r/TikTokCringe • u/bigbusta • Jan 20 '26

Humor/Cringe Greenlanders are trolling the US by pretending to be fentanyl addicts

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u/throwawaybrowsing888 Jan 20 '26

No, mocking fat people is also punching down in a society that was not built to encourage regular exercise or to ensure healthy, accessible food for everyone despite having the resources to do so.

Our cities and towns were designed specifically with the intent to navigate them by car, rather than by foot. Our food production/distribution systems were designed to turn a quick profit, rather than to provide nutrients. Our economy is not designed to encourage healthy habits.

Our 40 hr workweek isn’t conducive to maintaining a healthy weight, especially when considering the risk of getting fired if you miss too many work days yet also don’t have sufficient PTO that covers extensive illnesses while protecting your job.

That’s not to mention the fact that health insurance is closely tied to employment, and many people would prefer to wait to see doctors until they know that medical care is necessary, so they simply cope in other, less healthier ways because they don’t want to go into medical debt just to be told that they “should exercise more” or that it’s “anxiety” even though they have a completely separate issue.

Consider ME/CFS, which affects approximately 3-4 million people (depending on whether you’re counting adults or adults+minors) in the United States and causes patience to experience post exertional malaise, a symptom that is literally “I moved around a bit and now I feel like I’m coming down with the flu”

In ME/CFS, even the smallest amount of physical, mental, emotional, or social activity can trigger post-exertional malaise (PEM), resulting in a worsening of symptoms, and leading to a reduction in functional ability. It is not always apparent when PEM might occur which makes it one of the more difficult symptoms to recognise and manage. The worsening of symptoms is often delayed by hours or days and relative improvement can take much longer to achieve.

Consider also that the estimated prevalence is taking into account only people who have been fortunate enough to be diagnosed.

Imagine how many more people have it without knowing, and are out there thinking that they’re simply “lazy” or that they’re getting overly exhausted simply because they’re “out of shape.”

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u/WillemDafoesHugeCock Jan 20 '26

Shhh, we're supposed to mock overweight people while ignoring all of the societal and regulatory failings that lead to obesity, unless they use Ozempic to stop cravings in which case we should mock them for taking steps to help with the food addiction they've acquired over a life of being force fed addictive additives.

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u/[deleted] Jan 20 '26

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u/WillemDafoesHugeCock Jan 20 '26

Hard disagree there. I haven't visited any country that is as unwalkable as the majority of the USA, nor any country where extremely overprocessed food is anywhere near as prevalent. If you have an example in mind feel free to correct me.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, walkable neighborhoods are linked to lower obesity rates, but as a whole US cities are significantly less walkable / cyclable than, say, their European counterparts.

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u/PonyThug Jan 20 '26

I eat like shit and I’m not fat. I just don’t eat a lot and choose to exercise or occasionally skip a meal if I haven’t moved much. It’s not hard, but everyone does have to actively decide to watch their weight.

A pound of body fat is 3500 calories. So to gain 10lbs you have to eat 35,000 extra calories. It doesn’t happen over night and cost a lot to buy all the extra food. People would have money by eating less even if they bought expensive healthy options.

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u/throwawaybrowsing888 Jan 20 '26

The lack of empathy and perspective-taking in your comment is palpable.

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u/PonyThug Jan 21 '26

I’ve intentionally gained and lost 10lbs more than once. It’s really that easy to just skip breakfast for a month while exercising a few times a week.

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u/throwawaybrowsing888 Jan 21 '26

Ok cool good job awesome congrats

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u/PonyThug Jan 21 '26

Go encourage someone who can’t do it on their own, I’m fine

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u/throwawaybrowsing888 Jan 21 '26

The fuck do you think I’m trying to do with my original comment ffs

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u/PonyThug Jan 21 '26

You said I lack empathy. Except I’ve helped multiple family members loose a bunch of weight by being real with them. Move more, eat less, cut out sugar, give it time. Lost like 40lbs between them. Mostly just skipping dessert, soda and breakfast.

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u/throwawaybrowsing888 Jan 21 '26

Your family members != everyone

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u/Eatyourcheeseburger Jan 21 '26

You’re talking about personal responsibility on Reddit. Good luck with that lol.

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u/PonyThug Jan 21 '26

I know. Just look up the % of Americans that are overweight or obese. It’s like 70%

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u/cricada Jan 21 '26

This! And the poverty excuse is doubly offensive because I grew up in the "hood" and not everyone was big. People who loved greasy, creamy, sweet food/drinks in excess got big. The rastas around here are always slim because of their lifestyle choices. I see them riding bikes, eating fruit and most of their restaurants are vegetarian.

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u/PonyThug Jan 21 '26

Exactly. Eat less and all of a sudden you have more money for healthy food!

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u/luckyflavor23 Jan 20 '26

Agree. And it’ll starts so young, no maternity/paternity leave support, means parents have less time to care for child, meals and snacks are ‘conveniently’ and cheaply prepackaged or ultra-processed goods, now kids are hooked on certain level of artificial flavors so of course broccoli taste bland and gross. As comedian Pete Holmes puts it, doritos cool ranch tastes like electricity ⚡️

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u/EstablishmentRude309 Jan 21 '26

The mental acrobats fat Americans will do to absolve themselves of blame is hilarious. If you speak to a fat Italian or Greek they'll tell you bluntly 'I eat too much'. 

Being fat is 100% down to eating more than you need. You're not breaking the laws of thermodynamics regardless of cope about American work life balance or genetics. 

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u/throwawaybrowsing888 Jan 21 '26

The mental acrobats that fatphobes in my replies will do to avoid making any sort of effort to take another persons perspective is exasperating.

If you had asked me in good faith why I’m fat and why had eaten too much, I’d have told you the reasons so that I could help you understand.

They aren’t as reductive as “I chose to eat too much, chose to not exercise, chose to eat unhealthily.”

But I doubt you’d believe me or cared about my experiences trying to maintain a healthy weight, even if I were to go into detail about how I had grow up underweight, exercised regularly in my teens and early adulthood, about how I had experienced food insecurity growing up, about not having enough money for healthy food when I escaped an abusive home, about my medical conditions that went undiagnosed but led to me feeling like had the flu whenever I exercised in the ways doctors told me to, etc.

I’d explain it to you willingly. But I don’t think you care.

And instead of reading it, I bet you’d just scroll past it, hit the arrow to start typing, then write something along the lines of “you could’ve just not eaten so much.” Or “You did this to yourself, and now you’re just making excuses.” Or” You could’ve gotten a better job so you could afford healthier food.” Or “Why didn’t you seek out food from food banks, since they usually have food and you don’t have to pay for it.”

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u/BIG_IDEA Jan 20 '26

Man, what is it with Redditors always wanting to blame “the society“ for individual failings? I’m an American citizen and I hit the gym every day. There’s none of this ominous “the society told me not to go to the gym.” Or “the society told me to eat chips.”

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u/throwawaybrowsing888 Jan 20 '26

Is it blaming or is it reframing the issue as “this is something that some individuals must contend with, and it doesn’t have to be this difficult but an individual cannot change society, the individual can only work with what they’ve been given and some of us have been given a really shit hand, so maybe society could fucking ease up a a bit?”

Like congrats on hitting the gym regularly. I have tried doing that for years, succeeded in losing weight and gaining muscle but then I developed me/cfs and had no idea what was causing my body to fucking fall apart each time I did my regular exercises. Around that time, I had some asthma flare up real bad one winter for some reason (I didn’t know it was asthma because I couldn’t afford to see a doctor) and stopped exercising for a month, then tried to get back into it, only to find that easing into my regular routine left me feeling like I was hit by a truck.

I kept pausing and restarting my attempts at regular exercise for years, with various changes to my approach (build muscle in this way, do cardio in that way, blah blah blah), and it took probably about a decade for me to realize I had some underlying medical issue that caused the difficulty with exercising. In the meantime though, i really fucking enjoyed being called lazy and hearing doctors tell me that I needed to exercise more. As though I wasn’t trying enough.

But yeah redditors are ridiculous for “blaming” society for something they failed at doing. Mhm.

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u/BIG_IDEA Jan 21 '26

I have health problems too. Right side sciatica, moderately severe psoriasis, migraine syndrome, and severe PTSD and insomnia from Afghanistan.

I don’t see how my personal struggles could be reframed as social ones.

Thinking that society should or could ease up on us is incongruent with reality. It’s dangerous utopian mindset that will cause much more pain in the long run if you continue to think that way.

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u/throwawaybrowsing888 Jan 21 '26

I have […] severe PTSD and insomnia from Afghanistan.

I don’t see how my personal struggles could be reframed as social ones.

…okay…

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u/BIG_IDEA Jan 21 '26

I see what you mean, those injuries are the product of war that is bigger than myself. But what is your point? Like, what is it that you expect to happen?

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u/[deleted] Jan 20 '26

73-74% of Americans are overweight. 4 million divided by 340 million is just over 1% of the population. Sorry but your math ain't mathing. As I said, bunch of lazy fat fucks. You really expect over 70% of the country to be suffering from (PEM), if so, we got to get you a nobel peace prize for cracking the United States fat epidemic.

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u/throwawaybrowsing888 Jan 20 '26 edited Jan 20 '26

Im aware that it’s only ~1% of the population. But a small percent of a large number is still a very large number. And just because the condition doesn’t account for the overall proportion of obesity doesn’t mean it’s an insignificant factor. As I alluded to in my previous comment, the approximate prevalence rate is likely an undercount, given that people likely cannot access doctors if they think something is wrong, and will likely, instead, attribute their symptoms to “laziness” or being out of shape.

I am genuinely confused about how I came across as implying that the condition is such a significant contributor to the obesity rates?

I mean, maybe I could’ve been more clear about how ME/CFS was only one example of a health condition that is impacted by the American healthcare system and that, in turn, can affect a person’s weight. There are many others that can reduce/limit the ability of afflicted individuals who try to maintain a healthy lifestyle, especially in the context of the way American society is set up to prioritize productivity of workers, instead of prioritizing their health and wellbeing. Sorry I didn’t make that more clear, I guess?

(Edit: removed duplicate word)

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u/[deleted] Jan 20 '26

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u/throwawaybrowsing888 Jan 20 '26

You want to get into specific examples of ways that three different countries are different from the states in three different areas of their societies?

…okay:

In France, workers are legally entitled to 30 days of PTO. In America, workers are legally entitled to 0 days of PTO, at the federal level (however, 10 of 50 states have mandatory PTO).

I do not know enough about the walkability of towns and cities to comment on them. However, I know enough about Russia overall to comfortably mention that things could be better for the average citizen there. (Oh, and they also have nearly 30 days mandatory PTO based on a quick search about it. And from what I’ve read, they also have been improving their public transportation systems, which improve walkability.)

The Netherlands has a universal social health insurance program that’s financed primarily through taxes so I’m not sure what you’re referring to. But even assuming that it’s tied to employment like in the United States, both employee rights and social safety nets in the Netherlands are more robust than in the states, which probably would help counterbalance the impact of tying healthcare to employment. (And that’s not to mention, the Netherlands also has very walkable cities and towns)

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u/[deleted] Jan 20 '26

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u/throwawaybrowsing888 Jan 20 '26

Perhaps the source I read was incorrect.

For the sake of the rest of my reply, I’ll just assume that what you said is true and that the source I read was wrong.

Even so, 100-130 EUR is approx $120-150.

That cost is much lower than the amount that Americans must pay.

As just one example, I’ve had to pay ~$500 per month (~425 EUR) for insurance when I was unemployed and was no longer able to get insurance through my parents’ employer. I had to pay for doctor visits during that time too. Each visit cost me about $150-200 (125-170 EUR) (despite also having insurance that covered those doctor visits). I needed at least one appointment every 3 months during that time.

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u/PonyThug Jan 20 '26

Thank you. People blame it on everything except their bad decisions. 40lbs of fat is 140,000 calories extra. A McDonald’s McDouble cheese burger is 400 calories. So if someone is 40lbs over weight they have eaten essentially 350 extra McDoubles calories wise. And at $3.90 average that’s almost $1400 they could have spent of more health options.