Fat-headed

If anyone doubts the continuing media legitimacy of prejudice against us fatties, try reading this tosh by India Knight in the Sunday Times about an authoritative study showing a genetic predisposition to obesity.

The arrogance is stunning:

"I hate to blithely dismiss a whole swathe of scientific findings but I don’t believe a word of this"

In other words, 'hard empirical fact isn't as important as my precious prejudices because I am a Times columnist and therefore I must be far more knowledgeable than teams of researchers who have spent thousands of hours doing detailed peer-reviewed research'.

Apart from that, it is all here - "you can choose to be fat or choose to be normal"; the hideous crap about not seeing "fat Ethiopians", which not only stereotypes Africa, but displays her amazing insight that malnutrition makes you thin (and die of course, though she seems to think that being fat is worse); "being fat is as much a mental state as a physical one" - see my earlier post on Gina Kolata's book; and so on...

Then comes the crunch. She has written a diet book and runs a "support" web site. Yep. She is making money out of encouraging fat people to feel miserable about themselves, telling them that they are lazy, making them feel abnormal. She is part of the gross exploitation that is the diet industry, made ever more sanctimonious by her own weight loss (and I bet it all goes back on again).

There is an important debate to be had on the scientific research into obesity, but this article is the opposite. Anti-scientific prejudice, moral superiority and commercial self-interest are no substitute for real research.

Thanks Will for pointing out this garbage and giving me the opportunity to feel good about my "reubenesque" (T Glavin) self.

UPDATE
Olly weighs in whilst Francis Sedgemore risks wrath.