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Obesity in the news

Last week I read that a man (LaPointe, 430 lbs), was released from jail because they did not have facilities large enough for him to sleep in, or sit at a table. This week I hear that the Canadian supreme court has ruled that obese people are disabled, and airlines have to provide them with two seats for the price of one.... How about, now let's call cigarette addiction a disability and provide the smokers with their own airplane? And incontinence must surely be a disability, so let's set them up with toilets on every aisle? You see how slippery the slope can be.

At what point, I ask, are people responsible for their own decisions and actions? Can people not be held responsible for their own obesity? I hold myself responsible for the state and condition of MY body. I hold myself responsible for the damages that I do using my body. While I do have compassion for people who have limitations, everyone is responsible for their choices, and the law exists to hold people responsible when they do not take responsibility on their own. The choices that add up to morbid obesity are just that, choices. If a person has a hormonal issue that causes them to gain weight, they need treatment for it. Not a free pass to be dangerous and obnoxious with the claim that they are too fat to help it. If they can't afford treatment, maybe they should save up some of the dough they spend on caloric intake and put it to another use.

In this article they open with a discussion of an obese man (Mathisen, 380 lbs) who killed his wife (165 lbs) by kneeling on her during an argument. She had recently confessed cheating, and asked for a divorce. He is appealing a murder finding based on his obesity. The article also mentions an obese woman (800-1,000 lbs) who is charged with beating her son to death. The defense is that she is too fat to move her arms.

"The number of severely obese - people whose body mass index is greater than 40 - make up the fastest growing population of obesity... there are now 1.5 million severely obese people in Canada." ...

The fat people complain that they get poor treatment from healthcare professionals, and that wages are lower and jobs are harder go get... I'm sure it's true, in some cases.

It appears to me that employment discrimination against obese people is reasonable and justified. If a person had puncture wounds up and down their veins, an employer would be wise to guess that there might be a drug addiction at play that could affect job performance. If a person is morbidly obese, it is the same sort of sign that a person may well have a food addiction, an endocrine disorder, or an emotional issue that could impact job performance. Better to choose an employee whose physical plant is in good working order.


Dec. 6th, 2008 08:07 pm (UTC)
Bravo Good job!
It's always nice to find that someone in the bloggosphere agrees with you. This insanity with Fat Acceptance and Fatty Coddling has reached the logical extremes. I've been talking about this for sometime on unfatblog, and on my web site.

At every turn we attempt to accommodate these huge creatures only to find that the obesity rate is climbing yet again.

Dec. 7th, 2008 12:21 am (UTC)
Thank you. You are not alone. I'll have to take a look at your blog.

Yes....there is a limit to what we can forgive people based on their hugeness... I'm glad you're out there providing a counterpoint to the fat rights movement.

I think it is reasonable also to recognize that there are reasons for people's obesity that they do not understand. The most obvious reason for the obesity epidemic is the shift (in developed nations) from a farming-based diet to a corporate-profit based diet. I suspect that most obese people do not realize how devastating it can be to eat the stuff that is pushed in the grocery store: high fructose corn syrup, low grade fats, processed grains and processed potatoes. The marketing is terribly misleading... and those who allow themselves to be misled pay with their bodies and ultimately with their lives. Everyone looses except for the corporations...

If we are to address this epidemic we need to address people's ignorance about nutrition and physiology, and also the misleading nature of food marketing and labeling. We won't get anywhere (except maybe flattened) by thumbing our noses at fatties like in grade school... and there's such SENSITIVITY about it.

What are you trying to accomplish with your blog?



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