Quote:
Originally Posted by Bilbo1967
Slightly  thought here (but definately an associated peeve of mine):
How come (at least here in the UK) all men in adverts are portrayed as, well, basically, morons (whilst all women are, of course, intelligent, empowered and capable)? |
In the US (and perhaps elsewhere as well), adults (teachers and parents) are portrayed as being stupid, especially in popular kids' shows and movies. I'm so over it. The teacher always looks like a bumbling idiot, kids easily snow parents and teachers alike. What kind of a message does that send our youth? (I could go on forever, but I'll abbreviate it here *soap box*)
Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I'm sorry, Kaz, but as an obese person myself I really can't agree with you. Being obese is is a "choice" for the overwhelming majority of people. The equation is simple:
Take in more calories than you expend = weight gain
Expend more calories than you eat = weight loss
and eating more than you need to is a matter of self-control.
I am trying to lose weight, and finding it damned hard. Why? Because I lack self-control and find it extraordinarily difficult not to eat the things which I love and which are really bad for me. I'm not going to make excuses and say "it's not my fault" and "I don't have a choice". It is my fault. I got fat because I ate too much and didn't take enough exercise.
I'm not going to make fun of anyone for being too fat, but equally I'm not going to make excuses for anyone (other than the tiny, tiny minority who genuinely have a medical condition which means that they can't control their weight).
|
I have read this thread and thought long and hard before I responded (and my response will probably still be stupid, but, eh, best I can do). First off, that ad is ridiculous and obnoxious and totally not ok. Honestly, I don't even get it, coming from PETA. I can understand it (but still don't like it) coming from the American Health insitute or something, but what the heck is the message PETA, a society for ethical treatment of animals, doing with a sign like this? Saying they don't like people compared to whales? It's abusive to the whales?
I don't like it.
Secondly, I do agree that it is *not* ok to rip on obesity and obese people. It's not kind.
However (and I guess this is my BIG third), I do fully agree with Harry here- it is, imho- a choice for the vast majority of people. yes, I agree there might be emotional aspects to it, psychological, physical, etc. But actual obesity is almost always avoidable or "fixable." High costs of healthy foods doesn't make it easy, but walking is free. After having my 3 kids in 3 years, I tipped the scales onto obesity. I worked my way back to healthy weight. I had a lot of misconceptions about what I could and couldn't do, but turns out, I was fooling myself. It was hard work and discipline, but I won't pretend it was the hardest thing I've ever done. I fully admit that my losing those 60 lb was mostly likely much easier for me than it would have been for some other people, but also harder for me than it would have been for other people. In other words, I had to work my tail off like anyone else would, but I didn't have that emotional overeating baggage built up over years that some have.
What I really don't like to see is the general idea that obesity is "ok." It's not; it does drain the healthcare system, it does cause health problems for those who are obese, and it creates emotional trauma as well. Even people who don't get made fun of for size often still don't feel good about themselves. It's to do with self-perception as well as the perception of others. It doesn't feel good to be short of breath, carrying extra weight, and not fitting into clothes well, regardless of how kindly people look upon you. it doesn't feel good because it's not the way we were intended to live.
When you look at normal distribution (bell curve) of natural human qualities, you'd be looking at a rate of maybe 5% of people in the obese or morbidly obese category. So why do we have a range amongst the states of 20-33% obsesity? Because it's no longer a normal distribution. There are too many people in the obese category that shouldn't be there, by nature. They are there by choice (choices that have been made). And I don't agree with that crap about people suing McD's or whatever for making them fat. We all make choices. As limited as some people's chocies may be (for economic reasons or whatever), there are still choices. When I go to McD's, I have chosen to.
I won't pretend that it's easy to make good choices in this day and age. Often, the junk food is cheaper, it's more easily accessible for people living in a very busy society, eating is very social, eating is comforting, portion sizes are bigger than necessary, and we keep telling outselves it's ok to be all shapes and sizes. But when people say that, they are usually saying it's ok to be fat. I agree, people come in all shapes and sizes (I'd love to change some things about my shape, as a matter of fact!
), but, just by natural distribution, 95% of us were not meant to come in the extra-large size.
Kaz, I do love you so, but I also feel passionately about this, and wanted to share my perspective.
(and I see we posted at exactly the same moment... it took me a while to come up with my dissertation here
In fact, you probably made all those posts above me while I was still working on this one)