Bully Calls News Anchor Fat - Page 4

Jas76 · 10-03-2012, 08:35 PM

Whether that is bullying or not is maybe a gray line. I can see both sides, tho I tend toward agreeing that it is.

However, that sort of treatment towards someone, regardless of what label you give it, does in fact breed bullies. Kids see that and run with it, thinking it's ok.

She pointed that out in her response, even.

And what is ironic to me is he was pointing out her "responsibility" to not be fat, when in fact her responsibility was to point out that what he did was inappropriate. And THAT is the example she was setting. And bravo to her - it could not have been easy on her. She could have kept that private, but she did the right thing and took a stand. I can't think of a better example for young kids - especially girls - than that!!

spiderlashes5000 · 10-03-2012, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amneris

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Originally Posted by Springcurl

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Originally Posted by Amneris

She does? She doesn't look fat to me...

Huh? She said it in the video. I'm not making a value judgment.

And that's my problem with the whole thing. "Fat" is a negative, bad, horrible word in our culture, especially when it's directed at women. By a) giving this nonsense the dignity of a response and b) characterizing herself as fat, she's feeding the madness about weight that women are subjected to, potentially making other women her size or bigger feel bad, and legitimizing the idea that a woman's body is fair game for public discussion, even if it's discussing how mean other people are for bringing it up. This is something that should never have been dignified with a response.

Yeah, how totally demoralizing (and unnecessary) was that -- having to admit publicly that she not only fat but obese. As if she felt his nasty little accusations needed to be validated.

She shoulda said, "if I'm fat, yo mama's fat, MF."

Taken it back to the stone age lol

Amneris · 10-04-2012, 03:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jas76

Whether that is bullying or not is maybe a gray line. I can see both sides, tho I tend toward agreeing that it is.

However, that sort of treatment towards someone, regardless of what label you give it, does in fact breed bullies. Kids see that and run with it, thinking it's ok.

She pointed that out in her response, even.

And what is ironic to me is he was pointing out her "responsibility" to not be fat, when in fact her responsibility was to point out that what he did was inappropriate. And THAT is the example she was setting. And bravo to her - it could not have been easy on her. She could have kept that private, but she did the right thing and took a stand. I can't think of a better example for young kids - especially girls - than that!!

I think her only responsibility is to do her job and be who she is. Talking about this and calling herself "fat" and legitimizing some comments by a person with issues does not send any kind of message I'd want a young kid to hear. That sends the message that non-skinny women in this society have something to prove, have to defend their bodies, etc. She is a newscaster, not a model. Does every stupid insult someone sends you have to be publically dissected? That just sends the message that she is bothered by it. I think it also shows how obsessed we are with weight. If he had called her "stupid" or said her voice was too loud or too soft or said she had ugly hair or she has a bad interviewing technique, would she have gone on the same defensive rant or would she just have brushed it off?

medussa · 10-04-2012, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amneris

Does every stupid insult someone sends you have to be publically dissected? That just sends the message that she is bothered by it. I think it also shows how obsessed we are with weight. If he had called her "stupid" or said her voice was too loud or too soft or said she had ugly hair or she has a bad interviewing technique, would she have gone on the same defensive rant or would she just have brushed it off?

I'm inclined to agree with you. I think she was using the email as a jumping off point to discuss National Bullying Prevention month. Perhaps this is why some people thought she was reaching when she called this piece of crap a "bully." Many didn't view it as bullying, but more as hate mail from a misogynistic jerk (did anyone see his pic? He totally looks like one).

spiderlashes5000 · 10-04-2012, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amneris

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jas76

Whether that is bullying or not is maybe a gray line. I can see both sides, tho I tend toward agreeing that it is.

However, that sort of treatment towards someone, regardless of what label you give it, does in fact breed bullies. Kids see that and run with it, thinking it's ok.

She pointed that out in her response, even.

And what is ironic to me is he was pointing out her "responsibility" to not be fat, when in fact her responsibility was to point out that what he did was inappropriate. And THAT is the example she was setting. And bravo to her - it could not have been easy on her. She could have kept that private, but she did the right thing and took a stand. I can't think of a better example for young kids - especially girls - than that!!

I think her only responsibility is to do her job and be who she is. Talking about this and calling herself "fat" and legitimizing some comments by a person with issues does not send any kind of message I'd want a young kid to hear. That sends the message that non-skinny women in this society have something to prove, have to defend their bodies, etc. She is a newscaster, not a model. Does every stupid insult someone sends you have to be publically dissected? That just sends the message that she is bothered by it. I think it also shows how obsessed we are with weight. If he had called her "stupid" or said her voice was too loud or too soft or said she had ugly hair or she has a bad interviewing technique, would she have gone on the same defensive rant or would she just have brushed it off?

I could go either way on this - address the email or not. Her choice. But I think where she went wrong was that she went for the "you don't know me, you are not my friend and all you see is what I look like on the outside and not who I am on the inside" argument.

And frankly, I don't think that is germane to the d-bag's criticism. He doesn't care if she is a nice person and has no interest in gettingto know her. He is saying she sets a bad example publicly bc she is overweight. Not bc she is mean or dumb or skanky or whatever. Just fat. His whole issue w/ her is that she is fat. And she is trying to deflect attn from his assertion that being fat means you are setting a bad example.

And apparently this woman is physically fit and well conditioned, etc., so if she wanted to address his accusations, why not address them squarely? Show pics of the marathons she ran in. Show her pumping iron at the gym. Show her hiking up a mountainside w/ her family.

Or take a different tack and say that she hopes to encourage other overweight people to push themselves professionally and be confident and visible in the world.

But wth does knowing her have to do w/ it? That is the crap I hear little kids say. Not everybody can or wants to know her on a personal level. But she can still refute his claim that as a "public figure" she sets a bad example.

thelio · 10-04-2012, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amneris

Quote:

Originally Posted by thelio

I think bullying is anytime someone tries to harm someone mentally, physically, emotionally, ect. I remember in the the news when the lady was bullied by the kids on her bus. They made her cry. They may have been kids, but I consider that bullying. They wanted to hurt her and they did.

There, the power was that there were so many more of them than her... and didn't she have some kind of mental disability? And they were bigger kids (teens/pre-teens) if I recall. Plus their intention was definitely to inflict harm. So yes, I would say that that was bullying.

They were middle schoolers. And she was the bus monitor so i dont think she had a mantal disability. Not that I heard of atleast. She seemed fine in the interviews.

I wouldn't call a drunk man being a bully just a drunk ahole who needs to lay off the sauce. I would call this lawyer dude a d*ck!

spiderlashes5000 · 10-04-2012, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thelio

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amneris

Quote:

Originally Posted by thelio

I think bullying is anytime someone tries to harm someone mentally, physically, emotionally, ect. I remember in the the news when the lady was bullied by the kids on her bus. They made her cry. They may have been kids, but I consider that bullying. They wanted to hurt her and they did.

There, the power was that there were so many more of them than her... and didn't she have some kind of mental disability? And they were bigger kids (teens/pre-teens) if I recall. Plus their intention was definitely to inflict harm. So yes, I would say that that was bullying.

They were middle schoolers. And she was the bus monitor so i dont think she had a mantal disability. Not that I heard of atleast. She seemed fine in the interviews.

I wouldn't call a drunk man being a bully just a drunk ahole who needs to lay off the sauce. I would call this lawyer dude a d*ck!

The woman's son had died not too long before the schoolbus bullying...so it is possible she was depressed. But I don't think that was established.

She was actually on the Today Show this morning.

thelio · 10-04-2012, 09:08 AM

Thanks for the update spider! I totally forgot her son had just killed himself. The kids even threw that in her face. She was a better woman than me. if some snot nose brat even mentioned my dead son as a way to hurt me, I would give them the smack their parents shuould!

Josephine · 10-04-2012, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amneris

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jas76

Whether that is bullying or not is maybe a gray line. I can see both sides, tho I tend toward agreeing that it is.

However, that sort of treatment towards someone, regardless of what label you give it, does in fact breed bullies. Kids see that and run with it, thinking it's ok.

She pointed that out in her response, even.

And what is ironic to me is he was pointing out her "responsibility" to not be fat, when in fact her responsibility was to point out that what he did was inappropriate. And THAT is the example she was setting. And bravo to her - it could not have been easy on her. She could have kept that private, but she did the right thing and took a stand. I can't think of a better example for young kids - especially girls - than that!!

I think her only responsibility is to do her job and be who she is. Talking about this and calling herself "fat" and legitimizing some comments by a person with issues does not send any kind of message I'd want a young kid to hear. That sends the message that non-skinny women in this society have something to prove, have to defend their bodies, etc. She is a newscaster, not a model. Does every stupid insult someone sends you have to be publically dissected? That just sends the message that she is bothered by it. I think it also shows how obsessed we are with weight. If he had called her "stupid" or said her voice was too loud or too soft or said she had ugly hair or she has a bad interviewing technique, would she have gone on the same defensive rant or would she just have brushed it off?

This is true. I didn't watch or read her response but I was a little put off that she had to put out there why she is overweight and what she does to stay fit, I mean who the fuk cares?? And who cares if she is fit or healthier than me or not? Why is this an issue. Why is she a role model again? Just because she does news on tv? Same with athletes and musicians? I never grew up expecting to emulate any of these types of people. My parents could care less.

wild~hair · 10-04-2012, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rouquinne

OMG... the viewer's response to her:

“Given this country’s present epidemic of obesity and the many truly horrible diseases related thereto, and considering Jennifer Livingston’s fortuitous position in the community, I hope she will finally take advantage of a rare and golden opportunity to influence the health and psychological well-being of Coulee Region children by transforming herself for all of her viewers to see over the next year, and, to that end, I would be absolutely pleased to offer Jennifer any advice or support she would be willing to accept.”

What a condescending prick.

wild~hair · 10-04-2012, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spiderlashes5000

I'm not really sure. While I believe bullying definitely exists and can be utterly devastating to its victims, I also believe that as a society, we have gotten a litte too whiny and are becoming inclined to misidentify all kinds of relatively minor offenses as acts of bullying.

…

So I think that definition misses the mark in some ways and isn't realy generalizable to every situation.

I tend to agree with you. I also think sometimes "bullying" is used when something isn't necessarily minor, but is not actually bullying either. It's become a go-to word in order to heighten the rhetoric, and is starting to lose its true meaning.

rouquinne · 10-18-2012, 07:00 AM

i think what this woman has to say is relevant to what Jennifer Livingston was talking about:

Never Good Enough: How a Big Body Means “You’re Doing it Wrong” | The Fat Chick Sings

One of the things I find deeply frustrating as a fat woman is the assumption by many complete strangers, that I am not doing enough for my health. And the more I appear in public and on television, the more I hear this criticism leveled at me. No matter what I’m doing for my health, clearly I’m not doing it enough, because, well look at me. And if I should claim to be doing something far beyond what another person is doing, then I must be lying.

For example, I am a fitness teacher. I exercise pretty regularly and moderately. But many people believe that clearly, I’m neither exercising hard enough, nor the right way, because look at me. I’m still fat. I should lift more weights. I should exercise at a higher intensity. I should do Fred the Celebrity’s Super Insane Fitness Plan. Forget that I might get injured. Forget that I would hate it and quit after a few workouts. The folks that know everything about everything are glad to let me know that since they are thin and I am fat, I’m not working out as well as them. And when I tell them, that when I was training for the marathon and walking/running up to 35 miles per week I still maintained this weight, they tell me I was eating 4,000 calories per day, or lying. People who are conventionally thin, don’t get this treatment. If a conventionally thin person says that they exercise 45 minutes per week, they are usually told, to keep doing what they are doing because they look great.

The same is true with eating. Many people assume that since I am big, I eat nothing but junk food, I eat large amounts of food and I eat all the time. In pre-interviews for certain public appearances, I am grilled over and over about what I eat, when I eat, how much I eat, and so on. No thin woman is asked these questions. It is assumed that if they are thin, they are eating well.