Poor old MeMe

Yet again an organ of the liberal intelligentsia plumbs the depths stepping into the intellectual vacuum that is the obesity crisis; in this case with one Meme Roth.

I had no intention of involving myself in the fracas she has caused with the latest in a long line of increasingly deranged comments. She herself said that the most popular reading of her is "silly c**t". When two words sum up someone so succinctly, saying anything further seems unnecessary.

However, her latest witterings require attention as they seem to have led to a spilt in reaction on the 'sphere.

The divide seems to be rage v. pity.

I'd have to go more with the latter.

I've no problem with letting off steam, but I'm starting to feel a little bit uncomfortable, with the personalisation of attacks on her. It needs to be remembered that her 'insanity', is the insanity of obesity crisis.

I have to bear in mind what our detractors often fail to, who is pulling the strings here? Not MeMe that's for sure.

All this shows is the intrinsic manipulativeness of the crisis, and those who've set it loose upon us. It is a mindwarp for all of us, it's shown us all up, MeMe's just another in a long line.

Whether it's the illusion of false superiority , or the good/ bad fattie conceit , those who insist that fat people are robbing them, through selfishness . It's lure is hard to resist.

Every one of us seems to fall for it's rancid charms in one way or another, it manipulates us all and presses our buttons, ruthlessly exposing our desires, our fears and resentments, for the benefit of those who are creating and facilitating it. The article doesn't give me the impression that it condemns MeMe. The writer says:

One thing to know about MeMe Roth is that she's not wrong.

How could she possibly be? That would make the crisis itself wrong and the writer knows it.

Given the offensiveness of what she said, she's given a very easy ride. The most pressure she comes under is for what she eats, the same scrutiny used to undermine the rest of us is used to undermine her as if it tells us more about the content of her character than what she has actually said.

One thing the writer has achieved is for the first time to make me see MeMe as someone who's being taken advantage of the same as we are, just in a different way. That's key to it's success.

As bad as what she said is, and the absurd ways she's acted up in the past, when I examine some of the things I've believed or done in order to force my body to succumb to thinness. I can't in all honesty say they were any saner or rational.

This is someone who has come to link sickness and mortality with eating and food, that's what we are encouraged to do, ask anyone with an eating disorder. It echo's the views of a lot of people from families where there is debility and sickness. It's something that's not often considered, what effect does this have on those who are observing the situation, how to they rationalise it?

I'm aware that there maybe an element of ableism there, but above all there is fear and the fact that people are channelling this into their reaction to the crisis, suggests there is a need to be addressed here.

Personalising the insanity of the obesity crisis in MeMe, is similar to personalising obesity propaganda in each and every one of us. MeMe's 'derangement' is the derangement of the crisis. It's not called that for nothing, it's a crisis of rationality if nothing else.

*Edited for clarity, only