Brickbat: Your Daughter Is So Fat

Lily Grasso's parents say they were stunned to get a letter from the Collier County, Florida, Health Department telling them their daughter is "at risk" because of her weigh. The letter came after a mandatory health screening at her school. Lily, 11, is 5 ft. 3 in. and 127 pounds and an avid volleyball player, according to her parents. Health department officials acknowledge that body mass index measures may not accurately measure whether athletic people are overweight.

Comments

[John C. Randolph]

Can't wait to see bureaucrats withering under the "are you saying I'm fat?" outrage they've unleashed here.

-jcr

[juris imprudent]

This hasn't been posted to jezebel or feministing?

[JeremyR]

In internet terms, that story is prehistoric...2 weeks old.

[Generic Stranger]

Most of the brickbats I've seen lately are; hell, sometimes they're on topics that Reason has already covered.

[Snark Plissken]

Her parents are concerned about how the 11-year-old would respond.

"She doesn't want to be bullied. She doesn't want to feel like the school may bully her," said Lily's dad.

I think it's the butthurt parents who ought to go piss up a rope. It was just a form letter and it acknowledges that BMI may not be a useful indicator of obesity for 'athletic' kids.

But the Grassos wonder why even conduct a test that has the chance of being wrong, while potentially damaging a child's self-esteem.

"This letter can do no good. If a kid is overweight, they know they're overweight," said Lily's mom.

Because fat kids have too much goddamned self-esteem these days, and maybe they and their parents are in denial. And if you are already obese as a tween, you chances of being of a healthy weight in your 20s, much less, 40s, is severely diminished. I agree that these letters are pretty useless but not because they might damage some special little snowflakes self-esteem, and had I gotten one I would have laughed it off, not gone crying to the local Fox affiliate.

[Lady Bertrum]

Whether or not the parents are whiners, it shouldn't be the business of county government to be commenting on the weight of pre-teens. It's none of their business.

[Jordan]

Indeed. School isn't daycare, nor is it a health clinic.

[Jerryskids]

School isn't daycare, nor is it a health clinic.

You haven't seen a public school in 30 years, have you? Schools can't perform their function as educational facilities so they've changed their function. You can't say the schools haven't achieved their goals if you just move the goalposts.

[invisible furry hand]

Amen. This combines imperial overreach (all your kid's arse are belong to us) with futility (a form letter that acknowledges BMI might not be that meaningful for athletic kids sent to the parents of an athletic and healthy child). I'd love to know how good the school is at, you know, teaching stuff

[Snark Plissken]

Yes, in a perfect world it shouldn't be the county's job to force these kids to go to a State school in the first place. But I think in this case the most indicative problem of societal problems is the Weaponized Outrage? these parents so gleefully partook in. Bullied by the school because of this form letter? Fuck these victimologists and fuck the whole victimology race-to-the-bottom mindset.

[Ted S.]

What happens after the next weight check and she still has the "wrong" BMI? And the ones after that?

I don't particularly care for the parents' "self-esteem" angle, but they're right about the school becoming a bully.

What do you think the reaction would be if it were her fellow students criticizing her for her weight?

[Snark Plissken]

I don't see this as a slippery slope tragedy (other then the 'bullying' victim card). The letter already said BMI might not be valid for physically active kids, and simply gives out a website for more info. As far as other students criticizing her for her weight, considering how many fatties there are in the US these days, there aren't many left who would have that option, but mostly, wah. Kids giving you shit for getting a fattie letter that probably a large proportion of the school got--you'll survive, it's part of life, it's been going on since the beginning of time.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

If (hah) BMI isn't necessarily valid, don't send the fucking letters. If BMI is necessarily valid, don't send the fucking letters.

Anything that calls out the fuckwits at the school is fair game and to be applauded. Probably the only thing that can stop this stuff is public shaming.

[Snark Plissken]

Fine, I don't have a problem with calling out the fuckwits at the school, what I said is that the parents and their butthurt victimology and foo-foo talk of bullying and self-esteem over something so trivial is indicative of the larger societal rot in this case, so I say fuck them.

[Lady Bertrum]

In modern America, claiming victim status is sometimes the only weapon people have.

Don't hate the playa; hate the game.

[bigac]

"In modern America, claiming victim status is sometimes the only weapon people have."

Exactly. This is a tool that gets the attention of idiots. If the parents came out and said that the school shouldn't be sending these letters because it's not their jobs or their concern, they wouldn't get any sympathy from the authoritarian fools who need to be shown how ridiculous this is. Instead the parents are taking a play out of the progtards' playbook and using their own silly emotional rhetoric against them to try to affect change. I'm all for it. When reason is ineffective, manipulate the emotions of the stupid to get them on your side.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Victimologists usually seek out opportunities to be victims. The school sought out these people. Fuck the school and fuck anyone who thought that letter was a good idea or that the kid's BMI was any of their fucking business.

[Snark Plissken]

I'd argue that it's the vitimologists that are responsible for the current prison public school system in the first place. Ohmigod we have to force everyone to go to public schools until they are eighteen otherwise the rich shall get richer and the poor shall work in monocle factories until the end of time.

So this is the system they built, and these are the whiners they've that are products of this system, these parents and their no-doubt whinier, victimizier offspring. They love their nanny state just so long as it doesn't damage their precious little flower's vaunted self-esteem in any way, shape or form. Otherwise, they will run to the media and let slip the dogs of Weaponized Outrage?.

[Invisible Finger]

One person whining more than these parents is you.

[Ted S.]

"She doesn't want to feel like the school may bully her," said Lily's dad.

This, this, this. So much this.

[JidaKida]

Ruby on Rails makes a lot of osense dude.

http://www.AnonWonders.tk

[Swiss Servator, O Luzern!]

I'd lay off the krokodil there, anonybot.

[Fist of Etiquette]

When I pay my school taxes I clearly write on the check no fat chicks. I don't want my tax dollars paying for overweight kids. It's good to see at least some school districts are taking me seriously.

[invisible furry hand]

Yes, but your county runs stripper schools

[Gindjurra]

The problem is, BMI is simply a ratio of height to weight. Muscle weighs more than fat does, so the better your physical condition past a certain point, the more obese the test will declare you.

The real danger is when you start dealing with the health care and health insurance systems. A top athlete who is in perfect health and awesome physical condition could get into real trouble with their health care provider, even get dropped as a patient, for being too fat and refusing to do anything about it.

[wareagle]

Muscle weighs more than fat does,

no, it doesn't. A pound is a pound. Muscle is more dense than fat so more of it can be in a smaller space than an equal weight of fat, but weight is weight.

[Auric Demonocles]

He didn't specify how he was measuring muscle and fat, so it's perfectly valid to say muscle weighs more than fat if you are comparing an equal volume.

[sarcasmic]

To the tune of The Pink Panther

Pedant, pedant, pedant pedant pedant pedant pedaaaaaant, pedadedadant!

[Ted S.]

I look forward to your calling me a pedant, too: see below. 😉

[sarcasmic]

You wish!

[Ted S.]

A pound of feathers weighs more than a pound of gold.

😉

[Snark Plissken]

[holds up a feather and a wooden ball] Look at this. You would think this would fall faster than this.

[drops them. ball hits the ground first]

And you would be absolutely right.

[sarcasmic]

"My hands are tied. I'm just following policy."

[Auric Demonocles]

I just checked, and according to BMI I could lose 50 pounds and still be in the "healthy" range (though right at the bottom). Apparently "healthy" means "so thin and weak you are unable to lift a gallon of milk".

[Fist of Etiquette]

Put down the donut and stop rationalizing, fatties. The Obamacare panels will need some metric to ration limited state healthcare resources and a ratio of weight to height is a simple and elegant solution.

[Ornithorhynchus]

Exercise also tends to increase bone mass, which adds even more weight. I know that 'big-boned' is commonly used as a euphemism for fat, but bone-size really does vary significantly from one individual to the next. This is yet another reason why BMI should only be used as a rough guide, and not a reliable scale.

[Copernicus]

It might require more than one, but I would bet that if just a few parents would return the BMI letter with a big red "FUCK YOU" written across the page, the school would quickly cease the practice.

[Heroic Mulatto]

It might require more than one, but I would bet that if just a few parents would return the BMI letter with a big red "FUCK YOU" written across the page, the school would quickly cease the practice.

School Administrator: HA HA HA HA! *Calls Child Protective Services to steal your children* HA HA HA HA!

[sarcasmic]

I'm sure that would be considered a threat and acted on accordingly.

[AlmightyJB]

Yeah, I think cops would show up at your house to shoot your dog and beat the shit out of you.

[wareagle]

jesus on a fucking biscuit, what is with the parents? They buy into the "bullying" bullshit rather than just being pissed about the school going all Melissa Harris Perry and sticking its nose where it does not belong.

This isn't bullying, it's meddling and meddling of the worst kind.

[Lady Bertrum]

But don't you know "anti-bullying" is the newest psycho-babble bullshit the schools are promoting?

The parents are simply using the tool the school provided them with.

Use a weapon your enemy created against them. Brilliant really.

[Invisible Finger]

Since the school is using the color of authority, it IS bullying.

[Auric Demonocles]

You could have included alt-text. Don't be so scared of it calling someone fat.

[Ted S.]

Alt text: "Match Game panel, in unsion: 'How fat is she?'"

[Steve G]

Well, she is in the 96th percentile for weight for an 11 yr old. ...buuut, the 97th percentile for height too. Oops.

Officials "acknowledge" the inaccuracies, but lack the spine to actually apply any judgment to these things before spitting them out.

[Rich]

Another approach -- given that the school *must* express concern for "its" students' health -- is to just send eat-healthily-and-exercise letters to *everyone*. Mission fucking accomplished.

[AlmightyJB]

But how can government be our nannies if one size fits all policies don't work?

[Capo]

BMI was invented in the 1800s when leeches were still considered a valid treatment. When are we going to stop using such an archaic method of determining health?

[Invisible Finger]

When leeches are no longer considered a valid form of government.

[Voros McCracken]

I'd love to see BMI sent the way of the dinosaurs. It isn't just flawed, it's near useless as a health indicator. The only use it has is the dangers for people with one over 35, and they damned well already know they're overweight, and if somehow they don't, someone quoting BMI ain't going to help them.

Furthermore, it places men and women on the same scale which has shown to be an inaccurate assumption (IE a BMI of 26 has different body composition implications for men and women).

You can kinda sort of fix it if you factor in waist size into the equation to go with height and weight (and possibly age), but then you're not talking about BMI anymore.

[Mongo]

Your mama's so fat I gave her AIDS.