NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #18/NN_1992_18.iso/spool/alt/support/bigfolk/213

Text File | 1992-08-12 | 3.2 KB | 62 lines

Newsgroups: alt.support.big-folks
Path: sparky!uunet!news.univie.ac.at!hp4at!rcvie!cc_paul
From: [e-mail] (Wolf Paul)
Subject: Re: (Fat) girls just wanna have...what?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail] (Wolf N. Paul
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Wolf N. Paul)
Organization: Alcatel Austria - Elin Research Center, Vienna
References: <[e-mail]>
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 09:02:03 GMT
Lines: 49

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Naomi S. Valentine) writes:
>To the fat woman who faces job discrimination, familial persecution in one
>form or another, hunger, self-hatred, and general hostility from random
>people on the street, the fact that her conversation partner has found
>fat women attractive does not always comfort her.  In fact, sometimes it
>sounds suspiciously similar to a white person saying, "Some of my best
>friends are black" - a rather defensive way of attempting to exempt
>oneself from any oppressor group.

I have a real problem with the concept that there are "oppressor groups"
that are defined simply by their skin color or ethnic background. It
is no more justified than the concept that there are "inferior" or
"superior" peoples who are also defined simply by skin color or ethnicity.

Mind you, I am not denying that there is oppression of, say, Blacks,
and that it comes largely from white people, but that does not justify
the assumption, "Every white is a member of the oppressor group", and
if he says anything about his black friends, that he is "defensively
attempting to exempt himself".

I have black friends, Indian friends, white friends, fat friends, slim
friends, male friends, female friends; and there are plenty of blacks,
whites, Indians, fat people and slim people (and everything in between),
men and women, whom I dislike. Why do I have to explain to anyone that my
like or dislike has nothing to do with their size, color, accent, or with
sexual attaction or the lack thereof? Why do I have to listen to b.s.
like the assumption that my colored friends are just a "defensive
attempt to prove my lack of prejudice or oppression"?

I can understand that government, in attempt to rectify past and
ongoing injustice, might create rules which, i.e., favor blacks over whites,
or women over men, or handicapped folks over healthy folks,
with no reference to the individual person's involvement in the
injustice. I DO NOT understand or tolerate it when this attitude
enters into personal relationships. In that case it's just bigotry,
of an "inverse redneck" or "female chauvinist" varity.

>Well, that's certainly enough for an initial post on the subject.  I'm
>interested in what folks think about this.

You asked for it :-) ... and it is not meant as an attack on you or
anyone else, rather a criticism of a current trend in Western
society.
--
            V
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