With a steady rise of obesity in today's society, historian Hillel Schwartz applies various credible sources throughout his article, "Fat and Happy?". This allows him to assert there is nothing inherently false with fatness, but the issues faced by those considered overweight are a result of societal stigma and shame rather than weight itself. Along with the continuous shame overweight individuals face, they are also looked down upon in the work field and education systems. However, Schwartz's use of satire in his article is frequently obscure as he targets the specific audience of fat people rather than the opposing side. Although his use of satire effectively pertains toward his target audience by portraying possible events similar to their …show more content…
He then builds upon the acceptance of fatness through the thought, if fat people are truly unhappy, it is solely due to the way society stigmatizes them and depicts them as caricatures (Schwartz 179). Although Schwartz does not utilize credible resources to refute this claim, he provokes an emotional connection to the overweight individuals allowing him to be effective. However, he especially scrutinizes the diet and health care systems as the source for those stigmatisms and consequent deprivations of positive fat human qualities. For example he states, "...fat people are compromised and persecuted. Like other minorities, fat people are treated like children, given silly nicknames, considered socially and sexually immature" (180). To further strengthen Schwartz's view, Katy Waldman shares his correlation that fat people's unhappiness comes upon their own obesity and/or societal discrimination. In, "What makes overweight people unhappy," Waldman reiterates the negative pressures overweight people feel from daunting advertisements of dieting and quintessential thin figures, which set “skinny” as the only acceptable body form (Waldman). Even though Schwartz lacks the background of reliable sources, he makes a strong affiliation with his obese audience through his emotional writing …show more content…
A fat utopia would be more caring and less hateful to the overweight individuals . "It would favor the gourmet over the glutton, slow food over fast food, matriarchy and communal affection over patriarchy and self-hate, eroticism over pornography, philanthropy and art over greed and blind technology. It would therefore end the narcotics and narcissism" (Schwartz 185). To overweight people, the fat utopia may provide a chance for a better life, separated from hatred and discrimination; however, Schwartz provides little evidence or justifications for his claim. On the other hand, Peggy Elam supports and agrees with Schwartz's views in her writings, "In fat utopia, roundness is valued and large bodies sized for success." Elam states, "...a young fat woman with low self-esteem stumbles from a fat-phobic culture into an alternate world in which fat people live happy, healthy lives" (Elam). Even though Schwartz does not provide credible evidence in his statement of a fat utopia, Elam backs his claim in agreement with Schwartz that if obese people lived in a separate world, they would be happier and have socially healthier