Hey Facebook! I’ll Feel Fat If I Want To

According to USA Today “Facebook is replacing its “feeling fat” emoji with “feeling stuffed” after thousands of people signed an online petition to protest that it promoted online body shaming.”

Apparently now Facebook is telling us how we can and cannot feel. If I want to feel fat I’m going to feel fat. And if I want to tell all my friends that I feel fat, I will. I don’t need Facebook or a bunch of self-righteous jerks with an online petition telling me that my feelings might hurt someone else’s feelings. Zuckerberg you moron. Are you going to change Facebook every time “thousands” of people sign an online petition? I could start an online petition saying Facebook is stupid and thousands of people would sign it. I could start an online petition advocating any number of stupid ideas and thousands of people would sign it. Hey Mark Zuckerberg, guess what! I think the “feeling sad” emoji is shaming people with depression. You’d better remove that right away before someone gets offended.

From USA Today, “Catherine Weingarten of the group Endangered Bodies started the Change.org petition last month.” “When Facebook users set their status to ‘feeling fat,’ they are making fun of people who consider themselves to be overweight, which can include many people with eating disorders,” Weingarten, a graduate student at Ohio State University, told ABC News.”

So Catherine Weingarten, a graduate student who is probably no more than 24 years old, thinks she knows what’s best for everyone. Yeah, thanks Cathy. Not that I use emojis anyway because I’m an actual grown up who uses words to express my feelings, but I am not taking life advice from someone who just three years ago was probably worrying about whether she could find a hair clip that matched her sorority sweatshirt. Guess what Cathy Weingarten? When I eat a big meal and I feel fat and I tell my Facebook friends, I am not making fun of you or anyone else. My feelings about my body are mine, not yours or anyone else’s. If you feel bad about yourself because I expressed my feeling online using a tiny cartoon face that’s a you problem, not a me problem. In fact, I encourage everyone reading this to click on the link to the petition and read it. As you read, notice how many times Ms. Weingarten says the words me, myself, or I. If you don’t want to read it, I’ll give you a hint, it’s a lot. The online petition is all about her feelings.

Cathy Weingarten, you and everyone who signed that petition are immature, online keyboard bullies. Because a small fraction of Facebook users didn’t like something you wanted to change how everyone else in the world expressed their feelings. I hope you feel good about eradicating an emoji, but guess what? If it’s not another emoji today, it will be a billboard tomorrow or a song on the radio next week that offends. Start all the petitions you want, but nobody is going to bubble wrap the world to make it perfectly safe for you. That’s a you problem.

And Cathy, you are also an exclusionary jerk. Your petition specifically asks Facebook to “stop encouraging negative body image among girls.” Just girls? Why not guys? Don’t overweight guys have feelings too? By specifically saying “girls” you’re excluding half of the overweight population.  I’m offended by that. I think I’ll start a petition.

Whatever happened to freedom of speech? It’s not that I don’t care about other people’s feelings, I do.. I don’t think that hate language towards anyone is ever acceptable, but expressing my feelings about me is not hate language. I don’t think I need anyone else legislating what I say about how I feel about myself. That becomes a slippery slope towards censorship. Everyone who has read this far, please consider this as my online petition for sanity in social media. If you wanted to share this on Facebook by hitting the Facebook share button below I wouldn’t start a petition to stop you. In fact, go ahead and share this to the point that it gets back to Catherine Weingarten and Mark Zuckerberg.