the writing and photography of Neil Kramer

Fat Acceptance Gone Too Far

Lately there have been several posts in which the writers were outraged at this new Fat Acceptance movement.  Really, how dare anyone tell those overweight people that they can be happy with their bodies?

At first, I was defending the right of others to do as they please, but an incident occurred recently that punched me right in the gut, and finally woke me up to the dangers of this ideology.

Last week, I was very excited to attend this meditation retreat at this zen center.  It was a beginner’s class, and I didn’t know much about the discipline.  I met the wonderful instructor and the other eager students.  We were all ready to learn as much as possible.  We climbed the stairs to the upstairs studio, and that’s when I saw him.

He wasn’t just fat.  He was morbidly obese!  It was clear that he rarely exercised, and mostly sat around like a lazy bum.  I’m not sure he even had a job, ever.  Perhaps the worst part of this experience was that the instructor looked up to this dude, as if this fatso with his gut hanging over his pants had any “wisdom” to offer.  The students even bowed to him.   There was a bowl of fruit sitting in front of this blimp of a man, as if that was what he mostly meditated on — his next meal.   Now, I think it’s OK for the overweight to visit Walmart, or even visit the beach WITH a t-shirt on, but when this “Fat Acceptance” starts to infiltrate our world religions, it has gone too far.

24 Comments

  1. karrie

    Pfft! LOL I thought this was related to a woman who is killing herself to be the fattest woman in Guinness Records.

  2. Marie

    Oh, Neil, how you amuse me.

  3. drlori71

    BWAHAHAHAHA!

  4. gorillabuns

    THIS! made me laugh.

  5. Lisa

    Hahahahahaha! Awesome.

  6. scott

    I asked Budai, “What is the meaning of Neil’s post?” and he dropped his bag of candy. Then I asked Budai, “How do we practice Neil’s post?” and he took up his bag of candy again.

    Hello, Neil.

  7. afteriris

    HA! Brilliant! And an obligatory ‘eww gross’ at the Buddha’s man boobs. A step too far indeed.

  8. CP

    And yet, look how damn happy he is.

  9. Maggie, dammit

    I’ve been waiting for you to weigh in on this issue.

  10. sweetsalty kate

    This was heavy.

  11. Anne Arkham

    Those man-boobs are not attractive.

  12. Cary

    This post is so buddhalicious.

  13. Karen Maezen Miller

    the comment of no comment.

  14. abbersnail

    Neil, I adore you.

  15. furiousball

    i’m not sure the world’s fattest twins would have been famous if it wasn’t for their acceptance… and the little motorcycles too

  16. Di

    Abbersnail beat me but Neil, I adore you too.

  17. Jill (Introspectre)

    The answer is mu.
    (Or is it, “Moo”?)
    Another koan for the ages…

  18. Out-Numbered

    Dude. I totallyd.k’sj Fuck! I just got ice cream cake all over the computer. I’ll be back later.

  19. Slow Panic

    and they say morbid obesity is recent phenomenon (or whatever it is they say). ha to them.

  20. schmutzie

    Ha!

  21. teahouseblossom

    If his presence was offensive, you could always have switched to the Thai or Indian buddha, who is much more slender.

  22. Shieldmaiden1196

    I love you, Neil.

  23. Gwen

    There are lots of thin buddhas hanging out in Asia. Why’s the Chinese one so chubby, I wonder?

  24. Debbie, i obsess

    Oh, now, that’s just appalling.

    (Obvious Norm’s customer.)

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial