Editors note: I took down this entry after a bitter complaint by a reader, but have updated this entry to include these important notes: 1. I do not deny that struggles with addictions like smoking or eating or using drugs are difficult, and even imagine that those difficulties make them more worthy of our humanity, and 2. Every choice is a choice whether it is difficult or easy, and 3. We all face demons and difficulties, and we are all addicted to destruction in some fashion.

Also, it didn’t take long to adjudicate my assertions. Read this excellent article from The Telegraph (link.)

“I’d offer you something to eat, but I can tell by looking at you, you don’t like to eat.” ~Bubba

I just saw a dress ad on a social media site. The dress was on an obese model. Is this, in fact, the way the world is going: acceptance of sloth, gluttony, avarice? Are we really so politically and socially correct that we have no idea what real health and happiness mean?

Am I expected to accept this? Appreciate this? Keep my great big f*cking mouth shut about it?

I don’t accept that. There is a real reason for fat shaming and body shaming: fat. is. bad.

Fat is inherently, demonstrably bad, in many ways, including medical, social, and emotional ways.

Enter counter-shaming: How dare I tell a human being that what they are doing is wrong, no matter how obviously wrong they are.

As I write this someone with whom I have direct contact is complaining bitterly that his diabetic vision problems are the fault of doctors, insurance companies, hospitals, big pharma. The real narrative is this: I will behave like a four year old as an adult, eating nothing but dietary candy and moving my body like an injured soldier, and I will blame everyone but myself.

We accept that 40 percent of the population has type II diabetes by choice. We accept that the health care business is in business to keep us from being healthy. We accept the inevitable heart attack, vision loss, and neuropathy.

Is this an angry argument for a plant-based diet? F*ck yes, it is. I’m not special: I have been a vegetarian for 30 years, not because I’m some kind of robot or superhero, but because I have a little pride in my health and my appearance.

I promise I will never ask you to “accept” any flaw I choose to have.

I can picture the scene right now anywhere in America: obese people drowning themselves in barbecue sauce and chicken batter, gobbling their fast food with the urgency of starvation, with the culinary maturity of an infant.

“Breakfast and off to the OKC zoo. Renting a personal tour tram. See the whole zoo in about 2 hrs little to no walking?. “

When did our world begin regarding not walking as a virtue?

And where is the line? Can we not say obesity is bad, but we can call out smoking? Meth addiction? All are demonstrably bad.

[stextbox id=’black’ caption=’Deaf ears?’]A woman at a party once told me she couldn’t have my vegetable stir-fry because it had soy sauce in it, which was made with salt, and she was on a sodium-free diet. But she filled her plate up with enough red meat and sugary barbeque sauce to kill a… well, she died a couple of weeks later from complications of heart disease and type II diabetes.[/stextbox]

[stextbox id=’black’ caption=’How can you do this?’]At a box store just a day or two ago, I saw a man who was so fat he was actually taxing the limit of the motor on his scooter. He might have weighed 500 pounds. And… ugh. He smelled like feces. When I witness this, I am filled with incredulity.[/stextbox]

So what the hell is the almighty Richard going to do about it, besides this angry, judgemental rant? If you put me in charge, I mean really in charge with a title like “Kingemperor,” among my first decrees would be to end prescription drugs for all but the type I diabetes patients. The new prescription for type II diabetes is: diet and exercise. How? Your grocery card only has healthy fruits and vegetables on it, only in small amounts, and you are no longer licensed to drive. Get off you ass, fatty, or starve. And I don’t care which.

If I sound uncompassionate, consider this: obesity, sloth, gluttony… are all inherently uncompassionate. They only consider and care for the self, and only in the shallowest way. F*ck nature, f*ck other people, f*ck everything except this delicious donut.

And f*ck yourself out of the only real gift you were ever given: life.

I can almost see you sucking your thumbs.

Note: this is one of my angry rants that’s been cooking in my drafts folder for six months. I am NOT pushing it to social media.