Maher/Corden and obesity

[LadyForCamus]

Probably much larger than 10% considering the heaviest people in this country tend to also be the sickest, the poorest, and the least educated.

Okay. Even if it's 20%, that still means the vast majority of obese people are probably mentally healthy enough to at least make a conscious decision about losing weight.

 
You seem committed to missing my point, lol.

If they’re sick, uneducated, and impoverished, I suspect they’re at quite a disadvantage when it comes to the knowledge, means, and opportunity necessary to achieve a total and permanent lifestyle change. Notice I didn’t say “impossible”; I said “disadvantage”. For a single, teen mom of three who lives in squalor, and works two jobs while simultaneously trying to get her GED, weight loss might not even be 10th on her immediate priority list. Someone has to give her a reason she should care at all, and a reason to think she can, before we can even talk about the logistics of how, and what types of expectations are reasonable for her at this stage in her life. It’s far more complicated than just, “she chooses not to, and that sucks”.

Once again, you give one example of a person who just can't do it, I can give you dozens of examples of people who did. This really doesn't prove anything one way or another.

No...I gave you an objective snap shot of what the typical person struggling with obesity looks like based on the statistics.

Those people in my example were real people, not a reductio ad absurdism. And sadly, there are a very many of them. It’s not that they can’t choose. It’s that they may not see a practical reason to give a shit right now. That’s why they need support rather than blame.

Okay... and? I have examples of real people too, who lost the weight, and are much happier now. People I personally know, worked out with and helped. This proves nothing. Saying "they need support rather than blame" says nothing. Unfortunately, they probably are to blame for their continued overeating. They also probably need support. The two are not mutually exclusive.

All of this is wrong. As Nay_Sayer rightly pointed out, evidence supports the proposition that blame not only doesn’t help people who are struggling with weight, it actually hurts them, and increases their likelihood of gaining more weight. Saying “they need support rather than blame” is an evidence-based statement.  

If my friend is overeating, I'm not going to torture the person about it. But I will be honest with them if they ask my opinion. I'm not going to enable destructive behaviors just because they "need support."

What bizarre universe do you live in that “support” and “enabling” mean the same thing? When I say “support”, I’m talking means, resources, and opportunity; things like nutrition education, access to safe, healthful food, regular counseling, opportunities for physical activity, etc. You want people to choose to make this change in their life, but you don’t think they should have the tools necessary?

Once again, more attempts to discredit the concept of personal responsibility. "I can't lose weight because people won't tend to my needs which makes me feel bad and causes me to overeat."

I’m not sure how you got that from anything I said.

Succeeding in losing weight does not make one an expert on the reasons why others have so far failed. I don’t consider any of those things excuses either. I consider them road blocks that take a tremendous amount of work, resources, opportunity, and support to get around.  If society keeps telling these people that they’re “just making excuses”; ie. blaming them; don’t you think that hurts their chances at getting what they need to be successful?

Nope.

Then you haven’t evaluated the evidence.

Or, you can choose to blame anyone and everyone but yourself. And that's where I stop empathizing with people.

I’m not sure where I said that people who are struggling with weight blame everyone else for their weight problem.