It's Not Weightism. You're Just Obese.

While the Democrats publicly grapple with their own faux liberalism -- who's a "lucky" black man and what's a "typical" white person -- researchers at Yale university would have you believe there is another, insidious "ism" that is even more widespread than racism, sexism and age bias.

They call it Weightism.

Let's call it discrimination against, oh, Plus Sized-Americans.

According to the researchers whose report is published in the International Journal of Obesity (and, yeah, there really is such a thing) apparently Weightism is so prevalent because, unlike other isms "there are no federal laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of weight, and only Michigan has such a law."

Sorry, but it's a little...no, actually it's a whole lot insulting to equate girth with race, gender, age or sexual orientation; aspects of ourselves with which we were born and over which -- except, apparently, for Jimmy Kimmel -- we have no control.

I can't change my race or my gender. Despite my best efforts and millions of dollars spent trying to locate the fountain of youth, I just keep getting older. Yet, same as millions of Americans I can moderate the number of Big Macs I shove in my pie-hole.

But in the Everybody-Give-Me-A-Hug victim culture in which we live, the obese want a spot at the table along with those who face discrimination based on the way that God or Nature or our Intelligent Designer created us.

For the vast majority of those who are obese -- those with a Body Mass Index over 30 -- their size is their choice. They choose to take in more calories than they burn. They choose to take in high fat calories over low-fat ones. They choose to fad diet, if they choose to diet at all. They choose to go back to their poor eating habits when those diets failed rather than get down to the hard chore of eating right and exercising.

That's not meant to abase the obese. I don't advocate ridicule (mostly). Obesity in America is a serious issue. The affects of which, like smokers with secondhand smoke, are felt beyond the individual offender. According to the Center for Disease Control "a study of national costs attributed to both overweight (BMI 25-29.9) and obesity (BMI greater than 30) medical expenses accounted for 9.1 percent of total U.S. medical expenditures in 1998 and may have reached as high as $78.5 billion ($92.6 billion in 2002 dollars)."

The heavy get heavier, and you and I pay for it.

But if they choose to get big, if they choose to bilk us, why in the world would we choose to mollycoddle with laws which encourage the obese to continue to both live an unhealthy lifestyle and stick us with the bill?

There is no reason.

And there is no need.

For those whose obesity is the result of some actual medical condition, should they find themselves discriminated against they can seek redress under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

A lawyer familiar with the ADA told me that "despite the absence of any laws specifically addressing obesity as a disability, courts can interpret the ADA to include obesity, since it defines "disability" broadly and doesn't enumerate any specific disabilities it covers."

Such individuals deserve protection, and they've got it. But let's not water down the fight against real bigotry and prejudice by adding unhealthy lifestyles to the mix.

Comments

[cylindar]

Yes, and let us call it what it is ---FAT!!!!! I worked as a rehab counselor for many years and found that overweight and obese people were a large proportion of my clients. Basically they are more accident prone for one reason or another. Insurance company stats will bear out what I am saying. As an employer I would not want to hire an obese person because of the stats which makes good sense. Workers comp takes a very heavy toll on employers. Those fatties out there who think they are going to get a free ride when smokers don't have another think coming. When fat people are treated just as badly as smokers who lite up in a public area are treated I will be satisfied.

[Star123]

Fat, fatties, blubber--yes, by all means, let's get the lexicon straight if we can possibly insult or try to shame people more effectively.

[SevenLevels]

I pray a pox of twinkies on you.
Peace,
Kelly

[Sepiastar]

Mr. Ridley, tolerance is obviously not a characteristic you possess. I am not here to justify obesity but we have to objectively assess this epidemic. As a former Healthcare professional, I can assure you that there have been many clinical studies on obesity and it's causes. Most cases of obesity can be directly linked to stress, emotional distress, abnormal sleep patterns, the ingredients in our processed foods and the injections in unprocessed foods, medical conditions and a sedentary lifestyle with high consumption of fat/sugar. The human body is conceptually the same but genetically different. That is the reason scientists continuously study food consumption and it's effects on different ethnicities, gender, etc. If we view the matter from a social perspective, there are no grocers in poorer communities (only the corner store), in many cities there is a safety risk when we propose walking on the streets in the mornings and after work, and many local governments do not construct parks and recreation centers in poorer communities due to high crime in these settings, unfortunately.

cont'd

[inmyhumbleopinion]

We already have a parallel situation to compare the obesity epidemic to, as well as the ongoing education it would take to eradicate the problem over time. Remember cigarette smoking? Smoking and it's associated diseases--lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema--have been sharply reduced in the past two to three decades as more and more people became educated about the dangers of first-, and second-, hand smoking.

So I think we need to treat obesity, like smoking, as an addiction and educate our children on healthy eating habits as part of our school curriculae. We should continue to educate parents on how to provide healthy meals for their kids. We should also educate them on the impact of obesity, e.g. diabetes, heart disease, and increased medical costs for society. It's not a situation that can be solved overnight, but I have hope that this will be taken up as a public health issue every bit as important as anti-smoking campaigns.

[Sepiastar]

Thank you. Obesity is an addiction and I'm surprised there are no mental health professionals commenting on this issue. Now, there are other factors to consider but for the obese that are emotional eaters, this is a mental health issue. I previously worked for Blue Cross Blue Shield and I cannot understand why the insurance companies, educational system, and the government will not band together to promote prevention. Demand builders place sidewalks and streetlights in communities when they receive building permits for subdivisions, the local government should ensure secure, lighted parks with walking trails and children's play areas are available throughout the cities for citizens (and place some free work out areas in recreation centers as a good measure), employers should be given incentives to allow workers to work out on lunch if there is a gym close by (Blue Cross of GA had an onsite gym that stayed open 24 hrs a day with access entry and many employees used it), entrepreneurs should receive allocated funding to open grocery stores in economically disadvantaged communities, and physical education should be a requirement in elementary through high school for all students (many elementary schools have removed recess from the curriculum). I am passionate about this issue because there are so many things that we can all do to promote a healthy lifestyle for everyone and stop being so judgmental.

[proudprogressive]

Wow, John, how ignorant of you. Do you really suppose obese people choose to be lonely or ridiculed, or discriminated against? Do you really suppose they choose to suffer every time they go out in public? Every time they have to purchase an article of clothing? Every time the see revulsion in the eyes of a stranger. Honey, you have no idea.

[Querent]

Do they choose all that stuff? No, they just choose to gorge.

[TheMysteriousStranger]

Stop watching cartoons and start facing facts: fat people do not shovel food down their throats. Personally, I enjoy food. I eat three meals a day, all of my own creation, plus desert. Sometimes, GASP, I have seconds.

Contrary to your distorted fantasies about how we spend our time, the vast majority of us do not sit around and dump food into ourselves like human trash bins, or "gorge" ourselves, as you put it. In fact, I want you to actually think back to the last time you actually saw a fat person "gorging" themselves like the maniacal cartoon characters you imagine us as; something that wasn't broadcasted on television, that YOU saw.

We are not caricatures, we are people. It's obvious that you lack both the critical thinking skills and experience around fat people to understand this, or perhaps it's that you're seeing things that aren't really happening.

[mckinley]

Different people generate different amounts of calories from exactly the same food intake, according to recent findings.

There are obese people who naturally and by persoanl choice have always eaten salads and limited calories, no more than a "fit person" does in quality and quantity -- and they are still obese.

Caloric creation from food intake is NOT the same across the board. It is beyond a person's control. Like their race.

[rma2108]

Which means that different people need to eat FEWER calories to keep the weight off . . .

[speakyourmind]

Nobody is asking for special treatment. But everyone, no matter what they look like on the outside, is deserving of common decency and polite behavior. I agree that obese people look the way they do because of their own habits, but that does not entitle the rest of society to poke fun or otherwise ridicule a person, and you don't get to turn someone down for employment because they're heavy.

[gwendeleon]

I was born 1954. No fast food, no videos, no cable. We had no car or A/C. I spent nonschool time outside--walked to school; walked to my friends'; walked in the neighborhood. School had PE & recess. Had no allowance or money of my own. Ate only what my mother put in front of me. My sister & I had to share one 6-pk of Coke (the 6.75 oz size) per week.
Yet I have been overweight all my life. My dad (born 1926) weighed 15 lbs at birth; his parents (born the 1800s) were big people. My mother's family had no weight issues. Weight is not simple. How does loading everything we eat with high fructose corn syrup affect body chemistry? How does feeding estrogen & HGH to animals we eat affect it? What effect does genetically altering fruits & veggies for pest resistance & longer shelf life have? How do artificial sweeteners affect the body's ability to know when it needs fuel and when it doesn't? What effect does our ethnic origin have if we land in a location that our genes are not programmed for? If any of you can answer these questions let me know. Til then, stop blaming the overweight for lack of willpower or gluttony. I neither lack the former nor suffer the latter. Here I am 53 years later w/the same weight issues I had all my life--from a time when none of the bad habits everyone points to even existed.

[rma2108]

You ate more calories than you expended. Very simple.

[Star123]

You will need to do more reading.

[TheMysteriousStranger]

Yes, I used to have a low attention span, too.

[Sepiastar]

I recently completed a course in undergrad where a student conducted a study on the effects of genetically altered food and the injection & consumption of the animals we eat. We viewed foods that were grown in similar areas and under contrasting conditions and the outcome was astonishing. For example, tomatoes that were chemically injected were larger than almost 2 baseballs and a normal tomato was about the size of a golf ball (if that). It is amazing that people (especially older citizens) cannot decipher the difference in size and taste of the food that is consumed now and realistically state there are extenuating factors in the obesity issue in America. In scientific studies, the human body will not perform in an identical manner when the same foods are consumed at the same rate. The uninformed strictly view the issue through a stereotypical lens and the only justification is exercise and don't eat certain foods. However, that does not explain the rapid increase of obesity. The type of food consumed plays a role but it's not the only factor. We should also be discussing, What type of injections are in the animals, what impact it pose, and what is the correlation of exercise and the consumption of genetically altered food (does everyone lose weight or do some remain stagnant, does certain body types need to perform different exercises to see a difference, etc)? Yes, sedentary lifestyle plays a role but we need to look at this issue in it's entirety.

[Huuvola]

Mr. Ridley is correct. You can't change your race, age, etc., but you can change your weight. It is within the capabilities of all of us, regardless of the perception of easy access to better food. I lost nearly 100 pounds through nothing more than sheer will and the desire to once again, you know, have sex again. No matter what I thought of other people's perception of me, it all paled to the self-loathing I felt for growing increasingly overweight. It doesn't matter where you live or how much money you make, your obesity is not society's fault. And the only person who can change it is you. I haven't eaten a pizza, donut or consumed soda for more than 5 years. OK, this has been a rambling statement, but I read many of the posts from people who are obesity apologizers and it bugs me. I don't buy it for a minute. If I could give up pizza and not look back, anybody -- ANYBODY can do it.

[Star123]

I beat ya--have lost 100 lbs three times. I am so cool.

[CalicoJackRackham]

It's not about whether or not it's voluntary, it's the nastiness and casual cruelty with which his opinion is expressed. "Obesity apologizers"??? It's just about being minimally civil to your fellow human beings.

[mm29464]

I'm sorry, Ridley is just wrong. We are not supposed to judge people by the way they look, but the content of their character. And unfortunately, all of the same old nasty perjoratives that are used to divide people and make some people better than/some people less than is just wrong no matter what. If you read many of the comments and subsitute any other negative stereotypical judgment for "obese" it would be appalling and unacceptable in polite society. And all of the judgments about looks equaling character or rather lack of character. Doesn't that sound exactly like what people have said to marginalize any minority group and make them an "other" who is vile and morally inferior. It is another form of privileging just as insidious as wrong as any other hierarchial construct like white supremacy.

[indypete]

I don'[t think he's in favor of reviling fat people, only in pointing out that it's different from skin color, gender or ethnic background.

[jvarga]

Yeah he's not in favor of it, he's just inciting it.

[CalicoJackRackham]

I think his commentary is at best insensitive, and that is being charitable.

As for the differences you cited, some people say the same thing about sexual orientation. They're wrong, but that doesn't prevent them from making the argument. Another thing which is supposedly a matter of free choice is religious belief (or the absence thereof). Do you think it is OK to discriminate against people based on their beliefs, just because it is (debatably*) voluntary?

(*Most people stay in the tradition in which they were raised, but that's a discussion for another day.)

[Vnd]

Exactly. Otherwise why don't poor people just get off their lazy asses and earn a living?

[SevenLevels]

I'm absolutely appalled by the number of people referencing gulags and concentration camps as proof that obesity isn't genetic. I assume each and every one of you is genetically predisposed to being rock solid dumb. Nobody is claiming that if you take food away from people they won't turn into skeletons, but is that really what we want?
http://news.therecord.com/article/329264
Shouldn't the argument be about what is healthy, not what is attractive or ideal? You won't hear it much from the media because we all know how they hate mixed messages, but you can be overweight and healthy. You can have a BMI of 30 and not be on the fast track to the grave. You can eat right, exercise, and still have a fat ass.
Stop judging people unless you're willing to let us nitpick your faults. Expose yourself. Tell us your vices, your weaknesses. Or do you live in a plexiglass house?
Peace,
Kelly

[VicPerry]

Some people can't get through a day without having someone to look down on. John Ridley can't get through a day without inventing people to look down on.

[avicenna]

Let's not overlook the elephant in the room... no pun intended, but the fact of the matter is that obesity is quite a boon for a consumer-driven society. Mass consumption is what makes the economy work - you drive everywhere, buy a lot of junk, sedate yourself with weapons of mass destraction, then enroll in diet programs - and start the cycle over.

[CalicoJackRackham]

You have only to listen to some of the jokes in circulation about overweight people, to realize that there really is a perception that it is OK to bash them in terms that would be considered beyond the pale were they about race or gender or religion or sexual orientation. Among the foregoing, religion is also a matter of choice, and yet we rightly condemn anyone who makes bigoted, hateful remarks about another person based on their beliefs. Criticism of the effects on society of, say opposition to stem cell research is one thing, but crude and insensitive remarks about the individual holding those views is quite another. Likewise, a concern for the societal costs of overweight can be expressed without putting down the individual who struggles with such a condition. And discrimination against fat people is just wrong.

Natural selection plays a role for some overeating, too; what was adaptive for our ancestors in the Paleolithic, when food supply was always uncertain and the caloric quality of available food was much different, is no longer helpful in an age of hypercaloric superabundance. So it is not always clear how much a role simple choice plays, anyway. A little compassion for human foibles might be in order, to counterbalance your stern moralistic precepts.

[patrickhanley]

Mr. Ridley! Come on buddy! You MUST me smarter than this.

Let's talk about the high cost of eating healthy food - not just monetary cost, but education costs associated with having any semblance of a clue what is healthy for you, and the costs associated with taking the time to bypass all the cheap and readily available food that is proffered as "healthy" these days! And then let's talk about the costs associated with exercise and how radically the obese must learn to control their bodies and function in new and different ways. Brisk walks in the park after dinner aren't going to do it.

But even beyond that, wander around a mall food court and watch what parents are feeding their children. And then think long and hard about what input the kid has in this process. By the time that kid is in charge of his own dietary decisions, control of his burgeoning obesity will be well outside his reach - and his own habits will have formed to reinforce that status quo, not to mention health problems associated with childhood obesity which will most certainly put the brakes on any radical change that he might like to make.

You are smart enough to see that America isn't simply suffering from an epidemic loss of self-control. Now start writing like it.

[nevadagirl]

Yes, Yes, Yes! America is suffering from an epidemic loss of self-control. Eating, spending money, drinking, drugs, driving like idiots in huge SUV's, having lousy sex with other debt-ridden fatties. you've hit the nail on its big fat head.

[janvoght]

you would concede tho john, that the feeling of discrimination is one that is felt in the heart, which we all possess, whether our skin is of the mainstream color, or our religion is of the mainstream accepted brand, or whether we are the correct perceived gender for the occasion? hurt is felt in the heart...to say that any one's pain is greater, well i could argue that point.
i would concede that the deeper points regarding the issues of racism, and genderism, etc. could make one wish for discrimination for another reason than their own plight.
i have however read of reports of a fat kid being physically and emotionally abused and then sentenced to death by a jury of their cruel peers, JUST FOR BEING obese. we are not born with tolerance. we must be taught the concept from a place that is sure that discrimination for any reason, does not HELP anyone. i believe that comparing reasons for discrimination only belabors the more important point, of helping others to practice tolerance instead. PEACE-OUT!

obama'08