A while ago, he fronted an Australian TV series called “Celebrity Overhaul”, which was actually quite good. The show was set in a luxurious Thai resort. Dr J. was always going on about how Australians should start every meal with a light Thai-style soup. One evening, two of the participants on the show prepared a gourmet-yet-healthy feast for the others. As a joke, they brought out a “Thai-style soup” which was little more than hot water. The dinner guests were disgusted, while Dr J. kept raving about how great it was, not realising that they were pulling his leg. It was very funny.

Did I mention we don’t take him very seriously?

La Di Da’s point bears repeating, that any number of things could inconvenience fellow passengers on a plane–a dog under the seat next to you if you’re allergic, a crying baby, a smelly person, an airsick person. But fat is the only thing people feel comfortable lashing out about. They know on some level that life is life and you’re going to be inconvenienced, and it’s just a roll of the dice. But fat has just enough public perception as something you can control, and something that results from gluttony, that people have a need to latch onto it and believe that the fat person next to them is at fault for being bigger. I think it makes them feel better for not being able to control all the other stuff.

I am of the general belief that Disney got it right by sizing up their ride seats. Who cares why people are bigger now–they ARE bigger. So Disney is sizing up to accommodate them. The airlines should do the same. (They have done a great PR job so far of shifting our outrage from where it belongs–on the companies themselves, for trying to maximize their profits by stuffing us in like sardines–onto our fellow passengers). And for anyone who thinks this is “condoning” being overweight and this will lead to the OMG WORSENING OF THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC, let me assure you that if being shamed and inconvenienced and forced to pay more and treated like crap in society could somehow “discourage” fatness, there would be no fat people anymore.

I hate it. I don’t fly. I would much rather travel cross country on a train or a bus than fly, even though it’ll take me days on a train or a bus and it only takes me a few hours on a plane.

I’m sick of it, frankly. Yes, I’m overweight- extremely so. And I’ve stopped flying because I’m terrified of the day they will say “You have to buy two seats.” I don’t care- you can go on and on about how you’re paying for your space and whatnot, but frankly, it’s unfair. I should not have to pay exorbitant fees to travel just because I weigh more. I already have to pay more for clothes, for shoes, for pretty much everything as a side effect of my size. I’m already fighting against all this discrimination and it’s just one other thing.

And I’m sick of everyone thinking it’s okay to talk about this. It’s humiliating, you know? Humiliating to hear people saying how I should be paying more for my airline seat because I take up more space. To hear people thinking it’s okay to force that on me.

Why–go away and die already, of this DEADLY! CONDITION! we have.

It’s very important for us to remember that they know that this is crap,in the way that some people are suprised when they find out and yet knew that their partner was playing away, it’s below the surface. The lengths they go to justify to themselves attitudes they know to be wrong, shows they know it’s wrong.

And yeah…how does a “fat tax” give anyone any more room anyway? Perhaps Dr Tickell thinks it will discourage fatties from flying at all until they lose weight. It’d have to be a pretty damn big tax to discourage me. Maybe next time I fly, I’ll ask if Dr Tickell’s on the same plane and ask if I can sit next to him because, like, I really admire what he’s doing for fat people.

I agree with the other posters that this seems somehow arbitrary. I never feel like I have a lot of room on a plane, and I never have a problem fitting in the seat. And I’d much rather sit next to a fat person than a screaming baby. Or the annoying military dudes who always seem to sit next to me while drunk (or sit next to me and proceed to get drunk)?