"Is that person wrong though? Being fat isn't an inherent bad thing. There are plenty of fat poor folks and there have been for centuries. "



Actually : no. Both the imply of cartoon and you are wrong. Because you are both missing the context.



At this time, most of the poor people were actually thin and being fat was considered a priviledge. Because appart from exceptions, there were little or no fat poor people. For obvious reasons. As long as nontheless capitalism was working on scarcity (you can read Murray Bookchin about it) but it was the war.



Now a day, you can eat a lot of cheap and shitty food. So for most people it's not that hard to eat a lot even if you are poor. Consequently it's not hard to get fat even as a poor person. As I'm both.



On a class point of view, this has only changed by nature. Plus at the time, many rich bourgeois were actually fat, and doesn't feel like it should be shamefull because it was a sign of "well being" and external wealth. Now a day most bosses and capitalists are thin because it's the modern sign of health and wealth. Back in 1936, there were no such thing as "slimfast programs" and other detox and diet rehab stuff.



The context : that's all.