I agree that as humans, we make automatic assumtions based on our first impressions of people, that does not make them correct though.
Skier: You said a large percentage of society views being overweight as "undesirable". That doesn't mesh with the numbers. Given that nearly two-thirds of the U.S. is overweight, I'm curious, are you saying that most (or close to, two-thirds) of the people in the U.S. find themselves and the majority of other people "undesirable"?
I agree physical attractiveness is important, and is usually the first thing that brings two people together (um, "attract"). However, as you said:
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Other traits, like ambition, honesty, moral strength, caring, or empathy, are harder to uncover and they take time.
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Do you realize how silly (IMHO) this sounds? You're basically saying that you judge a person on how they look first and everything else that makes up a person comes second.
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And you know what? You could be the most fantastic person in the world, and if I talked to you it would be quickly apparant that your wonderful personality shines like a beacon of awesomeness. We could be GREAT friends, and I wouldn't even care in the least bit about your weight. But. I still wouldn't find you physically attractive, and we would never have more than a friendship.
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Again, as I said before in this thread, I am the last person to command you to find fat attractive. I don't know if I'd want you for a friend (the only role I'd qualify for, to you) though, if you saw me as less of a human being simply because I have some extra padding.
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In general terms however, while I see obesity as a negative trait, there are SO many things more important about a person than their weight. It's a drop in the pond. The only real importance that weight has on how I judge a person is what it might imply about their character- the lazy, self-indulgent stereotype. Which you can usually figure out the veractiy of in 5 minutes of chat.
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Sooo... I might have a wonderful personality, in which case, you wouldn't care about my weight. Which, I think might be agreed upon, you meant as long as I'm overweight, then my weight would become a problem. And since I'm overweight, I probably meet the stereotype of a lazy person (nevermind everything I've said about myself in this thread to the contrary). I am neither lazy nor self-indulgent (far from it, I put almost everyone else before myself as a lot of women do).
I realize that stereotypes exist because they have some basis in reality. But perhaps some of the problems in today's societie's exist because we may have put too much merit into them? A thought.
Ali