This evening I learned the actual reason children are becoming so  
obese today. They have to be isolated in the back seats of cars until  
they weigh a certain amount (60 lbs?) . The faster they gain weight,  
the sooner that isolation can end. QED
It seems to me as good or better a theory than Slate's totally  
predictable blame-the-victim approach.

Best,
Michael

On Jul 28, 2007, at 12:28 AM, Michael Balter wrote:

> Everything Phil says is true. And yet it does not change the fact  
> that each individual fat person has to eat less if they want to be  
> less fat. There is no contradiction between understanding the  
> social and political context and stressing individual  
> responsibility, as Claudia outlined so well in her recent post.  
> This goes for all kinds of addiction. While we are waiting for  
> capitalism to fall, we also need to deal with the here and now. To  
> the extent to which we ignore this side of things, and refuse to  
> read what others write about these aspects, we continue in our  
> glorious isolation.
>
> MB
>
> PS--btw in the United States, at least, obesity is fast approaching  
> a cultural metaphor for the voracious swallowing up of the world's  
> resources by Americans. Just as Americans need to give up their  
> SUVs, they need to give up their Big Macs.
>
> On 7/28/07, Phil Gasper <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> The social and political context is provided very nicely in Eric
> Schlosser's Fast Food Nation (which was a best-seller) and to a
> lesser extent in Morgan Spurlock documentary Supersize Me! There is
> also Marion Nestle's more academic Food Politics (which makes the
> simple point that food corporations need to stuff people full of as
> many calories as possible to make more money). Other people on the
> list can probably name a dozen other relatively mainstream books and
> articles that make similar arguments.
>
> Once you provide the context, of course, its plain where the main
> cause of the problem lies. Slate, on the other hand, thinks we should
> be "blaming and stigmatizing fat people." That's not only morally
> obnoxious, it obviously won't work to solve the problem. But then its
> not intended to, because as long as we have "fat people" around we
> can continue to point the finger at them and divert attention away
> from the underlying causes. Perfect!
>
> --P.
>
> At 8:53 AM +0200 7/28/07, Michael Balter wrote:
> >Here is another piece from Slate, which I also personally find
> >interesting even if it is not written by a leftist and even though I
> >don't agree with all of it (it provides no real social or political
> >context for the obesity epidemic, for example, something that a
> >science for the people might be capable of doing.)
>
>
>
> -- 
> www.michaelbalter.com
>
> ******************************************
> Michael Balter
> Contributing Correspondent, Science
> [log in to unmask]
> ******************************************