By Kimmy Claussen Posted October 7, 2015
There was a recently uploaded YouTube video produced by Nicole Arbour called “Dear Fat People”. It has offended many people around the world because of its questionable language and various offensive jokes about obese people.
Since the video created so much controversy, YouTube decided to temporarily delete it. Eventually, though, they had to put the video back up because Arbour didn’t break the Community Guidelines of YouTube.
In the video, Arbour says that she doesn’t believe “fat shaming” is something that is a part of society. She claims that people should be shaming fat people until they stop their habits. Although this could be considered good advice for some, she went on to make jokes about people who are obese that many different people consider to be very rude and not helpful to the obese community.
“Dear Fat People, ahh some people are already really mad at this video. What are you going to do fat people? What are you going to do? You going to chase me? … I can get away if I walk at a reasonable pace,” she said.
Though many people have had a negative response to the video, some have come to Arbour’s defense. They say things like making controversial jokes are just a part of comedy. Others say that comedy is going to offend certain groups of people, but even if it offends them they shouldn’t speak up because it’s not meant to be taken so seriously.
“Every person ripping into Miss Arbour makes a variation as to one of two arguments as to why she’s wrong. One, ‘obesity is serious and should not be joked about’. Two, ‘the jokes are fine but hers aren’t funny’. To the first point, why is obesity special? Why is obesity immune to jokes, immune to criticism?” says a YouTuber called “scagg 3”.
Fat shaming is a serious issue that we have in society today. Videos like this can be harmful to people who aren’t confident in their own skin. Obesity isn’t just overeating (though for some that is the cause). There are many different factors that cause obesity that Arbour doesn’t mention in the video. There are emotional eating disorders that are very hard to deal with. Many even have specific diseases that cause them to gain weight.
Arbour then explains why she decided to make the video. She wanted obese people to change their habits, not necessarily to make fun of them.
“I’m saying this because your friends should be saying it to you,” said Arbour.
With all the negative jokes Arbour made in the video, her intended message did now show. In the future, if Arbour or anyone else wants to make videos like this, they should motivate people to change positively. Joking about serious matters like this typically does more harm than good. Change isn’t always easy, and videos like this, make it that much harder.
