measures. How do you convince a populace to accept a decrease in its standard of living? Why does anyone but the 1% vote for so-called fiscal conservatives at all, when their policies are so clearly against the interests of most people?

I might be stretching here, but I think there's a connection between economic rhetoric and the jargon of the dieting industry. We are asked to "tighten our belts" in preparation for "lean economic times." Companies and institutions are "scaled back." The idea that starvation is good for our health is invoked with suggestions of "bitter medicine"—accept that you will pay more and get less, because it's for your own good. It's the old Protestant work ethic—we like diets and cutbacks not because they're beneficial, but because suffering gives our lives meaning.

Meanwhile, the Honourable Wife-Beater's policies are anything but healthy. I mentioned the school breakfast programs (which probably won't get cut). How about removing cycling lanes? Closing public pools? Attacking shelters and seniors' homes?

Look, it's great if people want to get in shape. I think obesity is a collective issue, not an individual one, and is best reduced by eliminating corn subsidies and subsidizing healthier crops instead, but whatever floats your boat. But don't expect me to cheer for the Honourable Wife-Beater's health when he is directly and maliciously damaging the health of people who actually matter.

Comments

[lienne.livejournal.com]

:(

[sabotabby]

I weep tears of blood every time I am reminded that he's mayor.

[radiumhead.livejournal.com]

Heres my thing: i think any weapon against your enemies is fair.

Would i pick on a normal person for being fat ? No.

But if hes an asshole, and a shitty human being, id throw that at him too.

Id be like "go choke on a hot dog, you fat fucking fat-ass fuck."

[sabotabby]

I'm not saying I'd shed any tears if he choked on a hot dog, I just don't think fat is an insult. It's a descriptor.

[audrawilliams.livejournal.com]

What if he was black?

[radiumhead.livejournal.com]

Id call him a sambo darkie coon.

[outcastspice.livejournal.com]

oh wow. this is so right! well done.

[sabotabby]

Why thank you!

[ironed_orchid]

I love your brains and your politics.

Criticism a male politician for being fat is like criticizing a female politician for being unattractive: completely irrelevant.

[sabotabby]

Especially when he's so ugly on the inside.

[terry-terrible.livejournal.com]

Speaking of fat-shaming, have you heard of this disgraceful campaign?

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/03/why_is_georgia_shaming_fat_children/

It's like giving a license to bullying.

[sabotabby]

I saw that. Absolutely reprehensible.

Well-said (as usual)

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

Really, Sabs, the subject-line says it all. Sometimes the personal is only political because we allow it to distract us. Someone in the Mayor's entourage has read their McLuhan.

[sabotabby]

I am shocked that anyone in the mayor's entourage can read.

[zingerella.livejournal.com]

I think it is a good measure of how tired I am, how generally disillusioned I feel, and also how much I hate Ford, that I read this:

... is incapable of doing basic math ...

as

... is incapable of doing basic meth ...

And did nothing more than blink, think "Well, I don't see how he could fuck even that up, but I wonder when I missed that story."

Then I re-read it, and thought "Yes, that makes marginally more sense."

[sabotabby]

From what I hear about his recent family troubles, meth doesn't seem out of the question either.

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

Interesting vocabulary links. I hadn't ever thought about them, except vaguely in that I think of diets as being a symptom of self-obsessive fads for well-off people who get botox and think protein shakes are healthy or something, so when politicians talk of "tightening belts" I think of it as part of their smug assumption that everyone is pretty well off and might enjoy a little money-saving as a new lifestyle hobby, like when we get money saving "tips" in the Guardian along the lines of buying your wine cases in bulk, or not at all, or walking to the shops instead of using the car, as if we were ever so wealthy or decadent that we bought cases of wine or had cars in the first place...

Of course they are also ignoring the fact that if you have less money you usually end up having to eat less healthy, more fattening food. Do you really get corn subsidies? I mean, is corn more of a staple than wheat where you are?

what is it with tightening belts, anyway? surely you only do that if you have already lost weight, but can't afford new trousers, like me, so the issue is one of buying new clothes? I am confusing myself. I am off to bed.

[sabotabby]

like when we get money saving "tips" in the Guardian along the lines of buying your wine cases in bulk, or not at all, or walking to the shops instead of using the car, as if we were ever so wealthy or decadent that we bought cases of wine or had cars in the first place...

Oh man, I always laugh at that. I mean, I am comparatively well-off now but those sorts of money-saving tips (or exercise tips) kill me every time.

Do you really get corn subsidies? I mean, is corn more of a staple than wheat where you are?

Not as corn, but corn syrup is in everything. Corn subsidies have devastated Mexico far more than they have Canada, but regardless, fucking NAFTA.

When I lose weight my pants still generally fit me; they're just baggy. I believe I should invest in braces. Actually, even if I don't lose weight, I feel that I should invest in braces.

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

Grrarrgh those money saving tips, bah! There was a whole book of them published in the U.S.; I remember tips form it printed in the papers and the only one that made sense to me/ that I was not too poor to have a chance to try was to make a flask of tea (/coffee) rather than keep boiling the kettle, so I tried to do that but the flask kept getting mouldy-smelly because I forgot to wash it out. But really. Do people who leave things on standby and leave lights on and keep the heating on constantly and drive to the shops (ok, necessary in some areas, but I promise you not where I live, within walking distance of every kind of shop - even then I saw some people unloading a car of bags from the supermarket round the corner yesterday, despite the walk to the supermarket being the same length as the walk from the supermarket car park into the supermarket...)?

waffle rant!

I never knew fat-bashing was an issue until I went online lots, as most people I know are only slightly overweight and not bothered, but hmmm...if we had an evil mayor who happened to be very overweight I would probably abstain from commenting on his weight so as not to upset nice people who happen to be overweight. We have an evil mayor who is a bit overweight but stands out more for his foppishness and flop of hair, posh accent, Latin quotes and bicycle. Like a right-wing Stephen Fry.
http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Arnold+Schwarzenegger/Boris+Johnson/Arnold+Schwarzenegger+Boris+Johnson+Bicycle/1qlLL_hd0na
It is hard to dislike him because he is so funny despite being a baddie Tory and twat. Mayors here have very little power compared to what yours seems to have, though, so it aint so much of an issue, and our one at least has done a few decent things amongst the bad stuff. He stood up against some disability benefits and housing benefits cuts.