'Fat shaming' cards handed to London Tube passengers

[cronus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34969424

'Fat shaming' cards handed to London Tube passengers

Hand a few out, might be the only Christmas card some of those fat slobs get.

Commuters on the London Underground are being handed cards telling them they are a "fat, ugly human" by a group that claims to "hate and resent fat people".
NHS worker Kara Florish posted a message on social media after being handed a card while travelling on the Tube on Saturday.

She described the card, which berates overweight people for "wasting NHS money" as "hateful and cowardly".
British Transport Police said they had been made aware of the campaign.

(continued)

[JimC]

Fattypuffs vs thinifers...

(someone will get the reference...)

[mistermack]

They risk arrest on numerous charges.
Behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace would be the easiest to prosecute, I guess.

Insulting behaviour is another. Or it was. It's not any more. The House of Lords got insulting removed from the public order act.
What the difference is between insulting and abusive, a court would have to decide.
Threatening and abusive behaviour is illegal. Insulting isn't covered.

It's probably a good thing. Insulting relies too much on what a person perceives as hurting their feelings.
Abusive is more of a thing that any ordinary person would object to, regardless of their personal beliefs etc.

The Government has now announced that it is “not minded” to challenge a Lords amendment to the Crime and Courts Bill which would remove the word “insulting” from section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986. Section 5 makes it an offence to use “threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour” or to display “any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting” within the hearing or sight of a person “likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby”.

Section 5 has been used to arrest and/or prosecute (for example) religious campaigners against homosexuality, a British National Party member who displayed anti-Islamic posters in his window and people who have sworn at the police. Police charged a teenage anti-Scientology protestor, although the charges were later dropped, as they were in a well publicised case of a student arrested for calling a police horse “gay”. Hotel owners were charged (although later acquitted) following a religious discussion with a Muslim guest. The Human Rights organisations Liberty and Justice and the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) have argued for some time against the current wording. In a response, the previous government said in 2009 that removing the word insulting would leave courts to decide whether particular words or behaviour were “(criminally) abusive or merely (non-criminally) insulting”. It proposed instead to deal with the issue through guidance.

[Jason]

I'm a hypocrite when it comes to body weight.. I can't stand to be fat myself, but I have no problem with other people being fat - some heavier people look pretty sexy to me and I'm not even a chub-chasing pervert!

Obese is another thing altogether though.

[laklak]

Same here, I can't stand carrying extra weight. Been trying to get rid of my gut for about a year now, lost 13 pounds and 2 inches around the waist but still have another 1-2 inches to go. I like my significant other to have a bit of padding, though.

[cronus]

Savin' um up for the day for food shortages eh? Have em sit on yer face in the meantime? That's a expensive habit if you go private...

[Jason]

You'll never know how much you can chew if you don't bite off a bit more each time - and I like being able to butter my bread on both sides.

[laklak]

Warmth in the winter, shade in the summer, and ham in a famine. What's not to love?