y'all, it's typical.

(Pre-Script: To fully reap the rewards the following post has to offer, you must first go down to the playlist, click on the song, "Not Your Average Girl," by India Arie, then come back here and resume reading. I'll wait.) (...still waiting...)

Today I was in the grocery store, because apparently it was the popular thing to do at 4pm on a Sunday afternoon, since the place was busting at the seams,(...but I digress...) and I saw on the cover of People magazine the picture of a fat looking Jessica Simpson with the title, "Jessica is proud of her body!!!" and under that, "Don't call her fat!" oops.

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But wait,

they blast a picture of her that makes her look fat on their cover, but I can't call her fat? And really, that's what People Magazine needed to report this week? Because I really don't care how many pounds Jessica Simpson weighs. I really don't. I don't know the girl. I think anyone would look fat in that outfit, anyway...but that is beside the point. I don't think People magazine is stupid, either...

BUT!!

I do think they are passive aggressive, in politically correct ways that the mass population won't pick up on. "LOOK, we are going to pretend to applaud Jessica Simpson for her good attitude, so we are going to put up a picture of her in an unflattering outfit (what's with the 2 belts and super high waisted jeans, anyway??) then comment on her size, put it right out there, but tell you not to be a hater, and not to CARE about her size...if you people would stop CARING about Jessica's size, stop calling her unacceptable names, like 'fat,' then we wouldn't have to show you these pictures of her and document her every ounce gained or lost."

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Um, excuse me, People Magazine, but the peeps of America didn't care about Jessica's size until you subtly-or-not-so-subtly told us that we should. The reason Jessica Simpson is on your cover is because she happens to be a naturally beautiful person. The validity of her music and movies may be up for debate, but she is a very physically beautiful person. So when Jessica gains weight, the magazine people feel better about themselves by putting it on their cover. They assume that mass America will also feel better about themselves by seeing such a cover."Look, she's more like us than she ever was. She looks less like a goddess we are intimidated by, and more like...a person we would not be quite as intimidated by."

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"...But let's just pretend that's not true, so as to maintain our noble reputation. Slap some sympathetic sounding, even loving sounding, maybe, words on the face of our scorn and shame and send it to the presses. This is too good to pass up; Our ego's couldn't stand it."

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And that is why they do it.

Think about it, peeps.

-XOXO,