Fat people are looked down upon in our culture. There's a strong social stigma attached to being obese. In fact I have a hard time thinking of something that's more looked down upon, maybe being homeless or very poor.

My parents, secular bleeding heart saints in many ways, have sneering disgust for fat people. Their lives are pretty much built on liberal tolerance, but they sure don't tolerate the fatties!

Do you hate the fatties? Do you feel disgusted by them? Do you choose to not associate with people who are overweight? Do you think they have poor character because of their heftiness?

It's funny that the foreigners often stereotype Americans as all being fat, but we Americans know that only the poor ignorant underclass Walmart shoppers among us are really fat.

The American stereotype overseas really isn't helped by some of your TV exports, like Man Vs Food.

fat women are looked down on much more than fat men

I agree. Also hi Filthy! Break a leg tonight bro.

This is surely cultural (I know you're at least partly joking). In India, for example, only the wealthy can afford to be fat.

I do look down on fat people for no real good reason. I'm not sure why. It's the lack of self-discipline, maybe.

I really think Chris Christie has no chance at being elected president because of his weight, holding his politics constant.

My wife travels all over the world for work. A couple years ago she was in Africa and someone she hadn't seen for more than a year came up to her and said, "I see you've had a prosperous year!" She started dieting when she returned home.

I have to agree with Dominick. I know that some people do just have a genetic predisposition to obesity, but most fat people simply eat too much, eat terribly and never exercise, so it's pretty much their own fault.

Also real fat people tend to just look and sound really unhealthy when they exert themselves, walk up stairs, get up out of a chair, etc... it's awkward being around them sometimes.

And they're costing us all money with the Obamacare. Diabetes-ridden fat ****ers.

probably true but there is also a backlash to this with all the "real women" and "healthy body image", campaigns which tend to put down thin female celebrities as being bad role models for women, because women should love themselves, etc...

they are trying to shift the goalposts of what constitutes the "right" weight so that heavy is seen as normal, and I think it's a terrible idea in terms of health.

They smell and get in the way and use up more than their allotted space. Can't wait til I get my chance to kick a fat person off of an airplane.

Fat bottom girls make the rockin world go round!!!! I thought everybody knew this.

Kioshk, as someone who eats nothing but fried chicken and meat/cheese sandwiches I always expected you to have at least a bit of girth

haha well I could lose a few pounds but I'm doing ok overall.

qft, get on your bike and ride!

because they are disgusting, usually poor hygiene and awful health, sick more often, and their sheer existence is a cause for concern when I see one waddling toward my row on a plane.

Now we're talkin'!

I have no problem befriending fat people like at work and stuff if they make for good conversation or whatever. But strangers...if they are fat, I find them disgusting and definitely judge them negatively.

Here for the sheep points.

It feels like there's more acceptance to be overweight nowadays.

If this were released today, there would be a huge backlash.

Can't have Christmas without a fat Santa Claus (or Mrs Claus).

Exactly how fat are we talking about here?

Also, fat is sort of relative. In LA, you are fat if you go past 160lbs, but that's pretty thin in Louisiana. You just don't see any cheese-balls rolling around out here. For the most part, I don't really notice people are fat out here like I would in other areas of the country unless this is the rare person that is tipping the scales at 200lbs. Even fat girls are still thin enough I could wrap my arms around them if I felt so inclined, so they still look fairly pretty.

Anecdote: my boss told me how he was growing a belly. I was like "really?" And he stood up and pointed at himself: "You never noticed this?" No....

Well, I hope your friend doesn't see this when he's back from Vegas (unless he's not fat so much as Strong Like Bull)

That whole post was very awkward

well it's kind of an awkward subject.

I used to think the same way as dave. I just never saw very many fat people in my day to day life and never thought there were that many overweight people in the general population, although I guess it's relative. But anyway, then I got a job in a hospital . omg. That's when a lot of my compassion went out the window. Trying to lift/assist/bathe an overweight person is, er, quite the ****ing challenge (to put it politely)

This for sure, but you pretty much have no shot anymore if you're under 5'10" (a man anyway) or are at all funny looking or ugly. Obama and Romney could totally have been in a brooks brothers ad. Probably one bad tooth is enough to rule someone out.