Obese? Don't worry, it's not your fault?

[Dave B]

(Part 922 in a series of stories about people abdicating responsibilty for their own actions.)

New reserarch has decided that if you're shovelling hamburgers down your throat all day then it's not actually your fault, it's society (for which read "the government") to blame.

No matter that nobody forced you to pay more for a crappy fat-laden ready meal than it would have cost to knock up a healthy alternative. No matter that it only takes a few minutes to boil or steam some veg. No matter that apples are cheaper than choccy bars - it's not your fault.

Balls.

I get angry when I see parents in supermarkets buying all manner of crap for their brattish demanding offspring, and I feel sorry for the kids becuase their impending obesity genuinely isn't their fault.

But any adult with more than 29 brain cells who deliberately and willfully chooses to eat crap and not exercise does very little to earn my sympathy.

I'll probably get shot down in flames for this, with people citing glandular problems or somesuch claptrap, but to try shifting the blame for obesity to "society" is to live in denial.

Further details:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7047244.stm
http://society.guardian.co.uk/health...192574,00.html

[Drew]

On the BBC website it says "Increasing employer responsibility" what the hell does it have to do with the employer, surely it should be "Increasing personal responsibility" ?

[BDunnell]

This is utter nonsense, pure and simple. It isn't the fault of Government, or businesses, or anyone else other than the individual.

[J4MIE]

Totally agree

But it does give me a great excuse for eating that cake in the fridge

[Erki]

Don't blame me, blame society.

[jim mcglinchey]

Like alot of things in life, taste in music, viewing habits etc you are subtley pushed one way or the other by the man and his pricing and marketing policies, and its the same with kids diet. For example, did anyone else notice how at the start of term alot of the supermarkets had great offers on giant packets of crisps and choco bars and alot of other crap thats so handy for kids lunches....how many parents on a budget can resist that?

[Daniel]

I think it's better than the conservative moron on the Jezza Whine show talking about shaming people into sorting out their weight problem. What an ignorant tool!

[schmenke]

Like alot of things in life, taste in music, viewing habits etc you are subtley pushed one way or the other by the man and his pricing and marketing policies, and its the same with kids diet. For example, did anyone else notice how at the start of term alot of the supermarkets had great offers on giant packets of crisps and choco bars and alot of other crap thats so handy for kids lunches....how many parents on a budget can resist that?

In supermarkets around here, at every check-out line the ubiquitous "impulse buy" items are available within easy reach, which invariably consist of choco bars, chewing gum, sugary soda pop, and a host of other less-than-healthy items. I wonder how many "impulse" purchases would be made if these were replaced by a fruit stand?

[Andrewmcm]

I wonder if this idea could be extrapolated to drink-driving? If you drive past a pub then surely you aren't responsible for your actions of stopping, drinking 13 pints of lager and then tootling off home without a care in the world.

Let's face it, no-one's forcing the (adult) fatties to eat junk food all day and not exercise. The blame culture in this country appears to be "blame everyone except yourself". Saddening really.

And there's nothing much wrong in shaming people into accepting that they're overweight. Isn't that what a lot of those programmes on Channel 4 and 5 do? They put people's dietry intake for a week on a table to show them exactly how gross they are. And if you've watched those programmes, some of it really is a bit disgusting.*


*Note: "Dr" McKeith really is a phoney and her "science" in those programmes is nothing of the sort. Andrewmcm does not condone her scientific principles or research methods....

[Mark]

I had a cake today. Nothing else to say