Let's play what if

So, I've explained over and over that 95% of diets fail (yes, even lifestyle changes and even if you keep up with it), that fat is mostly genetic, that fat does not equal unhealthy, and that the diet industry is a 60 billion dollar a year industry that wants to trick you into thinking that you can lose weight when you'll likely end up heavier than when you started. But let's pretend for a moment that all the fatphobes are right- that you can be thin if you just try hard enough, that fat is unhealthy, and that fat people really are just lazy.

I have to ask... so what? Since when did being lazy mean that you were worthy of being abused? Since when did loving to eat and hating exercise mean that you shouldn't be allowed basic respect or dignity? You can't pretend that there aren't lazy thin people so why aren't you throwing things at them or getting in their faces to tell them they deserve to be raped, killed, or should commit suicide? And since when does anything a person do, regardless of whether it's your cup of tea or not, make them deserve something like that anyway?

People make stupid choices all the time. People drink, they do extreme skate boarding, they speed on the interstate. Hell, one guy just walked across Niagara Falls on a cable and was cheered for it, not abused because he was doing something dangerous. We don't deny athletes health insurance even with the dangers that are associated with many sports such as repeated concussions and brain damage. Even smokers aren't met with the same kind of hate that fat people face and their smoke is not only bad for them, but bad for those around them too. If fat is caused by lifestyle, then why is it the one lifestyle that's seen as unacceptable? 

Regardless of whether being fat is a choice or not, we all deserve basic respect and a life free to make our own choices not one filled with constant abuse, stigma, and discrimination. It is not anyone else's place to effect the quality of our lives even if they believe those lives will be shortened by a few years. What kind of person takes it upon themselves to make someone else miserable for the rest of their life just because they disagree with how they live? Even if fat was our own fault, these people are still violating our human rights and we'd still need to stand up against them. So if being fat is a choice, I ask again, so what?