I stumbled upon this video out of not only curiosity, but also hope that she wouldn’t do exactly what she did. Nicole Arbour said some pretty rude and unkind words, and excused herself as a comedian in order to justify what she said. Fat-shaming is absolutely a thing. It is just a word used for people who in an unkind way and usually disturbing manner cut people down for their body image. This is along the same lines as slut-shaming, and most people who are not “fat” are the ones that are defending their right to wear whatever they choose. However, those people who are overweight are not trying to rightfully justify their bodies. They’re simply trying to silence those who are ignorant, unkind, and completely unaware of their situation, whatever it might be.

"Fat-shaming is not a thing," Arbour said. "Fat people made that up."

"There's a race card," she said. "There's a disability card. There's even a gay card, because gay people are discriminated against, wrongfully so. The gay card is covered in glitter."

I understand comedy, but I will never understand comedy that is flat out offensive, rude, and lacks empathy in every way possible. Even YouTube was fed up with Arbour’s post, and shut down her entire page. When I found out that she had disabled comments on her video, I found out just how wrong she knew she was. Not only was she ignorant, but she wasn’t even allowing those who she called out to engage in conversation with her, and that’s exactly what anyone would do when they know they are wrong in their statements.

There are so many ways to do this so much more appropriately. If you’re an advocate of health, and you’re actually concerned with someone and their weight becoming an issue, have a conversation with them. Don’t bully them, bring them down, and just all around try to make them feel bad. See what’s going on, see if you can encourage them to (IN A HEALTHY WAY) work on their body. Chances are, they already are, or they’re completely aware, and with attacks from people such as Arbour, the justification is enough to send some over the edge. They’re already aware; you’re simply just making them feel like shit. Young people who stumble upon videos such as this one, which is completely common in the technological age we live in, allows impressionable young teens to take Arbour’s (among other’s) words to heart, and when she said in the video, “stop eating,” that could very likely be taken literally. Even if she meant it for comedy, and not in the most literal way, it doesn’t matter to a 13-year-old – that could be exactly what they do. Arbour isn’t the only one. I’ve seen this attack before, and it’s just simply not justifiable. You don’t know if they’re struggling with disease, or mental illness. You just don’t know, and even if you did, who are you to judge?

WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE?

I’m not saying that North America’s obesity problem isn’t a problem. I’m saying the people who are ignorant and believe that there isn’t an issue in fat-shaming are the problem. People like Nicole Arbour are the problem. I didn’t even look into the comments under the video because I wanted to not have the public make an impact on my opinion. I’m coming from a very average body size. I’m not overweight or underweight, and I try to live healthily, but this bothered me, and even being of average weight, I’ve had my struggles with body image. Just because it looks to you like someone doesn’t struggle does not mean that they don’t.

Here's a link to my favorite Youtuber's response to Nicole Arbour:

Grace Helbig, the real MVP. A true comedian speaking to another pretty rude one.