The
American Medical Association (AMA) has just decided that obesity is a disease
(see:
USA Today Story). This is a
profound declaration and is likely to cause not just a ripple though our
society, but a tsunami … considering that it is estimated that 1/3rd of
Americans are already obese. (Full
disclosure: yours truly shops in the “hefty” section of clothing stores.)
Now, I am
old enough to remember that, in Germany,
being overweight was once considered to be a recognition that you had “made it”
… particularly for men. This might be a
hint as to why so many in this country are fatties – we are a land of good and plenty
and this plutocracy is reflected in out waistlines. Not only are we overweight,
but we are also obsessed with getting svelte.
I once was friendly with Dr. Robert Atkins who made his fortune with his
weight-loss theories … and is still famous long after he has expired (probably
partly due to his being overweight.)
Even after the billions of dollars Americans have spent on diet fads and
weight-loss regimes, things do not seem to be getting better.
So how do
we fix things? I don’t think it will be
by banning super-sized drinks or by declaring that there are “food desert”
areas of our cities or by forcing restaurant to list caloric contents on their
menus or by many of the other cockamamie ideas touted by the likes of Mika Brzezinski or Michelle Obama. Perhaps I too can
offer a few silly suggestions:
-
stop making tobacco
smokers into piranhas (maybe why Barack has stayed so thin)
-
start making pot
smokers into piranhas (the munchies don’t help things)
-
bring back physical
education to our school curricula
-
eliminate food stamps
(EBT cards) for anyone overweight
-
locate all parking
spots at least 100 yards away from the nearest store (or restaurant)
Unfortunately,
these are probably not effective solutions (the real ones are too buried in our society’s
ethos.) And if I did have them, I would then be listed in the “Forbes 100,” a compendium of the world's richest people.
But the
most insidious result of this AMA decision is that now millions more Americans
will now likely apply for Social Security disability benefits (SSI) … in that
they have this “disease” … again, an example of unintended consequences.
And what
will happen to these people who then go on the federal dole? You guessed it.
