Fat, Stupid and Unhappy

Here’s a hate article for you. Let’s hope I don’t get arrested and imprisoned for life. Take it with a grain of salt. It is rather ugly, but I really don’t mean it.

I was at the grocery store the other day and saw more masks than I wanted to see. That set me off. I started feeling like a true bigot and hateful person, looking at everyone with disdain and disgust. I don’t think I actually hated anyone—I think I am beyond that sort of thing, thank God. But I didn’t like anyone. I didn’t feel like anyone was in my tribe. I didn’t feel safe, or happy, or loving, or compassionate or empathic.

That’s not good.

I am sure this is what they mean when they say that the powers that be want us to hate each other, to see everyone as an enemy, as different, as ugly—much like the WWII propaganda depicting the Japanese as inhuman, foul, terrifying, stupid, fat, whatever—different and dangerous.

Everyone I saw at the grocery store that I disliked was fat, probably stupid, and clearly unhappy.

Were they really?

Of course not. But it felt that way. At least that is what my hateful self was telling me. And when I say fat, I don’t mean literally fat (although many I saw were indeed overweight) but essentially unhealthy. You could tell by the crap they had in their carts. Bleh. Fat also connotates laziness and a general disregard for health.

Stupid? Probably many were, most people these days seem pretty stupid, at least I am always saying the sheep are stupid (“stupid” in this context means a lack of common sense and critical thinking). There is no other way to describe them, is there? (I am being hateful). Think of the garbage that people ingest these days (including me, of course). Few people read books, and if they do, they are typically junk books. Look at what they watch on television, on TikTok, on FB, on YouTube. Drek for the most part. Hollywood movies? Mostly garbage, books? Lots of good ones, right? But who is reading the good ones? How about symphony concerts? Ballet? Opera? They fill the auditoriums, don’t they? I must really run with the wrong crowd—or just don’t notice the folks who are into that stuff out there. Am I being a snob? Of course I am. I am doing just what I accuse the sheep of doing. I am trying to make people fit into my definition of decency, intelligence, and moral character, and if they don’t, I don’t care for them very much.

Unhappy? Yeah, most everyone is unhappy. Of course, all my patients are unhappy, but that stands to reason. Why would a happy person come to therapy? But I get a niggling feeling that most of those fat and stupid people in the grocery store were unhappy. Just a feeling. How could they be happy? Eating all the crap they were buying, being as stupid as they probably were.

Now, this is how I figure it. You can be two of the three (fat, stupid, unhappy) and you are probably ok. If you are all three, you are screwed. See how that works? Take me for example, I qualify for two of the three—fat and unhappy. I am not grossly obese or anything, but I take very poor care of my body. I do not see it as God’s temple, as I should. For example, the worst thing that happened to me a few years ago was Tim Horton’s discontinuing their Oreo Blondie. Devastating. And I am also unhappy, obviously. But I am not stupid, at least not stupid in the way I am defining stupid. So, I am “ok,” two out of three. Not too bad.

So, what are the other combos? Here’s one: fat and stupid but not unhappy. That’s a good one. Living in paradise those folks are. Ignorance is bliss. And what about stupid and unhappy but not fat? That is a rare combo, but also has merit. I mean, if you can have the discipline to be healthy, aware of what you eat, exercise and take care of your body, then who cares if you are stupid and unhappy? You have something going for you.

All three though, you are screwed. If you only have one of the three, you can’t play the game. You probably live on Mars.

Needless to say, it is impossible to tell what combos are out there. Even the fat criteria can be deceiving. Not everyone who would fall in that category is actually overweight—so you can’t really see it. Stupid can be difficult to discern for obvious reasons, and you have to wear unhappiness on your sleeve to surely notice that one.

I am pretty much making all of this up, of course. I am projecting fat, stupid, and unhappy on all of my fellow human beings because I am mad as hell and don’t feel like I can take it any longer. It is easier for me to get through the day if I can project what is wrong with the world on all of these hapless mugs. If I saw someone I knew, like a friend, they would likely not have the projection thrown at them. Clearly, it is my own fat, stupid, unhappiness that I am trying to process.

It is very sad to me, and these days more so than ever, that we don’t live in a world that has at least some basic things down pat. Like kindness, love, and deeper thought than thinking about what Taylor Swift is up to. And aren’t my comments here such a good example of how all of this can go so awry? We can indeed be very hateful creatures—it is very easy and comes very naturally. Maybe none of you out there have this problem. And I am the only one. Somehow, I doubt that.

How did we get this way? Some of it is natural, of course. As technology bounds on we become lazier and lazier, and thus fatter and fatter, and of course stupider and stupider. Life indeed becomes a paradise of sorts. Not a real paradise, of course, it is definitely an illusion. But most of us don’t know that, and then wonder, as we eat our tenth Oreo Blondie of the day, “Why am I so unhappy?” (Keep in mind I am a metaphoric writer.)

But how much of this actually is natural? I honestly do not think that much of it is. Even if there was not a conscious agenda to kill most of us with kindness (there is, sorry) we are still subjected to the way things operate—bad food and other vices so people get sick and get cancer so the pharmaceutical and medical industry (as well as most research Universities) stay in business. And that is only one example of the mind-numbing machinery in place that keeps many of us fat, stupid, and unhappy. These systems of despair appear in every aspect of human life: education, medicine, business, entertainment, and even in art, literature, and history. It can easily be described as a cancer, destroying the organism of humanity slowly but very surely.

What do we do about it? Well, I seldom have solutions, but I think this one is easy. Take care of your body, your family’s “body,” become curious, and seek out wonder in the natural world, find purpose and meaning through spirituality, art and nature. Easy, huh? If we all did this individually, we would naturally come together eventually to create a vibrant, happy, world filled with awe and wonder and love. It may take 1,000 years (literally) but we have to start at some point.