Fatphobia Halts Progress

In film there’s a concept called Deus Ex Machina.

It’s an unexpected power or appearance that changes the turn of events.

It’s like when the Knights of the Vale show up at the Battle of the Bastards in Game of Thrones, or when the T-Rex shows up in Jurassic Park to save Dr. Grant from the velociraptor.

It’s a plot-based get out of jail free card.  It’s something so powerful that it renders all obstacles and enemies obsolete and crushes them with ease.

Something like that isn’t supposed to exist in real life.  

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There are the rare examples of friendly forces suddenly appearing in historical battles but in our day to day life there is no such thing as a get out of jail free card.

And that’s probably a good thing, because Deus Ex Machina halts progress.

If you have this hidden force that can take care of all your problems there’s no need for you to get stronger, better or more equipped to deal with the rigors of life, or for battle.

The term “fatphobia” is a Deus Ex Machina.  It’s an unforeseen force that alters the complexion of the story.

It renders all discussion about the deleterious health effects of obesity moot.

It silences all those who genuinely care for the health of our population and dismisses them as part of some grand, malevolent conspiracy of those who hate fat people.

It makes discussing obesity, body fat and how to lose fat really fucking difficult for health and fitness professionals.  We have to walk on eggshells out of fear of offending a very, very loud minority who, with evidence, has caused job loss.

Facebook even changed their advertising guidelines, so we can’t run any ads that contain the words “weight loss” in them. That’s pretty Orwellian when you consider every public survey has ranked “weight loss” as the number one health goal across multiple decades. 

It’s a get out of jail free card.  It’s something so powerful that it renders all obstacles and enemies obsolete and crushes them with ease.

So I’m done with it. 

If we let cancerous terms and ideology make us censor ourselves in the name of self preservation then we are guilty of actively contributing to the declining health of this nation. 

That’s unacceptable.

Fatphobia does not exist. 

Are some people mean to fat people?

Yes, of course.

But some people are also mean to people with red hair.

Does that mean that there’s a systemic problem of gingerphobia in society?

No.  It just means that some people are assholes. 

Tolstoy said:

"There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one; the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself."

Fatphobia and the cult that follows it are guilty of this sin.  They have found fault in themselves, and instead of changing themselves to correct or improve the fault they’ve blamed society.

In one example from my home town a “therapist” doesn’t just blame those around her for her obesity. She blames the entirety and the entire history of Western Civilization.

We shouldn’t discuss how without Western Civilization she wouldn’t have access to the food that sustains her, or that her career as a sex therapist wouldn’t exist.

No, we just need to place blame in order to excuse her faults.

This is where Fatphobia being a Deus Ex Machina causes real harm to its adherents and to those fragile enough to listen to it’s tenets.

Obesity was the number one comorbidity with COVID deaths.  Obesity reduces the life expectancy of men by 20 years and women by 5 years.  Obesity contributes to heart disease, cancer and almost every other condition that kills people and it makes you more susceptible to serious danger with COVID.

It’s a public health crisis.

And despite all these facts, figures and genuinely terrifying science obesity rates continue to rise year after year.  Harvard scientists estimate that in 9 years half of the American population will be obese and nearly a quarter will be SEVERELY obese.  They even had to coin a new term to describe how fucking dire this situation is.

These are things we need to talk about.  These are difficult truths that we need to face.

But the fatphobic pushers won’t have any of it.  They’ll silence any discussion before it even begins.

They wield empathy as a weapon. 

Humans by nature are empathetic creatures.  We’re tribal and it’s hard wired in our DNA to care for other members of our tribe.

You know when you’re in a car with someone and they yawn?  Then you yawn?  It’s now theorized that the communal yawn effect has nothing to do with oxygen in the brain, but is instead a neurological expression of human empathy.

When we see someone struggling and in pain it’s our natural instinct to feel some of their pain, and we desire to create a better situation in which they will feel less pain.

All these woke idiots know this, and they play on it. 

The correct response when seeing someone struggling with obesity isn’t to lower society’s standards.  It’s to teach that person how to be strong enough to change themselves, face their fears and create within themselves a better environment that will manifest itself as a healthier body.

But that’s really fucking difficult.

The fatphobia pushers convince you that to ease their suffering and discomfort YOU and EVERYONE ELSE (besides them of course) needs to change.  It’s an exercise in egotism and narcissism.  It’s the weaponization of empathy.

The fatphobia pushers have succeeded in limiting the acceptable societal discussion surrounding obesity.  We have “fats rights” activists in newspapers, on TV and all over social media.  We have crackpot “fat doctors” on TV warning us about the emotional based dangers of weight loss.

And I would wager that maybe 5% of the population agrees with them and wants more victim based ideology to preside over the health of our nation.

95% of us see these people and think “holy fuck that is so unhealthy and dangerous, I hope other people don’t listen to this, it’s going to get people killed!”  but say nothing.

We say nothing because we’re scared. 

We don’t want to be labeled as hateful, or a bigot or have our social media comments clogged up with vengeful childish comments.  They’ve even succeeded in wrapping race into weight.  Discussing it has very little positive benefits but an endless list of negative consequences.

And since we don't speak up only that 5% viewpoint gets discussed. That leads to the illusion that the extreme viewpoint is the ONLY socially accepted viewpoint.


They’ve used their Deus Ex Machina to not only render discussion obsolete but to threaten those who disagree with them.


The first step to solving a problem is to first admit that there is a problem. This is something that every addict has had to experience in their life. When you’re in the throes of acting out your trauma you’ll look for any excuse to let it continue.

Only when you take your blinders off and face yourself in the mirror can you see where you’ve gone astray.

And only once you’ve stared your problem directly in the eyes can you begin to formulate a plan to solve it, or to make yourself better.

We as a nation cannot begin to solve our obesity based problem until we take the conversation back from these victimology jihadis.

Obesity is a national health crisis, and we can’t be bullied into silence. We have to discuss it and treat it as a condition, not as an identity. We’re not trying to change or challenge anyone’s identity, we’re just trying to help you live longer and enjoy the time you have here more.

They’ve allowed their Deus Ex Machina to halt their personal progress. We can’t allow it to halt our societal progress towards health.

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Patrick Henigan

Pat Henigan is the owner of Jacksonville Fitness Academy in North Florida. He’s been published in Reader’s Digest, Shape and is a regular guest on News4Jax and writes for Jacksonville Magazine.

He’s been in the trenches coaching since 2010 and has coached MLS players, internationally capped South American Soccer players, SNL Cast Members and multiple Fortune 500 CEOs.

https://www.henigan.io
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