Survey
says obesity not hot, America – shape
up
Sean Cocca
ABC reported earlier this month the results of a national survey conducted by
a market research firm on the topic of obesity in America. The firm, NPD Group,
asked 1,900 people across the country whether they found overweight people less
attractive than those who weighed normal.
They found that the amount of people in America who find overweight people unattractive
is only about 24 percent, down from 55 percent when the same study was conducted
20 years ago. These results come as no surprise when one considers that about
two thirds of America is overweight.
Many people have offered differing explanations for the results of this survey.
Some attribute them to the increase in political correctness, according to the
ABC story. They say that although it has become more accepted in the public forum,
a strong stigma still surrounds overweight people behind closed doors.
Whatever the reason, people do not seem to care as much as they used to about
a person’s weight. Perhaps we have all become accustomed to obesity because
it has been gradually increasing in frequency over the past 20 years. It is like
when you see people every day you do not notice changes they undergo, but stay
away for a week or a month and those changes become all the more obvious.
Maybe we just do not notice we are getting fat. I think a more likely reason
is we do not care.
But there is no reason to care. Our society consistently caters to the minority
fringe groups demanding acceptance. It has become OK to be different — even
encouraged.
We are trained as a society to tolerate those with whom we disagree. If a person
chooses to advocate the destruction or enslavement of a certain race or religion,
we ignore them politely and hope they go away. If someone chooses to live his
or her life in an unhealthy way, we sigh silently and wish them the best even
though we know they probably know better.
I am not saying that we should not allow these people to make their own decisions,
but I am saying there should be consequences, real consequences, for those actions.
There should be a stigma surrounding overweight people. Acceptance is not something
everyone deserves. Since the dawn of man, we have used isolation and ostracism
as forms of social control when people behave in ways that do not benefit the
whole. Unity and cohesion are things built into our psychology as humans, and
anything that challenges them mostly likely should be removed, especially if
it is harmful to the group.
And believe me, obesity is harmful.
One does not have to be a doctor to understand the health risks obesity poses.
Diabetes, heart problems and arthritis are the first things that come to mind.
Are we saying it is OK to place ourselves at risk with those? Is it OK to be
overweight?
According to this survey, I guess it is.
Shame on us all. We have stood by silently as America has eaten itself halfway
to death. We pass by stores like Lane Bryant, Torrid and Casual Big & Tall
and never give them a second thought. We super size, biggie size, go large and
jumbo size until we cannot fit another bite in our mouths. We take up the diet
of the month and think that eating no carbohydrates or only vegetables or whatever
the next diet guru tells us to will make us fit and healthy.
We expect the quick fix. That is the quintessential problem with Americans. We
do not like waiting for results. And what better way to expedite the task of
getting in shape than to just stop caring? No work, no fuss and no guilt.
And therein lies the problem.
It is so much easier to just not care. We do it all the time. We have shown the
world time and time again that we do not care about important subjects, like
our own political processes, international issues like the tragedies in Darfur
or the AIDS epidemic in Africa, or environmental concerns like the Kyoto Protocol.
It is a lot easier for Americans to just pretend these problems do not exist.
Obesity is no different. The big difference between obesity and these other major
issues is the problem of obesity has a very simple solution: eat healthy and
get some exercise.
There is no trick to being healthy. People know when they are doing something
unhealthy, but they usually do it anyway because often times it is the easier
choice.
Is it easier to make a sandwich at home and drink a glass of water or is it easier
to run by Carl’s Jr. or McDonald’s and pick something up on the way
home? The answer is obvious.
We need to start caring about ourselves again.
We need to let people know when we do not agree with them or their lifestyles.
If they are still happy with the way they live their lives then more power to
them, but at least they will know that other people are not.
It is imperative we change our attitudes concerning health and obesity. As I
said earlier, being obese should never be OK. We should strive to be healthy.
We should work for it, and work hard. Remember, anything worth having is never
easily obtained.
Sean Cocca is a senior journalism major and the news editor of the Daily
Forty-Niner.
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