So thinking someone who is obese due to unhealthy eating can better themselves by eating healthier and exercising, is the same as believing in a nation wide Meritocracy....
You are changing your argument here.
Your first argument was clear :
- "instead of telling them that they have the power to improve themself and the sky is the limit"
NOT
- "someone who is obse due to unhealthy eating can better themselves by eating healthier and exercising"
Now. I understand what you meant in both case and the fact that it was related to obesity. But you need to understand that EVEN in that case, the notion of self improvement given to a person in obesity is derivated by the same meritocratic principle:
A person who is obese and doesn't act on themself is seen as less worthy than a person who is obese and do act on themself.
And why do you think I'm calling out your argument and calling it a meritocratic vision ? Well... Because this type of mindset is a
PURE RESULT of capitalism and liberalism. The notion that some people are less worthy because they don't seem to act to improve on their condition is the
CORNERSTONE of capitalism and meritocracy.
In a capitalist society, homeless people are (mostly) rejected because they are poor who
don't seem to fight their oppression and conditions. On the other hand, people who manage to get above the working/"low" class upward toward the middle class are praised. In fact, in some country, those system are so implanted in society that it has become cultural. In Japan for example, becoming homeless is one of the greatest shame their is, specifically because it is seen has an abandon. This is why there is very few homeless people but a LOT of very poor people.
Capitalism works because the power and the upper class keeps the illusion of meritocracy alive. In this meritocracy, poor people DESERVES to be poor because of their choice and their refusal to better themself. Without this principle and belief the entire system would collapse.
And what happens to poor people also happens to:
- Fat people
- Neuroatypic people like me.
When those people
don't seem to try to better their condition, they are seen as less worthy. So.. this is why they will face injonction to better themself.
Well.. guess what.. I had to
TANK all those injonctions "to better myself" for MORE THAN 10 F. YEARS.
- By my friends
- By my Family
- By my doctors
- By people online.
And you know what ? During all that time.. I was actually doing my
HARDEST to overcome my situation.. but since it was invisible and a personnal war, nobody was noticing it.. until one day, on the verge of fainting, I had to put my dad's hand on my hearth for him to notice that it was going at lighting speed because of the stress inflicted by all those injonctions, expectations and toxic behaviors from my environment.
During 10 years:
- Nobody noticed that I went from a far right complotist to a woke socialist
- Nobody noticed that I had read and learn everything there was to know about storytelling and storycrafting
- Nobody noticed all the project I created on the side, all the time I spent on fighting for Carrot, fighting toxicity, creating ressources for others
- Nobody noticed that my life and dreams were simply broken because of my incapacity of doing anything relative to a single drawing and that I was fighting day after day in a hurricane full of void and despair in front of a non-existent future
- Nobody noticed that I was doing everything I could to better myself in every aspect
I had control over
So.. nobody took the time to tell me.. "you are doing a good job, continue what you are doing, I accept you, you are perfect as you are"
I would have KILLED to get that at least once.
So... you see. This is what capitalism does. it keeps down the invisibilized, those with less ressources, those with less power, those with less normativity, those with less mental batteries.
You want to know what you must do to help people fight their obesity ?
REALLY looking at them. Because noone know those person but themself
Start by doing what my close relatives did for me with my mental Illness: Look at their life, look at their struggle, day.. after day. Look at the reason why they can't lose weight. Look at their stress level, their relationship, their loneliness, their mental struggle, their fight against their own image and own body. Look at their victories, small and big. Look at the pressure society is putting on them through all those meritocratic injonctions and maybe... just maybe.. tell them:
"You are perfect the way you are, I'm with you"
And for the love of Usopp. Get meritocracy OUT of your system once and for all.
