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There are a lot of fast food companies out there, some of which are regional, some of which have two different names depending on where you live, and some are so well known that you could find a restaurant in almost any country around the world.

Despite this, many are judgmental of fast food restaurants. Let me be clear — I am not interested in defending corporations. But the social scrutiny of fast food does not fall on the companies, the CEOs or their management. The judgment of fast food is rather cast upon the consumers who eat it. 

One of the clearest examples of this judgment can be seen in the documentary “Super Size Me.” Some of us were shown this film in P.E. classes — I’m fairly certain I was — but this documentary was made in 2004, a peak time for the “obesity epidemic” and vile antifat biases. The premise was that the filmmaker, Morgan Spurlock, would eat McDonald’s every day for 30 days and always Supersize the meal if offered, meaning that the customer could upgrade their meal, fries and drinks to the largest portion size. This has since been discontinued.

The very beginning of the film starts with a montage of blurred out fat people. This sort of footage is used frequently in fatphobic narratives without any actual thought. It reduces fat people to their bodies, jeering at how fat they are while removing the humanity of those people.

The documentary also left out the fact that Spurlock was an alcoholic at the time, yet still mentioned his liver damage, thus making it appear as if the diet caused liver damage. Overall, “Super Size Me” is heavily stigmatizing, and it should be forgotten.

“Instead of analyzing the systems that require people to rely on fast food, judgment wrongfully falls on those who are just trying to make it through the day.”

Fast food is exactly what the name implies: food that you get fast and often for cheap. It’s food you can order, walk out and eat on the way to work in five minutes or less. It is convenient. A lot of the judgement toward fast food consumers is directed at blue-collar workers. Maybe the consumer is a single mom juggling childcare and work. Maybe the consumer is a construction worker who works all day. Maybe the consumer is a person who does not have enough hours in the day to cook for themselves.

When you spend all your energy working, you cannot spend more cooking. It is faster, easier and cheaper to buy a sandwich on the way home — and a lot of fast food places open early and close late, with some places being open 24/7.

Instead of analyzing the systems that require people to rely on fast food, judgment wrongfully falls on those who are just trying to make it through the day. A person should not have to work long hours and then be unable to feed themselves because they avoided fast food.

At the end of the day, we shouldn’t really care how people spend their money and time.

Reach Audrey Weishaar at letters@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.