Wednesday night, I went undercover to listen to Milo Yiannopoulos spew his rhetoric on fat shaming to the University’s deplorables.
At the event, I learned that even the most atrocious iterations of free speech are protected … as long as a white man is saying it.
He began the event by singing the national anthem in a mocking fashion while dressed in drag. He made strange faces and used irregular tones for the song. Everyone laughed, applauded and sang with him.
Hypocrites.
The people who cheered Yiannopoulos for mocking our nation’s song are most likely the same people who shamed Colin Kaepernick for sitting during it. Apparently, peacefully protesting the anthem is wrong, but outwardly mocking it is okay.
Now, imagine if someone like Ru Paul went on stage and sang the anthem the same way Yiannopoulos did. Would the audience have reacted the same way?
The anthem is a small matter compared to the bulk of his event: fat shaming. The event, titled “Fat Shaming Works,” boosts the idea of fat shaming women to an audience of frat guys who, if we’re being completely honest, had dad bods themselves.
To support his claim, Yiannopoulos cited studies from Harvard and UCLA that said most people lose weight because they were pressured by their family and peers to do so. Ironically, he went on a 10-minute spiel beforehand saying how universities are basically useless and don’t serve their intended function.
Throughout his speech, Yiannopoulos’ lack of concern for overweight men was apparent. His entire speech spoke of obesity among women, and all the examples he used spoke of women, barring the gym selfie he took with an overweight man in the background.
Here is a man telling a room of mostly men that they should fat shame women into losing weight. What’s worse is that he’s wearing drag while doing this. He’s taking what is typically an LGBTQ tribute to empower women, and using it to mock them instead. Talking about obesity in the United States could be an interesting conversation. However, he loses all credibility when he uses his platform to shame women.
Let’s take a look at the substance of his argument. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 36.5 percent of U.S. adults are overweight. The CDC also reports that non-Hispanic blacks had the highest level of obesity at 48.1 percent. Hispanics came in second at 42.5 percent, and 34.5 percent of white Americans are obese.
However, Yiannopoulos failed to account for how someone’s socioeconomic status could affect their weight. How do you expect lower-income people to eat healthily? When do the working class have time to cook when they’re working overtime? People on food stamps don’t have the extra money to afford healthier food.
And regardless of all the factors he failed to mention, his form of fat shaming is just wrong. Unless you constantly work out and eat healthily, you have no right to shame someone’s body or lifestyle. Some people have a more difficult time losing weight, and being thin does not equate to being healthy.
According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, about 30 million people across the United States suffer from an eating disorder, and at least one person dies from an eating disorder every 62 minutes. Fat shaming wouldn’t necessarily make people healthy. It would only increase the number of people with eating disorders. But, as long as men don’t have to look at women they don’t find appealing, who cares, right?
Students for Trump got its wish and its free speech, but in the end, its members learned nothing but superficial facts. Instead of being enlightened, now they feel more justified in their bigotry.
Cody Sibley is a 20-year-old mass communication junior from Opelousas, Louisiana.