Assigning scapegoats has become something of a national obsession and necessity when dealing with tragic accidents or social problems. It takes us right back to the good old wild west, when mob justice demanded that someone had to be hung for whatever wrongdoing may have occurred. We require the sacrificial victim - someone to take the fall for whatever sickness and pain plagues our world. We need a tangible being to project our anger and disgust upon.
 
People do not want to take responsibility for their own actions and therefore waste time pettily pointing fingers. The band Great White’s pyrotechnics in Rhode Island last week that led to over a hundred deaths is an example of our need to hastily pinpoint one culprit without allowing for other contributing factors. Great White used fireworks in a club that quickly set the structure on fire leading to a shocking death toll. The band must take some responsibility, but it is up to the club owner to approve such performances. The deaths could also have been prevented had Rhode Island’s laws required that the club contain a sprinkler system.
 
In most instances of such tragedies the “what ifs” and the “should haves” abound and apply to many different factors. Maybe more would be accomplished in preventing such occurrences if people were more willing to take responsibility for their own actions.
 
Nothing highlights the current trend of scapegoating as does the recent effort brought before a federal court to hold McDonald’s responsible for the obesity of its customers.

Among those rallying the effort is Richard Daynard, a Northeastern University law professor who worked on anti-tobacco litigation. He believes that his new pet project is similar to the tobacco crusade in that fast food can become addicting.
 
Because the addictive properties of McNuggets has not yet been proven, the lawsuit that aimed at holding McDonald’s liable for the obesity of two teenagers was dismissed. However, the judge provided suggestions for further developing the complaint and resubmitting it.
 
Obesity is a real and present danger to our society. “A 2001 U.S. surgeon general’s report attributes 300,000 deaths a year to fat-related health problems, and notes that excess weight soon may cause as much preventable death as cigarette smoking.”
 
Obesity is killing people, and aside from those who suffer from medical problems that attribute to obesity, it is entirely our own fault. We know McDonald’s is not healthy for us. To claim that we thought we could live perfectly healthy subsisting on a pure diet of Big Macs and super-sized fries is embarrassing and demeaning to ourselves.
 
Make no mistake, McDonald’s is no saint. If possible, the processed, deep fried foods should be avoided at all costs. There is no doubt that engorging on McDonald’s morning, noon and night would cause someone to become severely overweight. But we make the choice to indulge. We decide how we treat our bodies and our bodies react accordingly. And what are these people suing for exactly? Do they really need more money to spend on cheeseburgers?
 
Suing McDonald’s because you ate too much of their greasy food and got fat is absurd. It diverts us from dealing with the real issues, like why so many children are obese and what we can do to prevent it, and supplies us with a scapegoat so that we do not have to take responsibility for our own actions.

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