I hate the way people talk about diabetes.

Josh and I were watching Hulu last week, and the commercial said (in their doom voice)-- Have you been diagnosed with a LIFE THREATENING ILLNESS?? And on the screen, they flashed the words- Cancer, Stroke, and Diabetes.

One of these things is not like the other.

Look, diabetes is serious, and I'm not trying to say otherwise. But it is not fucking cancer! Or a stroke. Jeebums Christ, what the hells??

I don't have diabetes. But I probably will. My mother has it. My grandfather had it. Guess what? DIABETES IS FUCKING GENETIC. I got me some diabetes genes. I also have pretty shit eyesight, but no one is shaming me for that.

Did you know that they don't even know that being fat makes you be a type 2 diabetic? They know that people gain weight before they develop insulin resistance, but they DO NOT know that the weight gain causes the insulin problems. It may be that developing problems with insulin CAUSES the weight gain.

And even besides that, there is currently NO WAY to turn a fat person into a thin person permanently. Not a single one. The science on this is very clear. You might as well tell me that if I want to live forever, I should spontaneously grow wings out of my back. I can't fucking do that, dude. It's not a thing, so why are you even saying that to me?

I bet you also did not know-- gaining and losing weight over and over again is very bad for you. And hey, I'm not going to tell you what to do, but that shit has actually been proven.

So here's the thing-- can we please stop treating diabetes like Food AIDS? Can we stop treating people with diabetes like bigoted homophobes treat people with HIV, like this disease is a thing they brought on themselves through their own actions, so they deserve to be shunned and shamed. That these people are diseased and disgusting and should just go die, because they're bad, and if they could just control themselves, they wouldn't be sick, so fuck them.

(Please note-- I don't feel that way about people with HIV or any STD. I don't think anyone should be treated that way.)

I had HPV, which is sexually transmitted. Because I'm a grown-ass woman who likes sex, and HPV is so so common. And there are fuckers who are trying to prevent kids from getting the HPV vaccine because they think if you are a dirty slut, you deserve to get cervical cancer and die.

Just stop and think about how messed up that is. We don't really take that idea seriously in the mainstream. But we DO think that fat people deserve diabetes. Here's another shocking newsflash- not every fat person is going to get diabetes. And there are thin people with diabetes.

And don't tell me I'm costing you money in health care. Go fuuuuuuuck yourself. Health care is a human right that should be open and available to every single person regardless of ANYTHING about them. Are we really having serious discussions in this country about who deserves health care? Fucking really? Can we be better people than this please?

If an athlete breaks his leg during his training, does he deserve health care? He didn't have to train. People don't have to climb mountains or jump out of planes. So they caused their own injuries, right?

No. Fucking no. I don't accept that way of thinking. And can we please be real? No one gives a shit about how many injuries athletes get because we think they're hot, so it's fine. Fat people are generally considered gross, so the culture punishes them.

And now I have a message for the vegetarians and vegans-- Cut this shit out. Stop using diabetes as a prop in your arguments against meat eating. You are contributing to almost unbearable bullying and cultural pressure already placed on fat people.

Here's the thing, vegans. I agree with you. I'm a strict vegetarian, almost vegan myself. There are compelling political and environmental reasons to stop eating meat. Super compelling. I went vegetarian, even though I kind of wanted to be able to still eat meat. We are torturing animals on a mass scale and making the planet uninhabitable for humans, and I couldn't just ignore that.

Being vegetarian or vegan doesn't automatically mean you won't get diabetes. And yeah, a veggie diet can help with controlling diabetes, but it is not a magical spell I can use to make sure I won't get it. That is not a thing.

Because when vegan/veg people talk about health, and then I go veg and then I start getting slightly squiffy blood sugar tests back, I feel like shit. I feel like a failure. I don't even want to admit to people that this is happening, because that means I am a Bad Person.

I keep hearing the construction: Meat = Diabetes = Death. Guys, this is a bad argument. For one thing, not everyone who eats meat is going to get diabetes, so that's not helpful. For another thing, it makes those of us who do stop eating meat and still have blood sugar issues feel like shit. AND. It's not like going veg means you are going to live forever.

Please let me repeat that. All the vegans and vegetarians will die one day. All the thin people will die one day. All of the marathoners and juice cleansers and everyone low carbing-- you are all going to die eventually.

I am SICK TO FUCKING DEATH of the people who want to tell me I'm going to die of diabetes. Or just of being fat. Mutherfucker, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE TOO. SO FUCK OFF.

And here's another fucking newsflash-- you can live for a long ass time with diabetes. It's not like being hit by a bus. It's not great, but you can deal with it. It's not a death sentence. LIFE is a death sentence.

CUT THAT SHIT OUT.