Saturday 10 April, 2004

When two tribes go to war

Here are some things I ran into while browsing web over the issue of obesity, I've put in links from both side of the argument, hopefully representing a fair share of data:

Over half of Britan's population is now overweight or clinically obese. In fact Britain is poised to challenge US soon, though at the moment America is still unchallenged. It is no wonder WHO has declared the obesity crisis an epidemic, despite US resistance. The bill the society has to foot every year is staggering, and the tragedy of the people dying of lingering illnesses caused by their condition is of course beyond any amount of dollars. Despite this, resistance to any action against junk food continues.

Equally worrying for the doctors is the trend of young children who are getting very overweight as well. Espcially girls seem to be very prone to ballooning out and suffering serious health problems as a result.

One of the magazines I read just ran a competition on best ideas for losing Here are some choice ideas:

Ban all advertising for junk food.

Take any obesity-based healthcare away from NHS -people have to take their own health insurances against this, and more overweight they are, the more thier premiums will obviously cost.

Take Viagra off perscription -the increase in the amount of sex will burn off the calories.

All of these ideas above are of course more or less tongue-in-cheek, but the fundamental problem remains: the cost of the nation being so overweight is unbearable, and not tenable in the long term, according to scientists.

I looked around a bit more and seems like the catastrophic obesity levels were already under scientific study as early as 1994, but the ferocious lobbying of the food manufacturing industry lobby blocked any public records. The drive to increase excercise was similarly blocked by the all-powerful car-manufacturers' lobby.

Interestingly, there is now a 'Camp Two', a lobby for fat people who feel that the issue of negative image of fat people is like that of racial hatred or religious intolerance. There is even a blog and international organisations to defend the cause. They dispute the claims that being overweight causes any health problems and aggressively challenge anything they see as discriminatory against the fat, including health campaigning against obesity.

So the battle lines are drawn and swords of the fat and the slim are being sharpened. I actually think that the fat lobby will win in the long run, since they now represent the majority in the Western World and their numbers will continue to increase.

Posted by Dragon at 10 April 17:56, 2004
Comments
# 1 - Marnie (on April 11, 2004 03:36 AM):

I don't really think it's as... socially dividing as all that. Pretty much anyone who's asked will say that obesity is an unhealthy, bad thing. The fact that so many people are overweight is a negative effect of all the technology that's been developed in the last few decades.

Did you hear about the Cheeseburger Bill? It's a bill that is currently on it's way to being passed in the US. It basically makes it illegal for people to sue fast food restaurants for making them obese. I think that the fact this bill was approved by the House means that society generally agrees obesity is the individual's fault.

The subject of obese children, though, I think is a major problem. Parents in charge of their kid's well-being, and that includes teaching them the responsibilities of staying healthy.


# 2 - Marnie (on April 11, 2004 03:38 AM):

Oops, that should be "parents are in charge," of course. :)


# 3 - Dragon (on April 11, 2004 03:12 PM):

Yeah, I heard about the bill, though I think this has more to do with the power of the fast food industry than anything individual responsibility.

I am not sure if I agree with you on the social division not being formed, though. The obesity movement is beneficial as far as businesses are concerned: People spend money in the fast food joints, they get fat and are happy with the fact. The motor industry is happy, as people don't excercise so they can sell cars. The people are happy as they can claim it is not their fault (genes, slow metabolism, it's natural state for humans etc), government is happy as obese people are unlikely to cause civil unrest.

We shall see.


# 4 - Marnie (on April 11, 2004 06:25 PM):

LOL, your opinion is pretty much the entire opposite of mine! How fun. :D

The idea that people are happy being fat is inconceivable to me. I really can't speak about any other area, but here people are bombarded with advertisements aimed at getting people thin. Fast food joints actually have salads. The Atkins and the South Beach diets are extremely popular. Lots of restaurants have Atkins-friendly menus. Most people are concerned with their weight; every time bathing suit season rolls around, commercials on TV for diet pills increase. People desperately cling to these fads despite the obvious health risks.

All the 'beautiful people' in society continue to be thin.

There's just no way most normal overweight individuals would say they're happy with the state of their body. It doesn't make sense.


# 5 - Dragon (on April 11, 2004 09:52 PM):

I actually hope you are right. While all you say is true, the obesity continues to raise at incredible rate. I just think that people prefer to take the easy way out. That's why I think that in the long term people will rebel against being told to get in shape.

Those who read this blog know that I love my excercise, so for the sake of the Western World I hope that I am completely wrong and that the Fat Acceptance movement does not become prevailant. :D


# 6 - Marnie (on April 12, 2004 11:41 AM):

I just think that people prefer to take the easy way out.

Now that I agree with. :)

I hope that I am completely wrong and that the Fat Acceptance movement does not become prevailant. :D

LOL, 'Fat Acceptance movement'? I think you've coined a winner there. :)


# 7 - Dragon (on April 12, 2004 01:58 PM):

I didn't coin it, follow the links, that's what they call themselves. I'll dig up a link for the Feederism pages as well...


# 8 - Marnie (on April 12, 2004 05:53 PM):

Wow. Some things are just indescribable.


# 9 - Dragon (on April 12, 2004 10:05 PM):

After getting a fair few emails on Fat Acceptance movement, I had a closer look to see how far things have gone. I found lists of Fat-friendly doctors, advice of gaining fat as fast as possible, and whole host of articles and organisations poised to make obesity an accepted part of society, and aggressively disputing any claims that excess weight could have health risks.

I delved deeper into the militant fat movement, and encountered Feederism, an even more extreme way of thinking where your aim is to gain as much weight as possible. This is done via feeders, who bring food to the feedees, (mostly women). Based on the number of hits and websites, the movement seems quite large, though obviously I cannot claim to be an expert.

Here is a FAQ on the Feederism: http://fattenup2.com/FAQ.html

Justification and philosophy on Feederism can be found here:

http://www.dimensionsmagazine.com/dimtext/Forum/Feeder+.html

Basically it says that it is natural to weight 300+ pounds and gaining lots of weight is a goal worth striving for.

Some of the discussions on the subject can be found on this message board:

http://fattenup.proboards15.com/index.cgi

There were also plenty of galleries, but those who want to discover them should be able to do so.

I promise this is my last post on the issue, but I do wonder if this movement will take off and become politically viable force. I think US will be the testing ground for this.


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