Rant about weight, fat acceptance, obesity and health

[Strider]

This whole fat acceptance movement is simply wrong. I think this should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway: It is never okay to belittle, shame, or otherwise make fun of somebody because of their weight. However, society does not need to condone and coddle obese individuals "for just being who they are". Obesity skyrockets an individual's chances of acquiring a smorgasbord of maladies and diseases. Couple that fact with the number of obese people in the U.S. alone and you begin to have an idea of why insurance is so ridiculously high (one factor among others, but a factor nonetheless). Obesity not only affects those who are actually obese; their poor health and lifestyle choices affect the rest of us financially as well, and those poor choices, especially in nutrition, are typically passed on to children if they have any.

How many commercials have you seen trashing cigarette smokers? A lot. If a similar commercial were made of an obese person who neglects to exercise (or, hell, even move at all) and eats high-calorie, processed foods, the proverbial shit would hit the fan and outrage would sweep across the country, a million chubby hands raised in protest.

This is one of those issues that really sticks in my craw. Obesity is not healthy, it is not "just who you are", it isn't "being comfortable in your own skin", or any of that other bullshit. It's a serious public health concern as you mentioned, and it can be overcome by education on the importance of exercise and decent nutrition. But first, it has to be approached as a problem and not treated like it's some condition that people are powerless to change, or that it's just part of who they are.