Hypocritical Position

In the ever-swelling file of "Things I Disagree With Everyone About", there is a curious alleged news story out of North Dakota. Evidently, a woman called into a radio station to announce her plan to give children letters instead of candy on Halloween. The letters were meant for the children's parents, and convey the message that the children in question are overweight and that the parents should be looking after their children's health better. The letter has circulated online after she provided a copy to the aforementioned station.

This is, of course, a lousy thing to do. I don't dispute the prevailing opinion that the woman is in the wrong for this, even if all she did was say this on the radio. As Halloween has only just come today, I don't imagine we can say whether she actually followed through on it. I don't think it matters if she did or she didn't, because her greatest aspiration- that of spreading her message of what people now call "fat shaming" - was carried out for her by the very people who hate her and her message.

I'll reiterate that we're talking about some woman in a small town in a sparsely-populated rural state. That doesn't make it okay for her to go around saying something unkind about something that isn't her business, of course. The people of her community would be well within their rights to reproach her for it. I suspect that has happened or will happen. Perhaps she is an infamous figure in her town, and is tuned out by those around her.

Regardless, people who live elsewhere have taken it upon themselves to fight this battle. In the process, how many have been exposed to this unpleasant message that otherwise would not have? It may be thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even more. It is my contention that when one dislikes a point of view like this, the thing to do is to ignore it. Of course, I have yet to hear from anyone that agrees, but as you know, I am very used to that. I do not mean to make myself out to be some noble martyr, but I am used to being disagreed with.

I will gladly be the first to point out that I myself am repeating the woman's message in order to make a point about how one should not repeat such an odious message, and I am terribly ill at ease with that fact. I was at a loss for something to write about, this story had me angry, and I could conceive of only one way to rid myself of both the anger and the problem of having nothing to write about. I'm certainly no better than the people I'm upset with. I just disagree with them.