anonymouslayabout:

One of the things I hate about fat acceptance is the celebration of mediocrity. The premise here is fairly simple: We should love ourselves and celebrate ourselves, just the way we are, and shouldn’t strive for improvement because we are perfect already. Other people should cherish us, think we are beautiful, and praise us based on the same.

Now, self-love is a good thing, don’t get me wrong. Even if you’re the fattest person ever I support your right to love yourself. In fact, you should! But you shouldn’t use your self-love as a catalyst for never wanting to improve.



What’s more is you shouldn’t expect other people to celebrate your mediocrity. Sure, you are great at sitting on the couch and watching TV, and your legs can carry you up some stairs. Most people’s bodies can do that, though. It’s nothing to celebrate.



You can start celebrating when you can run a marathon or cycle a century or win a sparring match at taekwondo. You can start to expect other people to celebrate when you win a triathalon or get a metal for an amateur powerlifting competition, or when you climb to the top of a 300 foot rock wall. Hell, even just attempting one of these things is reason for celebration.



THOSE are the things that are worthy of celebration. Existing is not worthy of celebration. Fuck, I cycle 80 miles at a time and I can do a handstand and 50 pushups and you know what? Those things STILL aren’t worthy of celebration by others. Why? Because a lot of people can do those things.



Stop settling for the mundane, and stop expecting other people to praise you for the goddamn mediocre. Expect praise when you are worthy of praise. And existing? That’s not worthy of praise.

Fat acceptance doesn’t celebrate mediocrity, unless you’re implying that fat people are inferior to thin people and/or that greater fitness – something which fat people can also achieve, by the way – makes you a better person. (It doesn’t – health status is morally neutral).

Fat acceptance doesn’t celebrate mediocrity. There are plenty of fat folks with PhDs, who have authored widely selling books, started successful businesses, are Olympic atheletes, are the best parents in the neighborhood, or can make the best damn cappuccino you ever tasted. There are also, like thin people, many fat people who are doing the best they can to get by despite obstacles like chronic pain, oppression, and abusive histories. They’re pretty fucking awesome, too.

Fat acceptance isn’t built on some bullshit conception of how lifting more weight than some other guy or running a few more miles makes you a better person. Just because you work at something and value it in your life doesn’t mean other people have to value it. Value judgments are just that – based on individual choice. Hell, some people think if you aren’t in a fight club, getting the piss beaten out of you for fun every other weekend, you’re less of a person. They really, really, REALLY believe that as strongly as you believe someone is inferior for not constantly hamsterwheeling and being or becoming thin as a result (because surprise surprise, you can train and still be fat. But I’m assuming you’d say in that case they weren’t doing it “right,” even if they had the same exact regimen as you did).

Fat acceptance doesn’t celebrate mediocrity. It sees goodness as a many-splendored thing, not something that can be determined with a blood or stress test. It’s pitiable that’s what healthists like yourselves have reduced it to – not only are you wrong, but you’re missing out on knowing and appreciating a lot of amazing people.

-ArteToLife

(via anonymouslayabout-deactivated20)