From "sideshow freak" to "person of Walmart"

"This is Chauncy Morlan, and around 100 years ago his obesity was so shocking that people would pay money to see him as he toured the country as a circus “fat man”. I find the unremarkableness of his size to be a telling sign of how we’ve pushed the limits of obesity in the past 100 years."

Text and photo from Modeled Behavior.

Addendum:  This post has garnered a lot of attention this week, for whatever reason.  I'd like to clarify for the newcomers to this blog that the purpose of this particular post was NOT to make fun of or otherwise disparage obesity - the point is to note how the cultural response to obesity has changed in just a couple generations.

 And yes, I do know that some biographies refer to Mr. Morlan as weighing 600+ pounds.  You need to understand that those data come from circus and sideshow promotional pamphlets; if you believe such things, you must be a Sarah Palin supporter.  It is also possible that he did weigh 600# at some point in his career, but in the photo above he's nowhere near that (prob 420 max), and that photo is a promotional piece supporting his career in the sideshow.