Letter of the week wins two movie tickets for Event Cinemas!
Letter of the week: Dear Debate,
You made me so angry I wanted to smack you in the face, and I’m not normally a violent kind of person. I was disgusted and deeply offended by the article written about obesity. I find it highly inappropriate to suggest that being bigger is “ugly”. I realise you are not a girl, but try living for one day as a teenage girl, and with the pressures we feel to “look good”. To have someone publicly humiliate your body shape and accuse you of simply being lazy is absolutely horrible. People can still eat shit food and be skinny, how about you take that into account. You can’t just stereotype that obese people are all lazy; do you think Oprah Winfrey is lazy? I agree that New Zealand should cut GST off fruit and vegetables but according to you the “FAT” people are some horrendous disease of society while smokers are perfectly within in their rights to blow cancerous smoke into our faces. The best advice for your writing is, if you have nothing nice to say maybe you should just say nothing at all. From Offended
20KGS put it back on. Imagine having to start back at square one all over again. I don’t disagree that GST should be cut on fruit and veges, more education on healthy eating should be put out there. But here is a fact: we all deal with emotions differently. Obese people simply show on the outside how they have dealt with it. From Annoyed
Dear Annoying First Year girls in the City Campus Library.
debate letters policy: Letters need to make it into debate’s mailbox before Wednesday, 3pm each week for the following issue. You must give us your name when submitting letters to be eligible for letter of the week, but you can use a pseudonym for publication if you wish. Any letters longer than 250 words may be subjected to editing. Spelling and grammar will not be corrected. The editor reserves the right to decline without explanation. Most importantly, the views contained on the letters page do not necessarily represent the views of AuSM. Send your letters to debate@aut.ac.nz or if you want to kick it old school, PO Box 6116, Wellesley St, Auckland.
using the phrase because there’s actually nothing wrong with it when you use it in terms of saying something is lame, looks like people who have a problem with this particular usage of the word will just have to wait until a new phrase catches on. Peace, BFD
Dear Debate and Loyal Debate Readers,
In the 12 years that I’ve been a vegan, I have to say I have come across countless articles in I would just like to remind you that level 6 of magazines, newspapers and of course throughout the library is a SILENT study floor.This means I the internet, which have provided some discussion certainly don’t want to hear about your drunken on the phenomenon of vegetarianism, in all exploits with the guy you met at Globe last it’s various forms; some have been great, some weekend or how hard your assignments are, let have been so-so, some have been down-right alone hear your annoying voice and irritating awful. Time magazine did a great article on laughter while I am trying to study for my exams. vegetarianism and veganism a number of years We pay a lot of money to be at Uni and should ago, which was top-notch I would say. In the take studying seriously, so I am writing this to 12 years that I’ve been meat-free I’ve noticed a ask you nicely to please grow up and have some general improvement of articles on this issue consideration - I know you could just tell me appearing throughout printed media (I think there that if I was unhappy with the noise you were was even one in Debate back in 2008 for example, making I could either get up and move or tell you could be wrong), so when I saw your cover this to shut up, but the point is that I shouldn’t have week, I was excited, I thought “there is not way to do so.So please, if you can’t keep quiet, move that Debate, which has always appeared to have Dear Debate to another level and leave me and other students high quality content, could miss the boat on this Obviously who ever wrought the article on the who value silence while we study alone. simple topic!” Unfortunately, I was wrong. Dead “obesity epidemic” in last weeks issue of debate Sincerely, wrong. had just done a quick google search , rather than Silence is Golden. I don’t have a copy in front of me at the time of find out information about obesity. writing this letter over my breakfast of porridge No one wants to be obese. And who says that and soy milk (which by the way is an unplanned society doesn’t judge obese people? Dear Debate, way of me getting all the protein, calcium, B12 Just stop for a second to think why these “obese” I have just read the article written about people and iron I need to start my day), so I can’t at this people don’t want to leave there house. Imagine using the phrase “That’s so gay” and how the moment point out specifics that were problematic being put in a fat suit and living a day in an obese writer believes it’s derogatory and basically with this article. I think it is sufficient to say that persons shoes. Imagine hopping onto a bus and unacceptable. Let me start by saying that i know the primary problem with the article was that, think will another person fit beside me? Imagine several gay individuals whom i consider close over all, it came across as lacking actual, accurate walking into a clothing shop and the shop and personal friends. I use the phrase “That’s information about the topic. Given the wide assistant looking at you thinking “no way will you so gay” openly around all of them and they in scope of information about vegetarianism that fit anything here”. fact use it too. This is because they understand is available out there, I would have thought that Obesity is a SYMTOM of bigger problems, not that while gay does mean homosexual in some the author would have at least referred to some of the PROBLEM. Emotional eating is a huge factor contexts, it has other meanings also. They don’t the other, fantastically written articles that exist, in obesity. take it personally at all, homosexual wasn’t and maybe taken a cue from them. Instead what Laziness and obesity don’t go hand in hand. even the original meaning of the word, it meant appeared was an uninformed opinion piece that What a joke. Is Oprah Winfrey one of the most happy. So now, another meaning has emerged powerful women in the world lazy? and the word “gay” can now mean something like filled two pages up with misinformation at best. So I apologise. If I hadn’t been so busy with Obesity cannot be potrayed as people who sit in “lame”(another word thats meaning has changed chairs and beds getting fat, obesity is the person over time). So as for the argument about replacing my university work I might have had the time to help contribute something to your pages. On sitting next to you on the bus maybe 5 foot 7 the word “gay” with “Asian”, it makes no sense behalf of all the Debate readers who have never and weighs 85 Kgs. Walk down the street and as Asian has one distinct meaning while gay has contributed, but certainly could write fantastic spot how many people fit this describtion. The several. Of course there are SOME people who articles for you, I extend a huge apology. majority of the obese and overweight people are use the term derogatorily, but generally it’s not; 1 27/05/11 2:21 PM it’s simply a word we know that expresses dislike Your’s apologetically, tryingonlineclassified2.pdf to lose the weight , something much easier Michael Brenndorfer, Nursing Student, AUT said than done. One in six people who lose over of a situation. There’s no way I’m going to stop
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issue 13 2011