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Also, I think the social correctness revolving around obesity is a serious issue and needs to go. There is no social correctness revolving around tobacco. No one is afraid to tell a smoker they are killing themselves or that it is nasty to smoke, but everyone seems too afraid of reminding people of their weight problems.
I'm one of those "oh so mean fit people" that is not afraid to tell others of their weight problems. I actually just told that to one of my friends two nights ago. He is a handsome guy, but he weighs over 200 pounds (and its not muscle, its fat) and when he asked me how he looked physically, I told him the truth. He was taken aback, and upset for about 5 minutes, but he then resolved to start going to the gym to get rid of his gut. After hearing that, I felt I had done him a service.
I think that if more people were reminded, face to face, about their weight problems, then they would be more inclined to lose weight.
OK health nut....not all of us are able to be a "mean fit person" and how dare you go at someone with a weight issue full tilt with your "Just told my friend he was fat" attitiude? Just how long do you think your friends are going to want to hang out with you with that attitude? Yes your friend was upset and your are lucky he held himself back. What would have been more appropriate for you to say to him probably would have been..."Well, you look ok but if you want to come to the gym with me sometime we can get you firmed up a little more"...Never, ever be brutal about how someone's body looks especially if you are stand in front of them all full of yourself.
Look, I have been overweight my whole entire life...my parents called me "fat cat"...I would be innocently eating my supper and they would say "what time does the balloon go up"...did it work...no, I cried and thought they hated me. I did lose some weight as I matured and by the time I was in my teens, was a tolerable weight...but still got made fun of in school....never really dated until my senior year and then dated the BEST looking guy in school...the other girls were mean as hell and couldn't understand "what he saw in me".
NO...more people would not be inclined to lose weight if they were confronted face to face. If you were to do this to me now at my age I would probably be angry and tell you to kiss off...or kiss something else.
Suggestion...if you are so HOT and into this looking all buffed up crap, why don't you try starting a class for people who want to lose weight and look better. The biggest reason some of us "wide glides" don't go into a gym is because of all the tight bodies with leotards up their butts are wandering around looking at us like we were some disgusting lot lizards...think about it...have a weight requirement for people to join your class and be an inspiration instead of a know it all....
How about a stupid people tax...maybe they would be just dumb enough to pay it?
If we want to tax all the things that arent good for you the list would be long and the deficit solved. I thinmk we would see the end of McDonalds too.. oh well i dont eat there anyway. I never did understand how a poor quality burger sells... why not go to another place?
can you imagine a tax on Starbucks... I think a revolution might ensue.
Kellogs would have to take the sugar out of their cereals.
you can have the Hersey Bars but don't touch the heath bars.... Im sure toffee must have some redeeming quality.
coke and pepsi... just close your doors
I'm thinking Haagen Daz is doomed too
Frito Lay
We sure have a lot of big names that do nothing for us....
Yes, yes, yes, tax cigarettes if it means it will save lives and regulate more closely what goes into our food. Do not tax food so it becomes impossible for low income people to eat healthy...does not make sense.
We established already that people can get fat even without eating highly fat content food, so we threw that idea out by like the 5th post so you can stop worrying about that. We changed the focus to the obese people, we need some way of establishing who is obese and then taxing them. I suggested BMI but someone pointed out that its not full proof.
Just re-watched an Old south park and it made me want to post a new question.
Now I can understand banning smoking in public places for 2nd hand smoke reasons, but why is it we are allowed to put ludicrous taxes on tobacco? People say we need to stop people from harming themselves and let them live longer by not smoking, but couldn't that same logic be applied to obesity??? Shouldn't we be adding taxes to foods that have a fat content over x grams of fat so we can stop fat people from harming themselves??? Obesity and smoking are both known to cause numerous health risks, so why is smoking evil while nobody says anything about being obese? And you can argue smoking is addicting and peddles to kids but I would say McDonalds does just about the same thing only its food is not addictive.
If we are to have "sin" taxes as a way of gathering revenue, then I would agree to tax all foods that fall below some standard in that they contribute to obesity as well as clogged arteries. But to do so and not lower taxes in some other way just heaps more and more burden upon us all. There has to be a limit- and we're well past it.
I have been overweight my whole entire life...my parents called me "fat cat"...I would be innocently eating my supper and they would say "what time does the balloon go up"...did it work...no, I cried and thought they hated me. I did lose some weight as I matured and by the time I was in my teens, was a tolerable weight...but still got made fun of in school....never really dated until my senior year and then dated the BEST looking guy in school...the other girls were mean as hell and couldn't understand "what he saw in me".
sounds like it worked to me...
Quote:
NO...more people would not be inclined to lose weight if they were confronted face to face. If you were to do this to me now at my age I would probably be angry and tell you to kiss off...or kiss something else.
First off I am not talking about fat people, I am talking about OBESE people, people who have at least 1 X in front of their shirt size. And just because you tell us to "kiss off" does not mean we did not get our message accross. Do you think smokers like being told they are killing themselves???
Quote:
Originally Posted by AONE
How about a stupid people tax...maybe they would be just dumb enough to pay it?
They have that, its called the Lottery
Quote:
If we want to tax all the things that arent good for you the list would be long and the deficit solved. I thinmk we would see the end of McDonalds too.. oh well i dont eat there anyway. I never did understand how a poor quality burger sells... why not go to another place?
can you imagine a tax on Starbucks... I think a revolution might ensue.
Kellogs would have to take the sugar out of their cereals.
you can have the Hersey Bars but don't touch the heath bars.... Im sure toffee must have some redeeming quality.
coke and pepsi... just close your doors
I'm thinking Haagen Daz is doomed too
Frito Lay
We sure have a lot of big names that do nothing for us....
Again we established we could not tax the food itself, the tax needs to be targeted directly at the obese people. And I would also argue that the taxing of cigarretes has set a dangerous precedent that could lead to taxes like the ones you are talking about. I mean once we eliminate cigarettes whats the next big health issue going to be? Obesity, and the solution is going to be taxes. Which brings me back to my original point, how can we justify the tax on cigarettes AND defend fat people??
I apologize if I offended anyone. I'm sorry Pam. I know it must be difficult to stop eating unhealthy foods. I am no saint, I must admit. I was addicted to cigarettes from 18 to 21 (quit nearly a year ago and going strong). Thats what happens when you are a bartender at a night club in a state where it is legal to smoke in bars. lol.
I was one of those weirdos who would go to the gym 3-4 times a week and as soon as I got out I would light up a cigarette. Certainly not healthy. What upset me so much is this though....
All of my friends would insult me for smoking...They would tell me how I was killing myself and how I smelt bad...blah blah, and every one of my friends except for like....2 were overweight. Some of them seriously overweight. They could insult my habits in public all day long, but if I retorted whenever they stuffed a burger from our university cafeteria in their mouth, I would be a jerk.
And I didn't say to my friend "yeah dude, your really fat". My response to him was "bro, you do kind of have a gut going on" and for the 3 years that I have known him I have always invited him to the gym with me. He never wanted to go even once.
Again, I am sorry if my previous comments insulted anyone. Its just that this is a somewhat sensitive topic for me. lol.
Chicago/Cook County already charges an extra tax for soda I believe.
look, I hate cigarette smoke, used to be quite allergic to it as a kid. I hate seeing a pile of butts dumped on a sidewalk, hate having to walk through a cloud of smoke to enter or leave a building, and hate smokers who just carelessly toss their lit butts out the car window. but I've NEVER disrespected a smoker, don't even know of any names to taunt a smoker w/. I've known plenty of smokers and have had friends that are smokers and have never disrespected them. I may point out one of them stinks a bit after they've had a drag, but never in a mean way. and I would never say anything to a smoker I didn't know! why would a comment on a stranger's smoking habit, doesn't affect me!
YET, being overweight, I've been taunted and ridiculed, have been called more cruel names than I care to repost here simply b/c I don't fit some standard of beauty so others feel the need to constantly and harshly remind me of this. and these aren't just nasty little kids from school, even grown adults can't seem to keep themselves from making cracks at the fat chick, even if they don't even know me. smoking at one point was considered the cool thing to do, being fat as always been looked upon. people may criticize you (using a general you here) for smoking but a lot of it may be a desire for you to stop. I doubt much of it is flat out cruel taunting and ridicule that serves n constructive purpose and only hurts your feelings (having someone oink at you isn't that person's desire for you to lose weight and better yourself). it's long been said that making fun of overweight people is one of the last few readily excepted prejudices and it's true. not trying to go into some long rant of self pity, I'm just saying people are far more cruel to overweight people than to smokers
taxing obese people would be absurd. I'm about 30lbs heavier than a friend of mine. my friend, who is only about .5-1" taller than me, give or take, wears a size 24/26 pants, has difficulties breathing at night, hates walking, gets winded walking up one flight of stairs, needs an extender for her seat belt when flying, suffers from PCOS and pre-diabetes, and has high cholesterol and high blood pressure (though I think the latter two run in the family from what she's told me). I'm a size 16/18 and can fit in some size 14 clothing depending on the maker, used to be a fairly avid hiker, walk a minimum of a mile everyday, used to do a 20 mile charity walk every year w/ no problem, can run up a flight of stairs w/ no issues (hell, I do it every day just to make sure I'm not late for school!), can fit into regular seats (though my shoulders are kind of wide) and use a regular seat belt on a plane. most importantly, I have NO health issues due to my weight. I don't even have high blood pressure which runs in my family. going by BMI alone, I'm the unhealthy one as opposed to my friend, yet in truth, despite being heavier, I'm actually healthier. there are people like me, people that may be overweight, but may be healthier than people smaller than them. I'm sure I'm healthier than some skinny smokers I've known!
I don't think people are really understanding the point of this thread. I am not making this an advocation of what to do about obesity, I can tell from the other thread that the argument does not go anywhere. What I am asking is how we can justify our contempt for a product that helped found this country? I understand about the health risks but smoking everyday is probably just as bad if not better than eating fast food every day. I mean one can cause lung cancer the other can lead to a heart attack, both can be fatal so whats the difference??? Why is one ostracized from society while the other is completely acceptable?
All of this discussion skirts around an unavoidable fact: no matter what you do, you are going to kick the bucket one of these days. And when you do, someone will DEMAND ANSWERS as if your death were an appalling injustice instead of an inevitable fact. And pretty soon someone will show that you brought it on yourself through impure living, as if by living a good enough lifestyle you could be immortal.
Blaming yourself for being mortal is just stupid. Taxing people for it is even stupider, if you ask me.
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