Chris Christie was on Jon Stewart this week (December 6). It was a fairly good conversation, but for me the best part came right at the end. Christie actually called Stewart out for previous jokes and comments Stewart had made about Christie's weight. It was fantastic! Here was a fat man on national television telling this respected comedian that what he did was NOT OKAY.
Here's the episode link. The bit I'm talking about starts at 33:54 on the timer and lasts about a minute or less.
Now I have a lot of respect for Jon Stewart as a brilliant, rational man and a mostly compassionate human being. The one place he repeatedly falls down is in weight bias. Not in every episode or even the majority, but he does take up the cheap shot fat joke when it presents. While he didn't actually apologize to Christie (there's a moment when he seems about to, but is interrupted), he was at least given some visibly uncomfortable moments when he realizes that the person he mocked not only listened, but felt. Here's hoping it'll make him reconsider his words in the future.
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All comments may be moderated. If you think you're entitled to free speech, you are, on your own blog. This is my blog. I have opinions that are often subjective, and as I'm not running a documentary or research organization, there's nothing wrong with a little subjectivity. I also have the right to not approve or delete comments I find mean-spirited, idiotic or encouraging what I consider objectional, dangerous, or plain stupid practices (such as weight loss or cosmetic surgery, changing your body to please others (i.e. "dieting"), spreading hate, etc.). If you voice disagreement with anything I say, and you do it in an intelligent matter with clear research citations to your claims and conclusions (popular media articles don't count) I will probably allow the comment. I will also probably debate you and try to refute your claims. If at any time that devolves into stupidity or attack, I will start deleting your comments. If you disagree with what I say by spouting pseudoscientific popular opinion, displaying prejudice or hate, or otherwise acting like an ass-hat, I will delete your comment. That's pretty much the policy, subject to change without notice :-)