Feedback 2 July 2009 - This week’s comments come from and the post, with a bit of praise and some discussion on fat.

First up, always nice to get a bit of praise in, especially for the news and the website, which has had some folks grumbling a bit as we have gone through a few teething problems. Melanie [of no country cited] wrote: 
 

“This message is simply a compliment to your website for well balanced &
current news articles.

I also visit Sky & CNN on a daily basis but always check your site for a
better balanced & less sensational opinion. Thank you for good journalism.”

Thank you to Melanie, and to all of our other listeners/readers who take the time to write to us.
 

The right to be fat
Many of you had a lot to say on our forum debate on TSWI: The right to be fat. Much of it along the lines either, no they don’t have the right, like Genesgalore [of no country cited] who wrote:
 

“The whole "right to be fat" fantasy doesn't deserve to see the light of day. Overweight people are overweight cus they eat too much. Enough with their fat-assed, lame excuses for being weak humans.”

Or, yes they do, like Anonymous [of no country cited], who replied:
 

“Thank your genes too, genesgalore...And don't be vain..cus you could fatten too, without your knowing how, when, where...”

Interesting slant
We often get that sort of back and forth debate on our forums, but one response sent in to , offerred a new, and interesting slant on the subject. Anon Y. Mous [of no country cited], wrote:
 

“I instantly bristled when "The Fat Lady" said,
something like, "Men are more expensive [than women]."
Ooops. ...guess we should tax men more....
...no tellin' where her allegiances lie.
***
But, hey!
I got a better idea.
Why don't we tax gasoline consumption
to cover the costs of emissions pollution and its' effects?
Why don't we tax meat consumption
to cover the costs in individual an environmental health?
Why don't we tax alcohol
to cover the costs of dysfunctions and deaths?
Why don't we give the cigarette smokers a pass from the scapegoat-tax that
they have endured while petrol, meat and meat farming, and alcohol,
with equally great socio-economic external costs, runs away unabated.
***
Then, we could offer environmental moral exemplary rewards to,
those who do not own or operate motor vehicles,
those who do not support rainforest deforestation, fast food producers, and meat consumption at all,
and to those who do not
support alcohol and beverage producers (and their aluminium smelting to generate more beer and soda cans).”

Fat is beautiful!
Not to be outdone by one of the most unusual responses sent in for a long time. A small group of listeners were in, apparent, total agreement with TWSI: Fat is beautiful! (in Africa anyway):
 

“In the West, being labelled fat is degrading and hurtful. But in most of Africa, it’s just the opposite. Big is not only beautiful - it’s often considered to be a cultural right.”

We received the following request in the post from: Emmanuel Obbih, Richmond Essel, Mustapha Saidy and Justice Gyamfi:
 

“We are four friends from Ghana, but living in the Gambia and we want fat women, who are serious in life, for marriage. Please broadcast our names to enable us to get in contact with women from the ages of 25-45.”

Dear Gentlemen, we are a public broadcaster and cannot possible “advertise” in such a way for you, nor am I allowed to publish your email addresses, but we do thank you for writing in to support the point in the article and we wish you luck in your search.
 

[And if anyone does respond to this, we’ll let you know.]
 

Feedback returns the week of 20 July.