Can We Outlaw Stupidity?

After ranting yesterday about fat discrimination, I happened to see an article at CBS.com and, truthfully, at first I couldn’t believe what I was reading.

Congressman John Gautier of Mississippi had the audacity to introduce a bill to ban restaurants from serving food to fat people.

He says he didn’t mean to offend anyone and that he didn’t think his bill would become a law. He says he filed the bill to make a point, to bring attention to the fact that so many of us are fat…and, I guess, gross to look at in restaurants.

I am sure this bill would be a big hit not only with customers–and whose definition of “obese” would we use?–but with the owners of the restaurants. “Sorry, you’re not allowed to eat here. We can’t take your money. You’re too fat. Go lose 50 pounds and then you can come back.”

Why did that man think he had to make a point about obesity by writing up a bill that would further stigmatize and humiliate us? Like we’re all going to come to our senses and run out and lose all our excess baggage because–doh! We just needed to be reminded or something?

If he’d wanted to make a point, why couldn’t he have done something like introduce a bill to make healthy or organic foods less expensive? Think about it–you go into your grocery store and they’re having a special on potato chips: 2 or 3 for $5.00. And then you go check out the trail mix or the fruit and find out that one little bag is $2.99 and a bag of apples is $3.99. A bag of carrots is $3.99.

Or how about a bill that would tell insurance companies to provide nutritional counseling, weight loss programs and gym memberships for us fat folk who can’t afford it otherwise?

Why didn’t he do that?

It’s because he’s got all those negative fat stereotypes in his head, that’s why. Fat people are gross, lazy, greedy…and we don’t have any feelings. I guess that’s why he was surprised that us fatties were offended.

Read the article? Click here.

Here’s a video from CBS News about it.

Can we make a law against stupid or insensitive congressmen?

~ by lostkitty on February 6, 2008.