Time Magazine has a cover with a profile picture of governor Chris Christie under the headline “The Elephant in the Room.”
Time called it a “figure of speech” and did not apologize.
Jon Stewart created a cover for “The Daily Show Magazine” with the headline “Time Magazine is a pile of sh*t.” Stewart explained that it was a figure of speech.
Commenters all over the internet are wringing their hands and wailing “won’t somebody think about his health,” defending the idea that cheap shots based on the appearance of candidates are ok if we can successfully stereotype that appearance as indicating health. The truth, of course, is that there are healthy and unhealthy people of every shape and size and people should probably think long and hard about whether or not “health issues” are valid reasons to vote for someone, or if they are just being healthist. No matter what someone believes about this, I don’t think it justifies National magazines making tacky appearance-based jokes.
Chris Christie has said that he doesn’t care “Whatever they put on the cover of TIME Magazine, as long as my name’s with it, I could care less” and “if I’m bothered by jokes about my weight, it’s time for me to curl up into the fetal position and go home, OK? I — and the fact is that, you know, if they think that’s clever, great for them.”
Governor Christie gets to handle this any way he wants, and I have absolutely no issues with his reaction. I think that every fat person gets to decide how we deal with the bullying, stigmatizing, stereotyping and oppression that comes at us. I think that the problem lies with the people doing the bullying, stigmatizing, stereotyping and oppression.
I will say that I believe it’s a sad commentary on our culture if we truly believe that anyone who wants to live a life of public service (or make a living signing, dancing, acting etc.) should just expect that along with that comes a heaping helping of body shaming, stigmatizing, bullying. I would like to live in a society where people think that’s not ok, not one where they use the prevalence of bad behavior as an excuse to perpetuate and participate in it.
Governor Christie and I disagree on a great many things – like the idea that same gender couples should have to get the approval of the majority of voters to enjoy the same civil rights that opposite gender couples consider their birthright. But I’m happy to let my argument stand on its merits. Unfortunately I see many people who aren’t willing to do that attack the Governor utilizing a common way to institutionalize oppression – by tying it to things like health, ability, fault, choice etc. Fat people are definitely not the first group to have to deal with this, sadly we likely won’t be the last. My question to those who are justifying their size bigotry against Chris Christie (or anyone else) under the guise of “health” is that if, looking back in history, they are proud of the company they are keeping?
The real elephant in the room isn’t a fat governor, it’s fat bigotry.
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