Monday 2 August 2010

Radicals waiting for an invite?

So here's a discussion of some density that bears mulling over. In the meantime, I just had to react to BStu's comment

Not only am I not radical, there are a LOT of people between me and there, too. I've spoken with these people and by in large, they just don't see anything in the Fatosphere worth staying around for.

Surely joshing?

Trust FA to have 'radicals' who are afraid of gatecrashing the gathering. Yes marginalized sidelined and ignored. So? Isn't that filed under sad, but tough?

I'm still of the view that there is no radical fat acceptance, if you believe, no recognise that you need to respect yourself as much as a human reasonably can, any less than that is pathology, because it's lack of self esteem. How can proper esteem of self be seen as radical by anyone who hasn't done anything wrong?


Making it falsely wrong doesn't count, haters!

It is a nonsense to me. All you can get further than that, is over esteem of self, say for instance, arrogance. Self esteem, like weight and it's purported health risks is a bell curve too much self esteem itself just like indulging in too little. They both end up at the same place, low self regard, just in a different way, in ways that look like opposites, but aren't really.

If you think about it, the desire for too much esteem, is itself a sign of insecurity, because it feels like a good amount of esteem is too little. It's a bit like those feederists, who speak of how they want to love fat oh so much, because loving it where you are, is somehow no love at all. Unless they create the weight themselves, they cannot be sure that it's love, so more weight will prove it.


But it won't assuage that underlying drive for more over a better sense of what you already have.

There are other things involved regards the 'sphere, there isn't the critical mass of people involved, so things can be a bit patchy. It isn't easy to be out of sync with the rest, or to not speak the same language or share the same culture, but it seems to be easier or at least better than self hate or silence.

But since when do radicals require an invite, surely they just have to speak up? And seriously, all talk and no action a bit rich if that talk is an action to far of you. If you don't like what's here, create something to your taste, what are you afraid of?

Yes the fatsphere is unnecessarily and yes, self defeatingly apologetic, a) it can only be the sum of it's parts and b) it's also that those who aren't or try to be less so, may not have the type of voice that is amenable to putting a different point of view to those more apologetic.

People often wish to discover things from people that are most like them, at times that matters far more than the merit in what you say. That's just the way we are as human beings. All of us are like that to some degree.

It's not for anyone to welcome you or not surely. With the greatest of respect to Kell Brigan and the big who hah about what she wrote in response to a post featuring Heidi's WLS story. Although I'm at a severe disadvantage as I didn't get a chance to read it myself but if KB was prepared to criticise someone harshly, and directly, she should have been a bit more prepared to deal with the backlash.

Mind you, we all struggle taking what we dish out at times. But she could have brazened it out or let the dust settle and carry on. I can't say I felt a lot of what was said by Heidi herself was particularly edifying in many parts myself-I did read that. No one can really stop you from starting a blog-apologies if I've missed your output, it's not necessarily for want of trying.

Yeah, sitting on you arse writing about schtuff is hardly the nobility of the work ethic in action, but hey, that's a lot of the world around us. It does feel a little bit showy and unreal at times, which probably feeds into the crisis's insistence that people must exercise as a moral good. Exposing other voices and helping to change the ground on which people are playing on is not a total absence of action.


You never know who's waiting to hear your unique voice, you particular take, you cannot be waiting for an invite, because you probably won't get one.

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