By:
The Dude on the Right
I’ve got two topics I want to blog about this evening. One was brought
about by listening to Howard Stern the last couple of days when he was
commenting about Tyra Banks’ new "So What!" campaign where you can, as I’m
typing this (nice typo Tyra people),
"Upload You ‘So What!’
Video". The other is a quick comment about the Olympics. Sure,
maybe as a blogger I should separate them into two different blogs, but read
about what you want.
So let’s get to the Tyra Banks’ "So What!" campaign.
It seems Tyra is trying to empower women (and maybe dudes) to be happy and be
one with some self-esteem issues by simply saying "So what!" On its
surface it seems like a nice campaign, but what bothers me is that, for the most
part, it pretty much only deals with weight issues. She had women on her
show, wearing one-piece bathing suits, with their weight plastered on them, I
guess as a testament to their being proud of their bodies (if they were that
proud, shouldn’t they have been in two-piece suits? I’m sorry, I
digress.). Her website spotlights three women from the show, one who "So
what"-ed that her thighs rubbed together when she walked, another who "So what"-ed
she couldn’t lose the last 15 pounds, and another who "So what"-ed that her
thighs jiggled when she walked.
My problem is that weight should never be a "So what!" issue, and as someone
who continues to struggle with his weight, I’ve joked, thanks to Homer Simpson,
"I’ve been an obese man trapped inside a fat man’s body" many a time, but never,
as self-esteemish as it is, did I ever dream of shouting "So what!" about my
weight. From the way I see it "So what!" things should be left for things
like "Sometimes I like to pee in the shower," or maybe "Every now and then I
don’t shave my legs for a week," or maybe "Yes, I’m almost 40 and I like ‘Smallville,’"
or maybe "I like to smell my own farts," or maybe "Some days I like to wear
sweats and not do my hair," or maybe "I still watch ‘Survivor,’" or maybe "I’m a
women and have no problem going to ‘Hooters.’" And I could go on and on.
But do you recognize
something about all of the above "So whats!"? None of them are really
health issues.
Having a "So what" attitude about your weight is a health issue, and a life
issue, and if I were Tyra my campaign might be "It’s My Struggle, not Yours" and
not "So What!" Here’s what "So what!" about your weight might lead to:
Diabetes, heart issues, cholesterol issues, high blood pressure, higher
insurance costs, depression, and just dying before you want to.
I know there
are two things I need to do to get myself back to being a healthy person, but
for reasons not for here, not right now, I am not progressing at those two
things like I would want to. But even as I don’t do those two things have
I ever had the attitude Tyra Banks seems to want me to have about my weight,
namely "So what!", because at that point I might as well come back to another
quote I used to joke about, "I’m one with my fat self," and then maybe wonder
when being my fat self would make me have to take at least a half-dozen pills
just to stay alive.
For me I’m thinking I might have to focus a little more on
the two things I need to do to keep me alive a little longer in this world
rather than listen to the advice of "So what!" Sadly, for other people,
they will say "So what!" for a while, and then wonder why, when they are older,
they have to pop a lot of pills and say "Why me?"
Enough Tyra Banks.
Oh yea,
there’s that Olympic thing. This blog has gone on a little longer than
planned so I’ll just say this. The United States Olympic Evaluation
Commission is visiting Chicago this week to see if Chicago would be a better
place to host the 2016 Olympics as opposed to Los Angeles. Chicago is a
better place. Los Angeles already has stuff built. We get to build
new stuff. Isn’t that what the Olympics are about – New Champions, and new
stuff!
"If Chicago builds it, they will come. The World will.
Come. And Celebrate."
And if the Chicago Olympic folks want to pay me
for that slogan, I’m up for negotiations, that’s the Chicago way
"So What!" is
a crappy campaign, from Tyra Banks, but for the USOC, hey, just come, and
celebrate.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!