College Times

Issue date: 2/5/09 Section: Blogs

Media Credit: Davie Hinshaw

Sigh. Poor Jessica Simpson. The beautiful, buxom singer really has it rough.

She has a super hot boyfriend with millions of dollars, had a super hot husband with millions of dollars, gets paid millions of dollars despite being a pretty big airhead and has an amazing wardrobe, probably worth millions of dollars. And apparently, she also has a fat ass. But that's news to me.

I'm not going to write a blog about body image. It's a cliché topic, so let's just get this out of the way. Jessica Simpson is so far from fat. She's perfectly healthy. She's thinner than I am, and I'm dead smack in the middle of the BMI appropriate for my height.

She's not fat. She's not fat. She's not fat! They were just unflattering pictures. This picture gives a better angle on Simpson the same day as the US Magazine photos were taken, comparing her body to Kim Kardashian's, which is typically considered attractively curvy. Not much of a difference. Sorry about the nipple drawings. The picture is from perezhilton.com.

The thing that irks me more than calling a perfectly healthy woman fat is the fact that this is somehow news. Granted the story "broke" in US Magazine, which, granted, isn't exactly known for hard-hitting news stories. Still, somehow the news of America's now-obese former sweetheart made it onto the "Today Show" and in just about every legitimate newspaper in the country.

I know I'm fairly new to this whole journalism thing. I'm still a student. But why the HELL is this news?

So maybe she went a little heavy on the gravy during the holidays. Or maybe (and more likely) she just wore some unflattering pants that day. We all make fashion mistakes.

Even more ridiculous than calling Simpson fat is the uproar that was caused by President Obama in his interview with Matt Lauer. In the interview, Lauer shows Obama the cover of US Magazine, on which his wife Michelle and two daughters are featured. Obama himself was cut out of the cover to feature Simpson's "weight battle."

Obama laughs at the situation and points out that Simpson is in a "weight battle apparently." He said "apparently," as if it was news to him. But this didn't stop CNN and other reputable news organizations from covering Obama's "diss" of Simpson's body.

Come on! Everybody knew he wasn't actually talking crap about her. His wife Michelle has a fuller figure than Simpson does, and guess what? Michelle is still thin! Somehow I doubt he thinks she's fat.

Anybody who actually thinks the leader of the free world, a man who got into that office by being especially careful with his words, called Simpson fat seriously needs to be taken out back and shot. It's for the best. I don't understand how they can efficiently function in society being that incredibly stupid.

And for the smarter people who exploded this situation into "news," please leave the journalism profession. You're the reason a good portion of the American population has little respect for journalists.

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