Very funny and pointed article/criticismby Nick Gillespie, editor-in-chief of Reason on the hoop-la about how fat we all are, and why should it be the business of politics to trim up this nation? Why should GOVERNMENT be involved in the diet plan of millions?
My favorite excerpt:
The United States is the most tolerant nation on the planet -- as long as you look good in a tight pair of Levi’s. So when exactly did freedom become just another word for 10 pounds left to lose?My immigrant grandparents didn’t come to this country so that their children, and their children’s children, wouldn’t have enough to eat. In fact, they left the Old World, with its regular famines and emaciated lower classes, for almost precisely the opposite reason: They dreamed of living in a country where even the masses struggled to squeeze into relaxed fit jeans and size 18 housecoats.
Heh heh heh. when exactly did freedom become just another word for 10 pounds left to lose ... ha.
You forgot the next line - "Nothing don't mean nothing honey if it ain't fat-free..."
Posted by: Jeff at August 10, 2004 11:42 AM"Losin' weight was easy, Lord, when I drank low-cal booze"
Posted by: David Foster at August 10, 2004 11:48 AMJust had a salad with blue cheese dressing and a bowl of chili consisting of equal parts beans and meat, chased down with two beers. Yummmm!
Posted by: michael at August 10, 2004 01:58 PMLMAO - great lines, guys.
However, I feel compelled to point out that obesity does in fact kill a lot of people. If the government has the right to force us to wear seat belts for our own good, why shouldn't they have the right to force us to eat low-cal foods to the same end?
I fall somewhere in the non-right-wing libertarian camp so personally I don't think they ought to have the right to do EITHER of those, but once the first governmental nanny-action has been firmly established, it's no great leap to the next.
Posted by: MikeR at August 10, 2004 06:05 PMHmmm. "Busted fat in Baton Rouge, headed for the buffet..."
Fatness is one of those issues where people tend to confuse freedom with acceptance. Anyone is free to be fat if they want to be, but the thin people are also free to avoid them.
Just because you can do something if you want to, that doesn't mean it's a good idea.
I associate obesity with sloth and gluttony, and not being a gluttonous sloth, I'm not attracted to them. But there seems to be a tendency in society to portray the slothful and gluttonous as "victims" who must be "accepted for who they are". I don't like it.
Posted by: CW at August 10, 2004 09:19 PMHell, CW, there's a tendency to portray just about everyone as a victim of one sort or another these days. If we can all just sue each other, doesn't that mean we'll all be rich?
Posted by: MikeR at August 11, 2004 12:13 AM
"There will come a time when you won't even be ashamed if you are fat." - Frank Zappa
Posted by: chris at August 11, 2004 06:12 AM