Woman clashes with roommate over insensitive remarks on 'fat Americans,' sparks debate

People should be very careful when passing comments or making jokes about something, especially other cultures. Ideally, it's best not to use humor with such sensitive topics, but people end up doing it sometimes. A woman shared a story on Reddit a few days back of her roommate who made such a joke, affecting their relationship. The post has amassed a large audience with over 15.7k upvotes and 1.4K comments.

The woman shares that she is a 25-year-old American who has been residing in London for roughly six months. She lives with a 23-year-old British woman. This woman is nice for the most part but chooses to make very offensive jokes about America. She writes, "To clarify, I don't think America is above criticism, and I have no problem shooting s*** from time to time." However, her roommate always took it too far and often had an "obnoxious air of superiority" about it.

She repeatedly tried to correct her British roommate, but it never worked. For instance, she accused all Americans of being stupid because their tests were multiple-choice questions. The woman tried to reason that this was not the case, but her roommate insisted that she must have gone to an unconventional American school. The woman shares, "I've tried to go along with it, as I don't want to be an overly sensitive person, but it's starting to get on my nerves."

It reached a saturation point for the woman when her roommate began to accuse America of being "disgusting" for being so fat. Even though she was in a bad mood, she tried her best not to say anything, but her roommate did not stop. The woman also found the topic to be tricky because she mentioned how her roommate was a bit overweight herself. Since she would not stop, the woman snapped and said, "Don't you think this is a little ironic?"

Her roommate was initially confused and asked her why she would say that. She replied, "Well, I'm an American, and I'm a lot thinner than you. This conversation would make more sense if you were the thin one." The woman's roommate went ballistic on hearing this and told her that she had no right to make comments about her body. The situation escalated to the point where her roommate locked herself in her room and refused to talk to her.

She writes, "I made some beef stew for dinner tonight as a peace offering, but she still won't acknowledge my presence. I do feel bad about hurting her feelings, but I also feel like she shouldn't dish it if she can't take it." People sided with the woman's perspective and shared their thoughts on the issue in the comments section. u/heyimbellaboo said, "NTA. You never fat-shamed her. You just pointed out that it's ironic since you, as an American, are thinner than her. She took it too far and had to be shut down eventually."

u/Uber_4_yuh commented, "NTA, don't dish out what you can't take. She was constantly making jokes and jibes at your expense. What did she expect?" u/SheiB123 said, "NTA. Don't dish it out if you can't take it. She wants to talk trash about others but doesn't like it when it comes back on her. Do not apologize. Let her be mad. She is mad because you told her the truth and she didn't like it. Good job!"