Discrimination

On occasion I have been known to check out the "rants and raves" section on craigslist. Usually it's filled with hateful people spouting off on something they know nothing about. Sometimes it's amusing, and sometimes it's disturbing.
Now you know why I keep going back!
Today I read a post written by an obviously angry person regarding their commute into work. Today being a nasty weather day, this is not surprising. Someone called him an asshole and he was offended. What struck me was that he went to great lengths to criticize this woman for being fat. What does her weight have to do with driving, bad weather, or being called an asshole?
well, nothing.
Yet he riddled his post with slurs about her looking like a cow, how she "got out of her pen this morning" eluded to her "stuffing her face" on McDonalds breakfast foods (which apparently, she wasn't actually doing, he just assumed). This went on and on. Would he have done this if the person was black? Or, disabled? Maybe, but my gut tells me the a post with the word N---er in it would have been flagged and removed. But a post about a woman being a cow? Nah. I guess that's funny.
This is the reason I am in therapy.
I have always been made to feel like I am a second class citizen because I happen to take up more space then some people. I have made my way through life trying desperately to disappear.
(Don't see me. If they see me, they will criticize. They will laugh at me. I can't take it.)
So, I kept (keep?) opinions to myself. I didn't (don't?) speak too loudly or speak out against wrong doings. Yes, it effects me still. I'm not quite as invisible, but there are times when I want nothing more than that.
Bias against weight is the last acceptable form of discrimination. And even with America's expanding waist lines, I think we have a long way to go in educating people about weight and obesity.
Unfortunately, I won't be doing any of that fighting. I'll just stay here and blend in with the drapes...