The path of least resistance and fat shaming So we hear all the time from fatties how fat shaming doesn't work and just makes them fatter.  If this is correct (it's probably not, but let's pretend it is), then why would this be? I believe the answer lies simply in the fact that the majority of anything, from humans to electrons, take the path of least resistance.  This means not that every single person does it, but that given a large number of people the majority of them will take the easiest path. At present, the easiest path is the fat one. This is why Asian countries have been able to keep obesity under control by culture-wide fat shaming.  Being fat in those countries is NOT the path of least resistance.  There is considerable "artificial" resistance created by the culture to make living a fat life more difficult.  People are still taking the path of least resistance, but now that path is no longer the fat one. Meanwhile, in America it is getting easier by the day to be fat.  Not only does our culture make it easy to become fat, we coddle the fuck out of fat people and make life as easy for them as possible.  The path of least resistance is the fat one. Think about things we have managed to decrease, like smoking.  We, as a culture, made it fucking hard to be a smoker.  You can't smoke hardly anywhere anymore and that's tough when it's an addiction gnawing at you.   So in conclusion, the problem with fat shaming is simply that we don't do enough of it.  We need a LOT more shaming and shitlording because it's going to take a lot to make sure that the easiest path is not the fat one.  You can't make the not-fat path any easier but you can make the fat path much harder.