• I’ve received my fair share of nasty comments—hey, it comes with the blogging territory—but nothing near as bad as an email La Crosse, Wisconsin, news anchor Jennifer Livingston received from a viewer last week. Tagged with the subject line “Community Responsibility,” the email is all about her weight. It reads, in part: “Surely you don’t consider yourself a suitable example for this community’s young people, girls in particular. Obesity is one of the worst choices a person can make and one of the most dangerous habits to maintain.” There’s more to it, but you can watch the video below to see the whole thing (or read about it over at Jezebel). Then keep watching, because Livingston—who admits she’s overweight, but certainly isn’t obese—lays into the guy, calling him a bully and rallying other viewers, especially kids, to stand up to bullies of their own. It’s pretty freaking awesome. Take a look.
• Planet Fitness would like give Pluto—the former planet, not the cartoon dog—a good old fashioned pat on the back for being, well, awesome in its own right, planet or not. It’s all part of a funny new ad campaign highlighting the gym’s chief tenets—motivation and encouragement—for which the brand is bringing the ol’ pat on the back out of motivational retirement. And so they’re starting with the planet Pluto, giving it a pat on the back for being the coolest hunk of space ice in the universe. Check out the designs for their Pat on the Back Spaceship, which they (really) passed along to NASA.
• Are you a nail biter? You might have a mental disorder, according to the American Psychiatric Association. More here.
Thanks for sharing. The video was very powerful, all the more so because she didn’t break down crying over the guy’s email. The fact that she kept her cool throughout the monologue makes her words that much more effective.
You are giving ‘them’ EXACTLY what they want. Unless and until you equate “fat” with “bad”, the email at issue is nothing but a factual recitation of the dangers of obesity.
(in 6’1″, 305. Morbidly obese, if the BMI is to be believed.)
Rather than accept the fact that obesity is indeed a catastrophic assault on the nation’s health, this reporter got her feelings hurt because SHE has accepted the faulty notion that fat is ugly, or shameful. We’re she truly OK with her weight, this email is meaningless.
It is things like this that will so DILUTE the term bullying as to render it meaningless. The kid getting the crap kicked out of him for being good in school, or because his mother’s skin s darker: THAT is the victim of bullying. How dare she put this email in the same class?
I have to agree with Anthony Rosania. If in this email we replaced the word obesity with alcoholic – I do not think it would have made it on air. For some reason, we constantly try to accept and excuse obesity in our nation. It is in fact a choice, which can be effected by certain risk factors, but at the end of the day we are making a choice to live healthy or unhealthy.
I do not think people would want their kids to watch someone on the news promote (through habit) smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol, so why is promoting an unhealthy lifestyle any different?
This email was not written in an attacking manner, it simply stated someone’s concerns:
1. She is overweight (which she said she knows)
2. Obesity is an incredible dangerous lifestyle, and is effecting children everywhere (which we all can agree on)
3. As a public figure, kids will look up to her and follow her actions. (which we all can agree on)
Lastly, the email even states – they hope she decides to change her lifestyle for the best, which any doctor would agree she would benefit from.
We need to stop being so sensitive, accept reality, and work on improving it.
I agree, with one exception: becoming fat is not a choice. STAYING fat is the choice. I didn’t choose “fat” on some body-type menu, but I do prioritize potato chips over wearing the same jeans I wore in high school.