There are so many fat people in our society that it appears nobody notices it anymore.
Everywhere you look you are confronted with fat people. In restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, malls, churches, and grocery stores. Every wedding seems to feature a whole posse of fat bridesmaids wearing dresses that would look nice on someone half their size.
"We" still pay lip service to good health and physical fitness; health clubs are all over the fucking place, and weight-loss products and programs are ubiquitous. "Everybody" is buying these sophisticated stationary bicycles so that "we" can replicate the Tour de France in our basements...but it seems like most of us are just fat and lazy. Clothing styles cater to people who are, to be candid, too fat to wear them. There are few things more visually nauseating than a fat woman wearing skin-tight "yoga" pants. Honestly, you should require a permit from the Health Department to wear them.
More and more advertising features fat men and women hawking all sorts of products, including unhealthy food (fast food commercials).
Electric bikes are all the rage, and it's partly because they make it possible for fat, old, and poorly conditioned people to get out and appear to be getting some good exercise. But if you are using the motor, you are doing little more than taking a leisurely walk. I see FB postings all the time of fat bastards bragging about how many miles they covered or how many calories they burned on their e-bikes...are you kidding me? With an electric motor???
It used to be that when you went overseas, the Americans stuck out because they were the fat ones, but that is becoming less and less the case, as the rest of the Western World is catching up (down) to Americans.
There is a political aspect to this, as there is to almost everything. Part of the reason why obesity is "accepted" now is that the Left believes that NOBODY should be made to feel badly about himself for any reason (other than being a Trump supporter). If being fat-shamed makes you feel bad, then the problem is NOT that you are too fucking fat; it's because the person who made the perhaps thoughtless remark was evil.
This is the kind of thing that the First Lady (or the surgeon general) could be working on. Encourage good eating habits, especially among young people, promote healthy exercise, find creative ways to get moving during the bad weather months. Focus on the problem...because it IS a problem.
Ironically, the pharmaceutical industry has played a big part in normalizing obesity. It used to be that if you were "morbidly obese" you wouldn't live very long. Doctors told you in no uncertain terms that you had to lose weight as you got older. But now, they have drugs that can keep you going forever, with blood pressure, heart rate, and blood chemistry under complete control until you are run over by a bus at 93.
I don't know the solution. Basically, I think it's capitalism at work. There are several industries that have profited by making food that PEOPLE LIKE, and people like food that is not good for them. But normalizing obesity is not a good cultural development. Telling people to be proud or satisfied with their appearance when they are fat just because you don't want to hurt their feelings, is counterproductive. Like eating too much candy. Short term benefit, long term harm.
Everywhere you look you are confronted with fat people. In restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, malls, churches, and grocery stores. Every wedding seems to feature a whole posse of fat bridesmaids wearing dresses that would look nice on someone half their size.
"We" still pay lip service to good health and physical fitness; health clubs are all over the fucking place, and weight-loss products and programs are ubiquitous. "Everybody" is buying these sophisticated stationary bicycles so that "we" can replicate the Tour de France in our basements...but it seems like most of us are just fat and lazy. Clothing styles cater to people who are, to be candid, too fat to wear them. There are few things more visually nauseating than a fat woman wearing skin-tight "yoga" pants. Honestly, you should require a permit from the Health Department to wear them.
More and more advertising features fat men and women hawking all sorts of products, including unhealthy food (fast food commercials).
Electric bikes are all the rage, and it's partly because they make it possible for fat, old, and poorly conditioned people to get out and appear to be getting some good exercise. But if you are using the motor, you are doing little more than taking a leisurely walk. I see FB postings all the time of fat bastards bragging about how many miles they covered or how many calories they burned on their e-bikes...are you kidding me? With an electric motor???
It used to be that when you went overseas, the Americans stuck out because they were the fat ones, but that is becoming less and less the case, as the rest of the Western World is catching up (down) to Americans.
There is a political aspect to this, as there is to almost everything. Part of the reason why obesity is "accepted" now is that the Left believes that NOBODY should be made to feel badly about himself for any reason (other than being a Trump supporter). If being fat-shamed makes you feel bad, then the problem is NOT that you are too fucking fat; it's because the person who made the perhaps thoughtless remark was evil.
This is the kind of thing that the First Lady (or the surgeon general) could be working on. Encourage good eating habits, especially among young people, promote healthy exercise, find creative ways to get moving during the bad weather months. Focus on the problem...because it IS a problem.
Ironically, the pharmaceutical industry has played a big part in normalizing obesity. It used to be that if you were "morbidly obese" you wouldn't live very long. Doctors told you in no uncertain terms that you had to lose weight as you got older. But now, they have drugs that can keep you going forever, with blood pressure, heart rate, and blood chemistry under complete control until you are run over by a bus at 93.
I don't know the solution. Basically, I think it's capitalism at work. There are several industries that have profited by making food that PEOPLE LIKE, and people like food that is not good for them. But normalizing obesity is not a good cultural development. Telling people to be proud or satisfied with their appearance when they are fat just because you don't want to hurt their feelings, is counterproductive. Like eating too much candy. Short term benefit, long term harm.
