Using a Brain That They Keep In a Jar By the Door

I can always count on the General Public ™ to piss me off.

I was listening to the radio the other day, and something the deejay said made me so angry I almost had to pull over to the side of the road to call in. (I know what you’re thinking – does she have anything better to do than dial in to radio shows? The truth is my morning commute is – well, was, as my company has now gone out of business – an hour long, so I had plenty of time to listen to a whole lot of BS on the radio, and there is only so much BS you can take before you want to start screaming something sensible, just to remind yourself, and hopefully everyone else, that there are still intelligent people in the world.)

Anyway, the deejay had just seen Wall-E, and he said he liked it, except that it portrayed fat people as lazy and he wasn’t down with that.

I banged on my steering wheel. I threw my hands up in the air in disbelief. How anyone could sit through that movie and completely miss the point is beyond me.

If you haven’t seen Wall-E, you should see it. It’s very good. I didn’t want to see it – I thought it was going to be stupid, but it wasn’t. It was actually very touching, and had a decent message. And that message was not that fat people are lazy ignoramuses.

No, the point of the movie is that laziness leads to a loss of center. When we refuse to clean up after ourselves, when we refuse to manage the relationships that hold us together, we lose something of ourselves that makes us what we are. We lose hold of our basic humanity, and, in this instance, we can lose hold of our own planet. We have obligations, both to ourselves and each other, and those obligations require attention and work. You make a mess, you clean it up. You can’t afford not to. The repercussions of your lack of action are too great.

But, oh, the other thing the movie mentions is that 1) if you sit around on a mobile chair all day, every day, and do nothing but drink cupcakes in a cup, you’re going to gain weight and 2) if you spend your entire life in space you’re going to lose bone density. Add up 1 and 2 and you’re left with big jelly people. (1+2=jelly. Don’t say I never taught you nothing.)

The people in this movie became fat from complete lack of exercize, a gluttonous lifestyle, and from floating in space their entire lives. Laziness caused their condition, but the reverse isn’t necessarily true, that all fat people are lazy. Nor is it true that all lazy people are fat (but that’s neither here nor there since the movie doesn’t make this distinction.) The point is, one thing causes the other, but there is not necessarily any reverse causality. (And those of you who actually took a philosophy course in college can correct me on this point if I’m mistaken or have the language wrong.)

I thought the point was blindingly clear, but then, I’m not the sort of person who looks for reasons to be offended. And it’s true that I’m not obese myself, even if I do have myself a fine case of bedonkedonk.  No, I prefer to analyze what’s actually in front of me, in fairness and depth, rather than give myself over to temper tantrums about things that aren’t even implied or true. And I don’t have much tolerance for bigotry, against fat people or anyone else. I don’t watch those fat-suit movies – not just because I can’t being myself to watch anything shittier than Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, but also because I don’t want to give my money to people who think it’s okay to denigrate fat people. It’s not okay. (I do think it’s okay to poke fun at fat people, if it’s all in good taste, just like I think it’s okay to make fun of blacks and bikers and flaming homosexuals. Humans are full of cute idiosyncrasies and whatnot that make us unique, and I’m not above calling people out and saying, “You know what? This aspect of you? That’s funny right there.” because sometimes it is. But it’s not okay to be cruel, and there’s a difference.)

So I’m not insensitive. I’m not unobservant. I’m not riding the Fat-Is-Funny train. But I’m also accepting something that isn’t true, that the movie portrays fat as lazy. It doesn’t. But don’t take my word for it, see the movie yourself and see how you feel. And more importantly, perhaps, see what you think. Just because it’s a cartoon doesn’t mean you get turn your brain off at the door.