You’re right: sympathy, in terms of the emotion, is not zero sum, and I should not proceed in discussions and engage others on the basis that it is.
Still, what resources we expend because of our sympathy are limited, and so I don’t think you appreciated how good fat women have it relative to other worthy targets of sympathy. Short men, for example, don’t even have the option to save up for a safe operation that tallifies them, while fat women at least have the option of liposuction. (And, while we’re at it, they probably got dating experience effectively for free sometime in their lives, if you really want to count woes and blessings.)
In bringing up wide feet, I was also (albeit rudely) hoping to provide insight onto why people might be so indifferent to the plight of fat women. If you can roll your eyes at someone who has wide feet, then I think you can better appreciate why people would roll their eyes at the complaints of fat women, because the same dynamic is at play.
Again, my bringing up the matter was woefully off topic, and I can understand now why it was hard to see my point—someone actually wanting to contribute to the discussion wouldn’t see where it fits in. I apologize and deeply regret raising the issue.
You’re right: sympathy, in terms of the emotion, is not zero sum, and I should not proceed in discussions and engage others on the basis that it is.
Still, what resources we expend because of our sympathy are limited, and so I don’t think you appreciated how good fat women have it relative to other worthy targets of sympathy. Short men, for example, don’t even have the option to save up for a safe operation that tallifies them, while fat women at least have the option of liposuction. (And, while we’re at it, they probably got dating experience effectively for free sometime in their lives, if you really want to count woes and blessings.)
In bringing up wide feet, I was also (albeit rudely) hoping to provide insight onto why people might be so indifferent to the plight of fat women. If you can roll your eyes at someone who has wide feet, then I think you can better appreciate why people would roll their eyes at the complaints of fat women, because the same dynamic is at play.
Again, my bringing up the matter was woefully off topic, and I can understand now why it was hard to see my point—someone actually wanting to contribute to the discussion wouldn’t see where it fits in. I apologize and deeply regret raising the issue.
There are leg-lengthening procedures; this study showed a 4% rate of major complications, which doesn’t seem that unsafe.