It is not an exaggeration to say that the left hates weight loss. They hate “privileged” thin people in the same sense that they hate “privileged” white people.These days, if someone so much as steps on a scale (i.e., Taylor Swift) we call them “fatphobic.” The woke Twitter mob is up in arms in an instant to insist that gyms, diets, and other weight loss paraphernalia are “triggering.” We are urged to leave archaic notions of physical fitness in our racist past and to our racist ancestors. Didn’t you know?—only bigots exercise!The prevailing media message to the culture is: Lose all control. Gorge yourself. Don’t let anyone tell you to stop, slow down, or scale back. Don’t let anyone say that you are less than perfect just the way you are. Health, after all, comes in all shapes and sizes. Whoever says otherwise is intolerant, ableist, sexist, homophobic, and probably xenophobic, too.This message is, of course, well received by an indulgent and intersectional culture that seeks to skirt responsibility at every possible juncture. Our itching ears long to hear that we can be shame-free and consequence-free regardless of how we live. Culture, in fact, says we have a right to live that way.Of course, that is simply the culturally “in” way of saying we have a right to destroy our bodies, wreck our lives, and not be judged for it. Further, we can compel others to lie to us. The left is not content just to cut fat jokes but says we must assert that obesity is actually good, positive, and healthy. Obesity not only must not be shamed—obesity must be celebrated, promoted. SEE ALSO: The Outrage Mob Accuses Taylor Swift of Being ‘Fatphobic’ I am not exaggerating; this really is how the radical left feels. And unfortunately, many woke medical professionals are now playing along.Last week, for example, the American Medical Association urged doctors to scrap Body Mass Index (BMI) due to alleged racism. “Scientific American” published a piece titled “The Racist Roots of Fighting Obesity.” And according to the author of “Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia,” “the contemporary ideal of slenderness is, at its very core, racialized and racist”—an unfortunate fact for the millions of blacks who are slender or aspire to be. The author adds that “fat phobia isn’t about health at all, but rather a means of using the body to validate race, class, and gender prejudice.”For these reasons, woke apologists shrug off all of science which asserts indubitably that physical fitness does have health benefits. The truth that obesity is harmful may be universally recognized as scientific fact, but it is “racist,” nevertheless.But why? Why is it that the same people who clamor for “bodily autonomy,” then turn around and blame society for their less than “ideal” bodies? Why aren’t we allowed to say that we each are individually responsible for our physical wellness? SEE ALSO: Time magazine says exercise has ‘white supremacist origins’ To understand the left’s preoccupation with dismantling “fatphobia,” we must first understand the left’s intersectional worldview.According to Kimberlé Crenshaw, the scholar who coined the phrase, intersectionality describes “how race, class, gender, and other individual characteristics “intersect” with one another and overlap.” In other words, it is the compounding of claims to victimhood. According to Crenshaw proponents, for example, women are oppressed, and so are black people. Therefore, black women are more oppressed than either group respectively. “Intersectionality is a form of identity politics in which the value of your opinion depends on how many victim groups you belong to,” described Ben Shapiro.“Let’s say you’re a gay, white woman. Your opinion matters, but less than that of a gay, black woman. Why? Because while all women are oppressed by the patriarchy, and all gays are oppressed by the heterosexual majority, blacks have a victim status that whites obviously don’t. Of course, a gay black woman’s victim status is less than that of a black trans woman, who ranks below a black, Muslim trans woman, and so on,” he continued. “The more memberships you can claim in “oppressed” groups, the more aggrieved you are, and the higher you rank.”So what happens when you add “fat” to this new caste system? One can apply for even higher victimhood status, of course! If black women are oppressed, imagine how much more oppressed fat black women must be. Ultimately, with each new “marginalized” ranking, our heroized victims ascend higher up the totem pole. SEE ALSO: Beloved kids’ show edited for not being woke enough But of course, there is one glaring difference between “fatphobia” and, say, racism or sexism. Race and gender are immutable characteristics. Obesity is not. In most cases, anyone can avoid ending up in that category. It certainly might require hard work, intense exercise, and a restricted diet, but it is a rewarding process. The point is not to shame those who do not or cannot undergo that process but to point out that they cannot blame society for an unhealthy condition that they, at the same time, celebrate. We each are responsible. As Bill Maher put it, “It’s not between you and the government; it’s between you and the waitress.” The left has gone so far as to say that air pollution is making women fat. (Somehow, apparently, even the air is misogynistic.) But try as they may, they cannot escape the truth: America’s health crisis was never a “society problem”; it was always a “me problem.”The left can never admit this. To do so would break everything they hold sacred about victimhood, oppression, and intersectionality. Instead, they must go on pretending that systemic racism is the real reason so-and-so cannot get in shape. SEE ALSO: Gen Z is in crisis As they so often do, woke enthusiasts are crippling millions to stay in an undesirable condition and pretend that it is, in fact, desirable. But the truth is unrelenting. “I work in a hospital,” said one concerned citizen, “and you should see the quality of life difference for the older people who exercised regularly and the people who didn’t. You would all immediately stop pushing this health at every size nonsense.”It is, indeed, nonsense, but it is also a fundamental precept of “wokeism,” and unfortunately, it isn’t going anywhere. The good news is that we do not have to drink the Kool-Aid. As self-governing citizens, we can reclaim autonomy over our own health and well-being, regardless of whether the woke left approves.Do not be deceived: only you can fix the man in the mirror.Jakob Fay is a staff writer for the Convention of States Project, a project of Citizens for Self-Governance.
