This morning I turned on Facebook to see lots of my friends sharing a link of a news anchor who did a piece regarding an email she received from a viewer regarding her weight.
The viewer email stated that the lady news anchor should consider slimming down for the public because obesity is a serious threat and her flaunting her obesity on the television each day gave the wrong image to her viewers, especially young girls.
The news anchor fought back and did a 2 minute piece reacting to the email and its contents and how she was being bullied and that even though she can take the nasty remarks, possibly obese viewers could not, and she was not going to stand for that.
Hm.
I have two thoughts.
One, it seems that we have become a society so used to seeing our public figures slim, in shape, and basically, sexually appealing, that any public figure that does not fit that perfect box, is an immediate outcast and is prone to hear about it. I mean, have you seen the local weather people these days? Straight from a magazine with the right clothes labels to prove it. I mean really, I don't need a fashion model to read me the temps for the week.
Two, as my husband puts it, I pay to watch TV, and since I have to look at ugly people all day in my regular life, I want to look at pretty people on TV, especially since I have to pay for it. I don't want to pay to look at ugly people when I can do that for free.
In the end, I really see no wrong here from either side. The viewer pays to watch the news program and offered an opinion, a pretty strong opinion, but an opinion nonetheless. The news anchor responded to the viewer as being a bully. Both were right in what they did.
But I guess I am leaning more towards the thought that if you are in the public eye, you need to roll with the punches. And if that means roll with the punches because you are overweight, than so be it. You have the ability to change that, and if you decide not to, then keep moving forward.
I don't want to hear your backlash at a viewer when I choose to watch the news. That isn't news. That is fighting back. Do it on your own time. Put it up on YouTube or something. But don't do it during the scheduled broadcast. I think that sends the wrong message. And, really, it isn't news. Do a piece on bullying instead and use that viewer email as an example. Not the main topic.
And, yes, society does seem to expect our public figures, such as news anchors, to be beautiful. But, there might be hope on the horizon, because the cast of Honey Boo Boo looks to be trying to change all of that.
