Saturday, June 26, 2010

Where Do You Draw the Line Between Accommodation & Being a Wimp?

This article really got me thinking about that question.

Remember the outcry over airplane seats? Now, as a smaller person I don't appreciate some obese person taking up 1/2 my seat or someone leaning back to sit in my lap on a plane or train. I was ready to get into a fight w/this bitch sitting in front of me on AmTrak for doing that. I politely mention about not being able to see my player w/her having the seat so far back & she decides to get in my face about her rights to recline her seat. This other woman, who spent much of the trip railing about how pathetic the government is when trains in other countries wouldn't be sitting in the middle of nowhere for an hour mentions to her that it's part of common courtesy not to recline all the way back into people's laps.

At that point, we were delayed by about 2 hours & having DVDs to watch was the only thing keeping me sane. Thankfully, this other lady came over & moved up bitch's seat so I could at least move the connecting cords for my player & the cell phone charger of my seat mate. I did comment that bitch would be paying me if any of those cords got messed up b/c of that; don't think for a second I wouldn't have gotten into a fist fight over it. If you didn't know anything else about me, I think it's pretty clear that I don't take shit off other people & if you make me mad, you'd better watch out. One time someone tried getting into a confrontation w/me & the receptionist on the floor where I worked said she'd put her money on me winning that altercation.

In short, don't mess w/people who have anger issues; I don't care what they look like or how much bigger you are. I believe that if you trigger the right emotional buttons, anyone can be a force to be reckoned with; that's why a smart person never starts trouble w/people & doesn't do things that beg karma to screw them in some way.

And, nope this bitch was NOT obese. She'd been sitting with her seat more upright ever since she'd been on the train (possibly since we'd left NYC 11-13 hours before).

So, where do we draw the line? When do we stop worrying about making fat people feel bad & start considering safety, the rights of people who aren't fat, etc.? Being fat is not the same as being a racial minority or even being gay. Yes, to me you don't choose to be gay since why would you choose to risk your life & be ostracized by certain areas of society? It's certainly not all religious people since I've known plenty who don't shun their gay friends & accept their homosexuality for what it is.

Anyway, you can choose to lose weight. I have to side w/the people who created the ride on this one; why should society be accommodating to a condition that could be changed? I know not every single overweight person in this country has a medical condition; at least the people I know who have extra weight have some self-awareness & don't expect the entire world to bow down to them b/c of it.

And yes, you could change skin color or make yourself look different but exercise & better eating habits are far cheaper than skin bleaching and plastic surgery. There are very few risks to either of those & you'd be doing something to help yourself as opposed to someone becoming as scary looking as Michael Jackson did later on.

I'm also 100% in favor of improving public transit & making places more pedestrian friendly. This should have been done over 10 years ago but that's another rant.

It's not even just certain fat people who have this entitlement problem. People who breed & refuse to watch their kids are also an issue. As far as I'm concerned, they deserve to be a target of scorn & hatred; they SHOULD get offended considering they offend me, parents & anyone who doesn't want to see children get kidnapped or injured b/c of parental neglect, total stupidity or whatever common sense deficiency their sperm/egg donor has (b/c you aren't a parent unless you actually take care of your kids).

Finally, being PC is the least of my concerns, especially in my own rant blog. Don't like it, get your own rant blog.

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