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In other words, if you are not obese, then national obesity is not a problem. If you are not unemployed, then job shrinkage is no problem. If you do not have any pre-existing conditions on your health insurance, there is no problem. If your identity has not been stolen, there is no problem. If you are not pregnant, there is no problem. If you are not jerked out of your life to be sent to Iraq to be either killed or mained or systematically abused by the VA for the rest of your life, there is no problem. If your kids are not bullied at school, there is no problem. IF you are not rendered to a third country to be tortured, there is no problem. If pirates do not board your ship, there is no problem. If your pension fund has not been stolen, there is no problem.
What a great American.
That is not what I said. Please listen... If you are unemployed I think it is good to get help from others, but you do not deserve help if you don't look for a job on your own. Take personal responsibility first. You can't sit back and assume someone else is giong to fix things for you. This isn't a magical world where the government/your company/your parents fly in and magically fix the bad things in your life.
I do contribute. 10% of my income goes to charities/other people who need it. I help where I can. I also don't expect anyone else to solve my problems for me! In the past 2 months my salary has been cut by 11%. I am not upset at my company, I understand, they have to do what they can to survive. I do not expect the government to step in and help me out. I expect people to let me deal with it. I check open job positions every day and keep a list ready in case I get laid off. I have a list of restaurant jobs ready so I could become a waiter and pay my own way while interviewing for something new. I don't assume I have the 'right' to take money that isn't mine (unemployment?) when something goes wrong. I plan for and take care of my own life.
If you are upset with me for having this attitude, there is nothing more I can say.
I HAVE read the other posts. I also think the vast majority of people who dismiss personal responsibility are justifying laziness.
I don't expect anyone to solve my problems but myself. I don't see how that attitude doesn't apply to obesity.
In other posts, you then went on and stated that you get to decide who the few and scanty exceptions (those not in the vast majority) are to your rule. You have the wisdom to be the sole judge of personal responsibility, which in no case should be left up to the collective citizenry who comprise the republic. Nor should the commonweal of the republic be taken into account in such judgments.
In other posts, you then went on and stated that you get to decide who the few and scanty exceptions (those not in the vast majority) are to your rule. You have the wisdom to be the sole judge of personal responsibility, which in no case should be left up to the collective citizenry who comprise the republic. Nor should the commonweal of the republic be taken into account in such judgments.
Please go back and re-read what I said in the post after that. You are skewing my point greatly.
To bring this back to the topic at hand: are you really saying if I eat twice what I should and I become obese and I choose not to exercise, it is not my fault? It is hard for me to wrap my head around that attitude.
There are few instances where obesity is genetic and cannot be helped, but those instances are few and far between.
Right now I ride my bike to work. Work is 13 miles away from my home. I take responsibility for my health and force myself to ride a bike 26 miles a day, five days a week. If every obese person took steps to do something like that, I guarentee an overwhelming majority of them would become healthier and lose weight.
But it sure is easier to blame 'society' and 'other factors' then get off your a** and exercise, isn't it?
Your point was easy to skew, because you made a flat, simplistic, self-serving one-line statement in a vacuum and offered nothing to back it up, and held in contempt the idea that some people are weaker and more gullible than others, and you believe that weaker people are of no social relevance to our nation.
Drugs in America---who is to blame? Users
Rape in America---Who is to blame? Rapists.
Poor education in America---who is to blame? Dropouts.
You don't grasp the idea of what these discussions are about, do you?
Your point was easy to skew, because you made a flat, simplistic, self-serving one-line statement in a vacuum and offered nothing to back it up, and held in contempt the idea that some people are weaker and more gullible than others, and you believe that weaker people are of no social relevance to our nation.
Drugs in America---who is to blame? Users
Rape in America---Who is to blame? Rapists.
Poor education in America---who is to blame? Dropouts.
You don't grasp the idea of what these discussions are about, do you?
I oversimplified my arguement to make a point. For that I apologize. Everything I have said should be taken in the context of Obesity as that is the topic at hand.
I also completely agree with what you said above. Poor education IS the fault of those who drop out and don't take it seriously. I took a book home twice while in high school, and generally didn't care. I got my a** in gear, got into a college, worked hard and got a great job. It was my own fault for not learning. I am not going to blame my parents or friends or those around me. I also I am surprised you wouldn't hold drug users or rapists at fault for drugs and rape. Who else is to blame but those people? I am very confused by those statements.
I understand completely what you are saying and I do comprehend your position. I do, however, disagree. I won't tell you what to think, you are certainly entitled to your opinion.
Someone being more gullible or weaker is unfortunate, but it is not an excuse. That person should work on personal growth. No part of one's personality is set in stone, and if a person has flaws they need to continuously self-evaluate and correct those flaws.
jtur - I will agree there are other mitigating factors in this debate and fault cannot lie 100% in a person. I took an extreme to make a point. That being said, I do think a lack of personal responsibility can account for a vast majority of problems.
Let me ask you this, do you think personal responsibility has anything to do with obesity?
jtur - I will agree there are other mitigating factors in this debate and fault cannot lie 100% in a person. I took an extreme to make a point. That being said, I do think a lack of personal responsibility can account for a vast majority of problems.
Let me ask you this, do you think personal responsibility has anything to do with obesity?
I agree that some people are more capable than others, and the failure of the less capable renders a certain amount of the fault on themselves. However, our society is highly adversarial and competitive, and those that get ahead do so at the expense of those who do not. Each is personally responsible for making the best of themselves, given that we all do not have the same capacity for success or achievement, and we do not all have the same discipline to drive ourselves to that end.
All will fail at some things, most will fail at a lot of things, many will fail at most things, and some will fail at everything. This plain and simple reality ought to make clear that all of us in a civilized society have the collective obligation to, as the wise Founders said right up front, "promote the general welfare". The only way the welfare can be general, is if the capable assume the responsibility for those who can't. We cannot all walk on the moon. But if any benefit is to be conferred from a few having done so, it is to benefit not just to them, but to all of us.
If America is to overcome its obesity, and become the promised "more perfect union", we must depend not just on 100-million weak and tubby people, but a few clear-thinking, courageous, disciplined visionaries who will "promote the general welfare" and make "more perfect" the way Americans are taught and encouraged and persuaded to address their lives and their health and their priorities. Setting a good example, as you and I do, is a start, but there is a great deal more to be done.
Only one person to blame for obesity, the person with the fork in his hand...!
That wasn't too tough..........
Truly amazing, how far we have come in just a bit over two weeks. Thanks for all the in depth research you've done.
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