From "The consequences of being fat are deeper than we realize/In the book 'Unshrinking,' philosopher Kate Manne argues that fatphobia is a form of structural oppression" (WaPo)(free-access link).
An "emissary" is — to quote the OED — "A person sent on a mission to gain information, or to gain adherents to, or promote the interests of a cause. (Until the 19th century used almost exclusively in bad sense, implying something odious in the object of the mission, or something underhand in its manner.)"
Do you think of your body as an emissary of your mind?
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My body aids and abets my brain, which has a correlation with my mind.
Of course fatphobia is a form of structural oppression. Isn't every thing?
She is actually not fat to the point that is she is stealing fat cred from actual fat people.
She is Australian. Social media there probably had a negative impact on her.
Sounds like she really means the opposite.
JFC. Her doctorate is in philosophy. She is an associate professor at Cornell.
She also wrote "Down Girl: The logic of Misogyny" , and "Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women." These are the creatures that infect our universities.
Albinophobia is celebrated proudly in parades and with systemic exhibitions not on the plains.
Homophilia is celebrated on womb farms, in sperm banks, and by blood-born pathogens.
Obesiphobia is celebrated by a trillion dollar healthcare industrial complex. Just eat it!
As vices go, gluttony is relatively harmless. No one ever missed a mortgage payment or stole from their loved one in order provide for their addiction. The detrimental effects of this vice are felt mostly--almost solely--on its practitioner.....My moral grandeur is is not visible in my outward appearance. One thing I take credit for is the fact that I'm not fat. My non-obesity is a result of character. I live in a neighborhood that is rich with bakeries, pizza parlors and the like. With the exception of that one BBQ joint, I rarely succumb. I suppose a philosopher might argue that my relative non-obesity is a function of my vanity or wish to stay healthy rather than my superior moral character.....There's merit to that argument. Still, a lot of things in life are the result of luck, but, as a general rule, everyone in America has the weight that they deserve and that weight is the result of their ability to resist temptation.
...but not of their ability to resist Ozempic.
Morality has migrated from sexual behavior to diet.
I doubt that. I suspect it has more to do with gut biota.
It is tempting -- very tempting -- to think that others' misfortunes are their own fault. It is easy to feel sympathy toward someone who has a problem that is going to get better. It is exhausting to feel sympathy for a person whose problems are intractable.
I imagine just about every nice guy who was ever friends with a fat girl in high school knows what it's like when she lets on she wants to be more than friends but for you that's impossible because she's fat but the good thing about it is you have to face up to the fact at a relatively young age that deep down inside you're really kind of a fucking asshole.
Being fat is imposing literal structural oppression on your body.
"Do you think of your body as an emissary of your mind?"
People say I look like Ric Flair. With no hair. The no-hair Ric Flair. I would say that checks out.
It's a lot like how every nice girl who was ever friends with a short guy in high school knows what it's like when he lets on he wants to be more than friends but for her that's impossible because he's short but the good thing about it is she has to face up to the fact at a relatively young age that deep down inside she's really kind of a fucking asshole.
She seems to worry about rape culture, which you'd think being fat would alleviate.
Another academic loon self-identifies.
I've found that female philosophers on youtube are unable to explain why you'd want to read this or that philosopher being covered. Coursework seems to be biography.
Hey she's on YouTube. Stand by.
Oppression and compression. On... oh, my knees.
Thar she blows!
A paraplegic mind in a paraplegic body. Who in his right mind, being gentle submissive, and sensitive to all ways of being no matter how absurd or reductionist, could possibly not welcome that maxim?
Kate Manne, fat philosopher. Seems standards have slipped a bit since Hannah Arendt, but then I studied under Tom "I Love My Dog but Hate You" Regan and had my fill of total bullshit early on. Nevertheless, she fits the modern mold (mold as in evidence of rot) blaming everyone but herself for the greed and hedonistic abandon that impels her to consume far more than she expends.
Fat body represents fat mind... Has Kate Manne pulled an epic-scale Freudian slip?
"Fat" = <10-20 extra pounds (over the ridiculous body weight norm charts, and the ridiculous SI swimsuit types)? Or "fat" = slovenly? As regards the latter, yeah of course...gross. As for the former (very fond memories of "more than friends" with a couple of them), most HS guys eschewed them more out of shallow fear of taunting by their shallow buds, than anything about the girl. And yeah, on that: fucking assholishness.
She sounds slightly New Zealandish Misogyny with the long e's, characteristic also of Judge Susan Hoerchner testifying for Anita Hill. It may be a feminist accent.
We should be conscious of the strong component of genetic "luck" involved in being or not being obese. To a degree, there are medical interventions available to the extremely overweight. Beyond that, there is no rational course of action that will solve the multiplicity of discomforts endured by the obese. This philosopher may take some consolation from the circumstance that she was not so unlucky as to be stupid, poor, and fat. I don't think the owners of that particular trifecta of social misery have many philosophers out there advocating for them.
There's got to be more than genetics at work here. When I was in grade school sixty years ago, there weren't near the number of fat (and by that, I mean seriously obese, not just a little overweight) kids (or parents, for that matter) as I see today.
She seems to want to butt heads with the patriarchy. Something is wrong and men have to fix it.
She was on Blogging Heads with Robert Wright.
I'd be willing to bet that hardly anyone is actually afraid ('phobos') of fat people.
"Do you think of your body as an emissary of your mind?"
No. It's mostly the emissary of pizza.
Being fat is unhealthy and unattractive. There's a reason for aversion. I feel sorry for the few of us overweight peeps who are fat due to genetic reasons. Some people really are "born to be fat" and there's little they can do, short of having their stomach stapled.
But the vast majority of fatties are fat due to gluttony and sloth. I'm one of their number, although in my defense I'm not technically obese and I am almost 60. But I realize the fault is not in the stars, but in myself.
"Do you think of your body as an emissary of your mind?" It is, but I don't think of it that way, for the simple reason (are reasons still allowed in philosophy?) that I know my body can decay, hurt, or get mangled in ways entirely beyond my control and unrelated to anything I think I am.
It’s more like a car that I really like and want to keep as long as possible.
I view it conversely; my mind, as an emergent phenomenon of my body (brain), is the emissary of my body. It allows me to interact with external reality including emissaries of other bodies. Even fat ones.
Phobic bullshit. Fatphobia is a projection for-profit. One of Diverse corporate conceptions.
It's annoying the way the left always tacks on "phobia" or "phobic" to the groups they want special treatment for. No one is afraid of fat people. It's just unattractive and unhealthy. Deal with it.
Emissary of her mind? A fatuous conviction. Therein lies her problem. That, and an unhealthy, morbid quality of life.
Fatphobia? It's not a phobia when we're not scared of you. We're sick of you. It's Porkyitis.
Having taken my share of philosophy classes, I laughed out loud at it being characterized as "a field that prizes 'muscular and compact' forms of argument and 'prides itself on sharpness, clarity, and precision'..." With rare exceptions, that hasn't been true for at least two hundred years.
With regard to Ann's question, I think that our actual bodies play a far smaller role as emissaries than how we choose to present our bodies to others. An obese person may present themselves well-groomed and in a well-tailored outfit, suggesting a level of seriousness and respect that may be missing from a poorly dressed athlete.
These are the people who receive fat government paychecks, are hired by like-minded ingrown peers, have tenure and thereby cannot be fired, and who receive research grants to write this stuff. Then they sign COVID petitions and justify official state lies to make sure you keep your mouth shut.
When you talk about genetics and obesity you're talking about 2 things. First, many seriously overweight people have low metobolisms. A great thing to have back in the days of scarcity and famine, but now, it means the store fat while others burn it. Second, we all crave food, but our brains tell "enough, all ready" and we stop. Or we rarely get the craving. Some people crave food no matter how they eat, or their brains never give them the signal "enough".
Some alcoholics have the same problem. Intense craving or an inability to say enough. Or both.
That's an odd aside within the definition of the word 'emissary' that reports negative connotations until the 19th century. Didn't realize that the word is only dated to early 1600's. It's from Latin, so it was always there for the using. I always think of an emissary being an ambassador from a foreign nation either seeking or offering assistance or alliance. None of the definitions provided by the OED have negative connotations in my eye. First example of an emissary that comes to this Americans mind is Benjamin Franklin in France. Interesting that the common usage of the word peaked during the late1700- early 1800's, the time Franklin was in France emissarying for the USA.
One's body is an outward manifestation of one's inward state of grace, and of genetics, and of diet, and of exercise). GIGO applies, as does Eat Too Much And Get Fat.
It’s hard hard hard to lose weight. You have to really want it. But it’s hard for fit folk to take somebody seriously, on an intellectual talking about social or individual good level, if they can’t control their eating too much.
I react to people's bodies as emissaries of what they're like on the inside (not just their mind). The way people walk and move around in space strikes me as indicative of what they're like on the inside more so than their weight.
Agreed, Mason G. I think it's genetics, plus the plenitude of cheap calories, plus a greater cultural and self acceptance of undiscipline. It's still some sort of mostly deterministic framework, though. My point was that Professor Manne seems to me to have gotten a decent lottery ticket, despite the thick coating of lipid tissue that now encases her, exposing her to a number of metabolic and other physical disorders, as well as the unpleasantness of the low social staus accorded the obese. Imagine if Mama Cass Elliot had looked like Michelle Phillips. She would have been the greatest female vocalist of the 1960s.
I thought the main "male as oppressor" themes had already been done in the 1970s. This is the result of creating Women's Studies Departments. What else besides men do they really have to get on about?
With no ability to manage her own body, it's hard to believe that she is smart enough to be a professor at Cornell and to get published. What more does life owe her?
Mason G and Amper - I also suspect we did something to our gut bacteria with anti-biotics and diet soda. Anyone else here remember when "Tab" became a thing? We weren't so fat back then
Can these people ever stop complaining?
"Anyone else here remember when "Tab" became a thing?"
Yep. I also remember when vending machines sold 6 1/2 oz. bottles of Coke. Now, a small drink at a mini-mart is 32 ounces.
I had the same thought.
Also--just how much was the word being thrown around prior to 1800?
There is some history behind all this.
Obese David Hume was the original fatosopher or fatosophe.
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