Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Fat people to blame for the end of the world!


Well, I'm exagerrating, but only slightly!"Big Waistlines Mean Bigger Carbon Footprints: Obesity and Climate Change Linked" is the name of the journal article that came out today.
Next we will be responsible for the economy.

From the article:

"The Guardian's Leo Hickman notes, "As if being obese didn't already carry enough social stigma. Now, it seems, you're not just killing yourself by being overweight, but you're killing the planet, too." He compares obesity to smoking:

For me the most interesting aspect of the study is that it shows how the obesity debate is now starting to be analogous to how the smoking debate ended up playing out. At first, being overweight – like smoking - was labelled as being something that was damaging to just you. The attitude was: if you want to eat or smoke yourself to an early grave then be my guest. But now being overweight is increasingly being seen as a selfish act in which – as with the effects of passive smoking - you are not just having a negative impact on yourself but also those around you, be it through increased healthcare costs (both through overall taxation and rising insurance premiums) or, as is now being claimed, increased environmental costs."

Now, is this true do you think? Or just another way of fueling prejudice against large people?

If fat was a race...that comment surely would of been racist.

1 comment:

Michelle J said...

Kind of a stretch, don't you think, to say that an obese person leaves a carbon footprint that affects the planet that much more than an average sized person?
And slightly off topic, but have you or anyone else noticed there is a portion of the overweight population that is pretty prejudice against thin people, thin women in particular?
Prejudice isn't acceptable, but when does an opinion become prejudice? Someone says, "overweight people are hurting the environment and it's selfish." Another says "I'm plus size. I'm a REAL woman." Opinions or prejudice?