Nature was once the most prestigious academic journal in the world. Yet in the last few years, it’s been allocating more and more editorial space to woke activism. The latest example comes in the form of an article titled “The sting of sizeism in the scientific workplace”.
“Sizeism”, in case you’re not aware, refers to prejudice or discrimination against those who are overweight. And the article’s basic gist is that it’s a big problem in science. In short, “researchers of size” (an actual phrase used in the article) are being held back by “stigma against fatness”.
Okay, pointing this out isn’t so unreasonable, you might say. After all, if someone’s a great scientist, they shouldn’t face a penalty just because they’re on the heavy side. And that’s true: discrimination on the basis of any arbitrary characteristic is wrong. However, the article goes much further than that – by suggesting overweight people contribute to “diversity”, and making various other bizarre claims.
“Academics love to pay lip service to diversity, less so to size diversity,” says an academic quoted in the article. The implication being that “diversity” with respect to body size is something desirable – that it would be better to have a department with 10 healthy people and 10 obese people than with 20 healthy people.
Personally, I’m against attaching any weight to “diversity” when it comes to hiring. I think the best person should get the job, full stop. However, to suggest that we ought to care about “size diversity” is particularly absurd. You can at least argue that hiring more women or black people might have positive role model effects. But I can’t see any possible benefit of hiring people just because they’re overweight.
The article goes on to describe the idea that “everyone can control their weight” as a “misperception”. According to the author, claiming that “if someone is larger, it must be because they eat too much and exercise too little” is “flawed logic”, which makes people believe that “losing weight should simply be a matter of eating less and exercising more”.
You don’t need to know anything about the science of obesity to realise there’s nothing “flawed” about this logic. Sure, some people find it harder to lose weight than others – they may absorb slightly more calories from the food they eat, or burn slightly fewer calories during their daily activity. But it is a matter of basic physics that if you burn more calories than you take in, you will lose weight.
How do we know this? Until the 1950s, almost no one was obese. At that time, food was far more expensive and life was much less sedentary, so people ate less and exercised more. Likewise, when food is genuinely scarce (as in poor countries or prisoner of war camps) people lose weight – fast.
Acknowledging that some people find it difficult to lose weight is fine; rejecting basic physics is downright bizarre.
As an aside, the article also suggests that overweight women experience more discrimination than overweight men. “One study found,” the author notes “that women were 16 times more likely than men to experience weight-based discrimination at work.” However, she then adds in parentheses that “gender is neither binary nor fixed”. Remember this is Nature we’re dealing with, not Teen Vogue.
How does “implicit bias” against the overweight manifest in academia? One academic “recounted a subtle but pervasive undertone of bias at morning tea breaks, when thinner colleagues would discuss wanting to lose weight in her presence, and referenced being ‘naughty’ if they ate cake, and so on”. Is this really “bias”? Or is it perfectly normal conversation among people trying to maintain a healthy bodyweight?
The final part of the article discusses what might be done to counteract discrimination against “larger-bodied individuals”. As an example of one initiative, the author mentions a blog titled “Fuck Yeah! Fat PhDs”, which posted photos of PhD candidates or holders who “identify as fat”. According to its creator, the blog shows aspiring scholars they don’t have to lose weight to be successful.
The article discusses various other ways to create a workplace “that is accepting of all body sizes”, such as by “hiring more people of size”. What it doesn’t mention is that losing weight might actually be a good idea. After all, being overweight is unhealthy, and you might have assumed Nature would be would concerned about that.
But of course, telling people to lose weight is ‘offensive’, which is the worst possible thing you can be in the current climate. So we find ourselves in the odd situation where a leading scientific journal is normalising obesity.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
“Knave can’t see Queens because of Queen”.
Reminds me of that headline about “Queen in brawl at [Crystal] Palace”! In all honesty though, the footballing authorities have long been a bunch of numpties. People can’t drink alcohol within site of the pitch at matches (though if they go into the club bar or watch the same match in a pub, it’s alright). I’ll just say this decision on cancelling should have been left up to individual clubs, or possibly leagues. It does seem heavy handed that even very junior leagues have to cancel games. It also seems odd that horse racing went ahead as usual today. Were the St. Leger’s Classic being disrespectful? Hardly likely.
So far as I’m concerned, segregation should be ended at football matches, and all-seating requirements abolished in line with other sports, and anyone who causes serious problems should be locked up. We can’t be living in fear of ruddy hooligans, and segregation should not be something for a civilised society. If football supporters were treated like civilised people, perhaps they might behave in a more civilised way.
Totally agree. Idiotic.
And of course she was a big fan of horse racing. The last thing she would want to happen is for the races to stop; it’s good that they carried on.
This is just another example of over-arching control from the state and institutions.
Respect comes from inside the individual, like responsibiity. It is not created or imposed from outside. If people wish to show respect, they should be left alone to do it in whatever way that they think fit.
Yep, football is for the commoners and they must bow and pay their respects in the way they are told. It is these very people that the elites fear the most – the dirty masses coming together and seeing through all their bullshit. They MUST be reminded of who they are and who is in charge; they know that without that authority power will be back in the hands of the people.
What about all those people who rely on football matches to make a living: the pie men, sandwich makers, the breweries?
What about those who get a little income top-up when matches are on: the casual club staff like stewards, the taxi drivers, café owners, the pubs?
Some people almost live for their weekend football yet it was allegedly taken away in order, allegedly, to show a mark of respect to a 96 year old dead woman!
Do me a favour. Even if the instruction to cancel came from the footballing authorities let’s not pretend that some leaning wasn’t carried out from government “representatives.” A deliberate decision to inflict further miseries on working people and basically to rile them. Obviously it has riled Toby and I fully understand why even though I have negligible interest in the game. Other sports were allowed to proceed but not the footy.
Why?
Are we seriously expected to believe that footballing authorities don’t talk to other sporting bodies?
More rubbing the noses of the working people in the dirt:
Just look you plebs, we can even take away your weekly circus. Doubtless, shortly to be followed by their daily bread.
Am I being over the top? Maybe but these days I wouldn’t put ANYTHING past TPTB.
Evil barstewards.
Football was cancelled for the same reason that Footvall was one of the first places where pro-Ukraine, anti-Russia propaganda appeared – almost within hours of the Russian invasion, the place where ludicrous “anti-racism” rituals take place, the place where pro LGBT propaganda is displayed.
Football is very much an instrument of the establishment. It is a powerful instrument of communication and manipulation.
Football has the claws of the establishment elites deeply sunk into its skin and is used for whatever purpose is required.
On this occasion, the plebs need to be persuaded of the awesome power of the monarchy, in case anyone is thinking this is a good time to pursue republican ideals.
Don’t forget BLM [inc] (not to be mistaken with anti-racism, i.e: ‘Respect’ in the footie world) which to this day is still pandered to with this imported display of kneeling. “The crowd boos”. “Oh, it’s normal – they’re just a bunch of white supremo racists.” Er, no!!! They’re anti-Marxist grifters making money off the suffering of an ethnic group – and spending their ill-gotten gains on million dollar exclusive properties and claiming it as.. “a space for Black folks to share their gifts with the world and hone their crafts”. Yeah ok, whatever.)
Oh forgive me. I missed your “anti-racism” ritual mention. Was distracted and didn’t see anything other than the big caps letter acronym.
Pretty sure one would not have approved of this decision.
The last 3 stages of the Cycling Tour of Britain were cancelled too! I was well miffed…
Relating to priorities following the death of an elderly relative. A fair number of years ago, a Welsh family lost a beloved Grandma on the Wednesday before the Ireland v Wales 5 Nations match in Dublin. As the family all had tickets, Grandma included, they decided to go to the match as that would be the most fitting way of honouring Grandma’s memory.
Apparently Grandma would have been furious if the tickets had been wasted!!!
Ever come face to face with an irate Welsh Grandma? I do not recommend it!
The decision by the PL and EFL was very quickly announced. I think they probably wanted to be ‘ahead on the virtue signalling’, and didn’t appreciate that they would be on their own (pretty much).
One thing they can decree, please, is for the ‘taking of the knee to be ended. We have already witnessed the disgusting spectacle of a minutes silence for Prince Phillip, a man who faithfully served this nation for 70 plus years, being followed by players taking the knee for a dead drug addict and criminal from 4000 miles away. Please, not for our beloved Queen. Black arm band, silence, belt out ‘God save the King’ and get on with the game.
https://youtu.be/uHqgvWivkyY
I wonder if this Next Tuesday Warrior had anything to do with cancelling the footy?
It was just another way for “the Elites” to signal their superiority and their fear/disdain of “the lower orders.”
It’ll probably get called a mistake, like every one of the countless other major assaults on our traditions/normality over the last few years.
Once again you mistake incompetence and mistakenness for a deliberately malevolent act by the football authorities who take their orders from elsewhere. For reasons which are obvious to many, football high ups do not wish the fans to experience any sense of unity, national pride, togetherness. Rather the promotion of division and uber wokery is their only mantra. Consider how quickly the footie was used to aid and abet the lockdown nonsense, QR codes for little kids going to play in their Sunday leagues. They had the plan long before we had the sniffles: discuss.