I don't understand why overweight people are treated with so much more sensitivity than underweight people.
Today at lunch I passed by an extremely obese woman carrying two bags from chick-fil-la and munching on a fry as she walked with a co-worker. I made a glib comment about how I couldn't understand why she was eating all that food plus fries, and was immediately labeled insensitive.
Now I admit I probably shouldn't have said that out loud - it was totally unnecessary. But I do not feel the comment renders me an insensitive person. If I had said to someone with lung cancer "you really shouldn't be smoking" - no one would see anything wrong with that.
Yes, you can argue that her weight problem may be genetic, but odds are if she's extremely obese and eating fast food (and two bags of it), her lifestyle choices probably have a little something to do with her figure. The fact that "obesity rates have increased by more than 60 percent" among adult Americans in the past 10 years proves that it's definitely not a genetic problem, unless the larger people are breeding at a much faster rate - which I doubt because in 2000, over 16 percent of all deaths in the US was weight related.
It disgusts me people won't take responsibility for it; they're suing McD's instead. So in conclusion, I was commenting on the woman's lack of will power, not the fact she didn't have a perfect figure. Not that I really care about her health. I just don't want to have to pay for her medical bills in 20 years with my tax money just because she couldn't control herself.
Does that make me insensitive?
Today at lunch I passed by an extremely obese woman carrying two bags from chick-fil-la and munching on a fry as she walked with a co-worker. I made a glib comment about how I couldn't understand why she was eating all that food plus fries, and was immediately labeled insensitive.
Now I admit I probably shouldn't have said that out loud - it was totally unnecessary. But I do not feel the comment renders me an insensitive person. If I had said to someone with lung cancer "you really shouldn't be smoking" - no one would see anything wrong with that.
Yes, you can argue that her weight problem may be genetic, but odds are if she's extremely obese and eating fast food (and two bags of it), her lifestyle choices probably have a little something to do with her figure. The fact that "obesity rates have increased by more than 60 percent" among adult Americans in the past 10 years proves that it's definitely not a genetic problem, unless the larger people are breeding at a much faster rate - which I doubt because in 2000, over 16 percent of all deaths in the US was weight related.
It disgusts me people won't take responsibility for it; they're suing McD's instead. So in conclusion, I was commenting on the woman's lack of will power, not the fact she didn't have a perfect figure. Not that I really care about her health. I just don't want to have to pay for her medical bills in 20 years with my tax money just because she couldn't control herself.
Does that make me insensitive?
posted by Steph at 11:16 AM
4 Comments:
Marcus and I watched Super Size Me a couple of weeks ago. If you haven't heard about it, it's a documentary about this guy who eats McDonald's 3 meals a day for 30 days. The results were disgusting. He gained 24.5 pounds in 30 days and had all sorts of health problems including a severe jump in triglycerides, cholestrol, permanent damage to his liver, and a growing addiction to McDonald's food. It was interesting but really disgusting.
But then again, I was reading the Chinese newspaper, and it was talking about Super Size Me, and then it talked about this woman who is currently making a movie doing the same thing, except the results were that she lost 10 pounds in 30 days. That movie is supposed to come out soon.
Houston is so fat. It's just so unhealthy.
Stephanie posted the following about an obese lady:
I just don't want to have to pay for her medical bills in 20 years with my tax money just because she couldn't control herself.
Does that make me insensitive?I don't think that makes you insensitive . . . I think that makes you a Republican . . .
= P
Chris. I do believe that's the meanest thing you've ever said to me...
fat ppl rule. i love you like a fat kid loves cake.
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