There’s currently a bit of a civil war on the left when it comes to obesity. On the one hand, there’s the health-conscious cadre that notes that obesity comes with serious health consequences; on the other hand, there’s the body positivity movement that insists that not only is fat beautiful but, to the extent many American blacks suffer from obesity, opposing it is racist. This latter view now gets its moment in AI-generated sci-fi and fantasy art.

For the time being, the CDC still takes a medical view of obesity. On its web page, it describes “obesity” as “a common, serious, and costly chronic disease of adults and children.” The Department of Health and Human Services Department of Minority Health spells out the risks for American blacks:

How Does Obesity Affect African American Populations?

• African American women have the highest rates of obesity or being overweight compared to other groups in the United States. About 4 out of 5 African American women are overweight or obese.
• In 2018, non-Hispanic blacks were 1.3 times more likely to be obese as compared to non-Hispanic whites.
• In 2018, African American women were 50 percent more likely to be obese than non-Hispanic white women.
• From 2015-2018, non-Hispanic black females were 2.3 times more likely to be overweight as compared to non-Hispanic white females.
• People who are overweight are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure, high levels of blood fats, diabetes and LDL cholesterol – all risk factors for heart disease and stroke.¹
• In 2018, African Americans were 20 percent less likely to engage in active physical activity as compared to non-Hispanic whites.

Given those dire health consequences, all of which are exacerbated by food choices and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, the logical thing for institutions that wish blacks well would be to cajole them into eating healthier foods and being more active. Interestingly, though, that’s not where leftists, the groups that claim to live to improve the quality of black life in America, are going.

Image: BuzzFeed tweet about AI black obesity article.

Instead, they’re heading in the other direction: It’s racist, they say, to encourage healthier lifestyle choices for blacks. Even Scientific American, which used to be a reputable publication, insisted that fighting black obesity is “racist.”

Now, AI has entered the fray to celebrate, rather than eradicate, black obesity. Leftists are touting black sci-fi and fantasy artists who rely on AI artwork to celebrate fat blacks. Even writing that sounds weirdly racist and disrespectful, but that’s exactly what’s happening, as the title and subtitle of this BuzzFeedNews article reveal:

“This Is What Your Worlds Are Lacking”: Artists Are Using AI To Create Fat, Black Sci-Fi And Fantasy Characters

“Fat, Black people deserve to be main characters capable of anything.”

The article opens by focusing on Alex Smith, a gay, black sci-fi and fantasy artist, who has long felt that black characters were given short shrift in these genres—and especially that fat people were degraded:

“It just astonishes me that fat people in general are treated and depicted as second-class citizens in science fiction works, or they're made to represent something like greed, lust, or villainy,” Smith said, pointing to the character of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in Dune. “I used to do a queer sci-fi reading series called Laser Life,” he added, “and when I was on the hunt for guest readers, the very first story I received depicted a villain who was fat. The character's fatness was described in loathsome terms and was considered an obvious indicator of their villainy. It’s really disappointing.” 

Jabba the Hutt may not have been black (he was more green and gold) but you could say that he embodies the obese villains that disappointed Smith.

For Smith, AI art generators were the answer:

So when easily accessible AI art generators came along last year, Smith, already an established visual artist, adopted these tools to create several Black, fat, and queer characters from a more inclusive futuristic world. 

Smith, it turns out, is not the only one who feels that fat blacks, especially fat black women, are underrepresented in sci-fi and fantasy. Indeed, AI is also useful for those who, along with their reverence for obesity, have abandoned sexual reality:

A number of other Black creators are using AI to build more inclusive worlds. Take Jervae, a 38-year-old, San Diego–based performance artist and spiritualist who uses Midjourney to make ethereal portraits of themself and other fat, Black femmes. “When using my own image prompts, I use descriptors like ‘imagine this image as a body of water’ or ‘imagine this as a poster for an alien nail salon’ to explore different versions of myself,” they said.

Even in leftist land, though, there are problems. It turns out that AI image generators are “rooted in white supremacy.” But the AI artists aren’t letting that stop them. Says Rochelle Brock, “Fat, Black people deserve to be main characters capable of anything. We are just here like everyone else.”

Yes, you are here, but your obsession with anything transgressive too perfectly aligns with modern Democrat policies that (coincidentally, I’m sure) are just as devastatingly bad for blacks as old Democrat policies once were.