The Obesity Epidemic

Let's face it: over the past couple of decades, smokers have been targeted as pariahs.  Not only are they social outcasts, laws have been enacted in an effort to restrict their horrid behavior.  This is considered socially acceptable, even as governments extract tons of money from the pariahs by taxing their smokes.

Yet the human hippo goes unchallenged.  Until now. 

A leading expert in human nutrition has caused outrage by calling "over-fatness" a self-inflicted burden on the taxpayer.

Professor John Birkbeck, adjunct professor in human nutrition at Massey University, said anti-obesity efforts won't work until society refuses to accept the condition as normal and healthy, as it has done for smoking. 

His comments outraged groups working to reduce the obesity rate.

Maree Burns, coordinator of the Auckland-based Eating Difficulties Education Network, said they were "flagrant", "inappropriate", "intolerant" and "offensive".

"Shaming and blaming people has never been effective. This is the worst example of fat phobia and doesn't achieve anything except building discrimination," she said.

Bet you cash money that Maree "shames and blames" smokers.

But that's okay.  Human hippos who just can't seem to stop stuffing their faces should be a protected category.  It's interesting that she works for the "Eating Difficulties Education Network" - as quite obviously, hippos have no difficulty when it comes to eating.

The doctor nailed the issue squarely: morbidly obese people constitute a net economic drain.  And the condition is self-inflicted.  Nobody is forcing their mouths open and jamming that second, third, or fourth piece of pie down their gullets.  They do it all by themselves.

And while it may be politically incorrect to note that such is, in fact, the case, there is nothing phobic nor intolerant in making the observation.  Facts do not respect societal constructs such as political correctness - they are what they are. 

Comments

[Bobkat49]

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/15293006.html

"In a paper published online Monday in the Public Library of Science Medicine journal, Dutch researchers found that from age 20 to 56, obese people racked up the most expensive health costs. But because both the smokers and the obese people died sooner than the healthy group, it cost less to treat them in the long run."

Heard a good one on Glenn Beck the other day. A guy called up and said that since overweight people emit more CO2 than average sized people he proposes that he will continue to eat as much as he wants but will offer to pay a third world person to not eat for him. Crude but funny.

[Max]

Hmm...I'd think that complications such as diabetes and other factors would rack up hefty medical costs outweighing those of healthy folks, even over the long run. Interesting finding.

[ZZMike]

The only problem I have with fat people (I'm borderline myself) is when they refuse to pay for the two seats they take up on airplanes &c. A concert cellist like Yo-Yo Ma has to buy a ticket for the seat he uses for his cello.

There's a large genetic component to fatness. Those people who get to 400 pounds and over don't get that way supersizing their McDoodleburgers.

And where's the worship of diversity they keep harping on? We should embrace people's fatness. It just takes longer arms. Let's start a campaign to do away with the word "fat", the way they did with more than a few other words. How about "girth-enhanced" or "people of girth"?

"Birkbeck even cited concentration camps to illustrate his point."

Problem solved.

[Max]

ZZ - while there is in some cases a genetic component, the fact of the matter is that when one consumes more calories than they burn, the excess is stored. When that occurs regularly, the body resets so that it thinks it needs the excess. This is why dieting is such a dicey issue.

Obesity is increasing, and it cannot be laid to a genetic component because evolutionary processes don't happen at this rate of speed.

I do like "girth-enhanced", and some of your other suggestions. ;-)