I used to think Dick Cavett was a smart, witty, and insightful man. Now, I just consider him – well – a dick.
In his 7/25 NYT Op-Ed piece, “Is Bigger Really Better?”, Cavett promotes one of the last publically acceptable types of discrimination. He picks on fat people.
Cavett’s excessive whining about how watching excessively portly people in commercials promotes widespread acceptance of big butted individuals is ridiculous. However, it opened the floodgates for many of his readers to jump on his “we hate fat people” bandwagon. It’s like he and some of his readers took a “small-minded pill” before choosing a group they could pick on without remorse.
I read the online comments they posted in response to his article. Some were heartfelt, but a disturbingly high number were hateful.
Like fat people haven’t been tormented enough throughout their lives?
Do skinny and average-sized people think fat people don’t know they’re fat? That we don’t own mirrors? That we need someone to help our body image issues thrive???
I was startled to read just how nasty people can be when judging complete strangers’ physical appearances.
It’s a little too easy to score comedy points by referring to obese people as a “herd of heifers”. It’s a low blow; significantly beneath Cavett’s usually high-brow humor.
Why the name-calling, Dick? Aside from laziness, what prompted your mean spirited rant?
Unfortunately, you missed a good opportunity to use your intellect and humor to advance your belief that obesity is too widely accepted - a bone fide opinion worthy of discussion.
The obliviously offensive way you described your distaste (and utter disdain) for all overweight people was an incredibly ineffective way to promote a thoughtful discussion regarding America’s losing battle with obesity.
This article is a very disappointing product from an otherwise interesting and entertaining essayist.
~NYT Article http://cavett.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/25/is-bigger-really-better/ (TimesSelect – requires paid subscription)
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