Are Fat People Jolly?-- by Matthew T. Mruzek

The cherished image of jolly St. Nick, the iconic cackle of Roseanne Barr, and the lovable demeanor of the late John Candy have all contributed to what many in today's society call a stereotype of fat people being "jolly".

New scientific evidence suggests that these people, and the majority of most overweight people, are in fact in possession of a jolly demeanor. But this evidence also suggests, that an overweight person is more likely to lose his or her temper over the slightest disturbance, if they have gone more than 45 minutes without eating. This explains why the "fat-people-jolly" stereotype has been in dispute for the last two decades.

It was also noted that disputes involving an overweight person's food were 32% more likely to end in threats of extreme violence. 

One test subject, Jimmy L., threatened to kill his wife after she overcooked his steak. 

Another test subject strangled his college room-mate, when he found someone had added chopped potatoes to a pot of chili he was making.

Amanda D., a fast food worker was also interviewed during the study.

"This big fat guy threatened to bomb the place when I wouldn't sell him all 12 of our remaining sour-cream glazed donuts. He got really angry, and red. All I could think about were my 7 kids at home. It was so frightening. When I gave him our next customers Ice-cap for free, his attitude did a complete 180. He started acting very jolly and began making jokes. He actually became quite charming, and I let the incident slide without notifying my manager."

New research is just beginning to scratch the surface in finding the correlation between BMI (Body Mass Index) and certain personality traits. It wasn't long ago that scientists believed male-patterned baldness was determined by a subject's mother's father. Hopefully our assumptions in this field of study will be either proven, or disproven scientifically. It is the key in our society creating social justice.-

Matthew T. Mruzek M. D.