Fat VS. Tobacco?

"I was at this meal, and it came up that one of the people was a smoker. And somebody else at the table started hectoring them about 'what's the matter with you, don't you know how bad it is for you, it'll do this, that, and the other to you and you really should stop.' And the smoker, rather than saying 'fuck you!' you know, 'mind your business!' Which I think is the appropriate response, was abashed and defensive. 'Oh I tried to quit and yeah, I'm gonna try again and yeah you're right,' and so on. At that same table there was a quite large woman, and I was wondering, what if this guy, instead of confronting the smoker had said to the large woman, 'what's the matter with you, you fat pig? Don't you know how dangerous it is to be overweight? Stop eating, and don't you dare get dessert! and what's the matter with you?' right? Same logic; I'd be hard-pressed to find a distinction between the two. So now one is socially acceptable (to hector smokers) but the other isn't quite, yet. So the question is, at what point will it become acceptable to publicly hector fat people in the way that the smokers are publicly hectored?" - Jacob Sullum (editor of Reason Magazine, 2004)



I'm watching Super Size Me.

For those of you unfamiliar with the movie, a guy (Morgan Spurlock) makes himself the test subject of fast food, McDonalds specifically. He can only eat McDonalds for the next month (30 days), must have each item on the menu at least once, and if they ask if he wants to super size his meal, he has to.

After his 3rd or 4th day, they interview Mr. Sullum (man quoted before page break, sorry for all of the parenthesis). And what Mr. Sullum had to say really made me think, and also made complete sense.

Now, we all know that calling someone a "fat pig" is out of line, but really, what is the difference between criticizing someone for smoking, and criticizing someone for eating such unhealthy food? Smoking is the number one killer (at least of Americans, not sure about other countries) and obesity is a close second, which makes them just about equally dangerous.

Taken by moi. Peace Tea :)

What everyone tells me is basically it's their choice what they eat. And yes, I agree. But it's also someone's choice to smoke. Why is it socially acceptable to judge and hector a smoker but not someone who's obese? What makes one okay and the other not? They're both doing something that could easily kill them. And even with second hand smoke, it's the same with eating badly. If parents do it, so will their kids. Kids are sponges when they're little, and they copy what their parents do. They eat what is given to them. So it's  like second-hand obesity.

Not to mention that fast food is much cheaper than healthy food. Well, at least natural/organic stuff. But you don't have to eat organic to eat healthy. It's not like McDonalds and Whole Foods are your only choices.

Other than price, why do people eat such terrible food, and eat out at restaurants and fast food joints so often if they know it's bad for them? Enough that it could kill them? Why don't they exercise? And honestly, in this case, walking isn't much exercise. Not enough to burn over 1,000 calories from a fast food meal.

I mean, America is one of the fattest countries in the world, there's a couple others that come somewhat close, but we're HUGE! And yet, we don't care. Sure, there's healthy places to eat at, but as if there's enough people going to them and eating right and using the gyms enough to make a difference. It's not like we were recently dubbed as the fattest nation on the planet, so how come so little has changed? Is it really that difficult?