The US is fat

Author: Dr.Franklin

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"In the early 1960s, fewer than 14 percent of the individuals possessed a body mass index (BMI) of over 30. Today, the figure collected by the CDCs National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHNES) is closer to 40 percent."

This country is fat. What can we do about it?
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@Dr.Franklin
Privatize healthcare and set up affordable plans for skinny people and make fat people pay high risk premiums...just like we do with shitty drivers that get into a lot of accidents.
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@bmdrocks21
mmm corn syrup.
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@Greyparrot
Food is racist!
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@bmdrocks21
Corn syrup was a bad dude. 
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@Greyparrot
Corn syrup used to get stuck in my leg hairs
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@bmdrocks21
Corn syrup would go blonde in the sun.
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@Dr.Franklin
Nothing.

Let them stuff their faces until they explode.



Apart from the relatively few with genuine mental health issues.

I've no time for lazy whinging fatties who continually blame everything else for their own stupidity, and won't take responsibility for their own actions.


What say you Doc?
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@Dr.Franklin
In Japan, South Korea and many 'western' social democracies today, you will notice something extremely shocking when you compare it with the general people's body proportions in a nation like the US or the upper class in less developed nations; there are becoming less 'fat' people amongst the wealthy in these nations.

Why is that? It is perhaps, if extremely cynical, to do with campaigns and policies of 'taxing sugar' etc that certain governments carried out over recent years to help (according to skeptics who propose this idea) to reduce costs on the socialised or partially-socialised healthcare. If that's true, why don't proponents of this idea support the US doing that then?

As in, why don't proponents of the idea that obese people would drain the economy too much if healthcare were socialised, instead support information programs and policies on fast food (the same meal name in Europe is around only 60% as unhealthy as the same meal in the US, I am not exaggerating, this is due to strict EU policy regarding 'how unhealthy a single meal can be' in Europe which is a law that simply doesn't even exist in US), Japan and South Korea also healthier but that is more cultural (if it was purely oily and greasy fast food there, they'd not visit it much as they have much healthier 'fast food' outlets, focused on strips of meat and/or fish with decent amount of vegetables and only easy-to-digest starch formats like rice, etc). 

If you would observe what a culture can do if it begins to positively (not negatively or abusively) pressure the obese to make healthier life decisions, as one whole society (rather than individuals teasing and having spite for one another) you would see a much more exponential transition towards a healthier populace. You can call it Orwellian, even I was not a fan of the sugar tax (I love sugary treats now and again and am a slim guy myself) but ultimately it's about the 'greater good'.

If more people end up less draining on society and happier+healthier, these policies can be optimal for the society. It's all based around that metric. Stop screaming 'freedom' and then going 'oh no not everyone uses their freedom so wisely'. You don't matter enough on your own for your 'good life decisions' to outweigh the bad ones others can/will make without guidelines and restrictions. You're not the only citizen of your nation.
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Stop insisting all cultures are equal such as fat culture.

Diversity isn't a strength if you tolerate toxic cultures in the name of diversity.
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@Greyparrot
i agree, punish fat people
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@zedvictor4
having an overweight population is a security concern too
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@RationalMadman
Stop screaming 'freedom' and then going 'oh no not everyone uses their freedom so wisely'. 
i one hundred percent agree which is why we need to get rid of some "freedoms"

people dont have the freedom to be fat
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@Dr.Franklin
people dont have the freedom to be fat

i agree, punish fat people
I don't know if I agree with the first statement, but I definitely agree with the second. I think that you can have the "freedom to fat". How would you regulate them not being fat? Limit how much food people can buy? Force them to exercise? Ban certain foods? Maybe I am misinterpreting what you mean by "freedom", but it seems like you are saying the government can force people to not be fat.

Because I don't think there is any reasonable way by which to enforce that, I agree with punishing them. I support taxes on fattening products like soda, they should have higher healthcare premiums, schools should be much harder on exercise requirements, etc. I think the government should make it much harder to be fat, and I think that can be done with fairly reasonable means.
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@bmdrocks21
Imagine if Joe Biden told Osha that being fat was an occupational hazard and you can be fined for employing fat people...
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@Greyparrot
Imagine if Joe Biden told Osha that being fat was an occupational hazard and you can be fined for employing fat people...

Then he would be #MyPresident
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@bmdrocks21
Heil Joe.
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@Dr.Franklin
We could provide everyone with nutritious food at little or no cost conveniently while also banning the practice of fast food chains targeting low income neighborhoods with their advertising and locations.
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@secularmerlin
We could actually do everything at no cost.

But social structure dictates cost, and cost maintains social structure.

Same the World over.

Don't be deluded by socialist dreamers.

The whole picture is much much bigger than a few fat numpties and their dining habits.
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@zedvictor4
We throw away enough food to feed every hungry person in the world and the garbage is creating an ecological disaster.  I merely suggest that instead we feed that good to people saving them from starvation and saving the planet from the tons of methane that food would otherwise create. If that is a dream within the current system then the system is broken and undesirable
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@secularmerlin
i like your thinking
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*surprised Pikachu face*
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@bmdrocks21
do you think that if the government interfered and put into place anti-overweight policies, is it interfering with freedom?
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@Dr.Franklin
You’d have to be more specific. It could or could not be.

Junk food taxes? Not interfering with freedom.

Subsidizing healthy food? That’s fine.

Banning certain foods? That’s borderline.

But if people buy and eat bad things in spite of taxes, there isn’t much else you can do without interfering with freedom.
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@secularmerlin
The  trouble is, we keep producing unnecessary people, who all expect to live for ever.

The planet's problem is too many selfish human beings.....Not methane.
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@zedvictor4
The  trouble is, we keep producing unnecessary people, 
No people are necessary. The universe does not need and hardly seems to notice the entire human race. Are you suggesting efforts towards eugenics? In general I mistrust those who advocate for eugenics as they rarely offer imagine themselves as part of the great cleansing or final solution and I just don't trust anyone who would sacrifice another for personal gain.
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@zedvictor4
The planet's problem is too many selfish human beings.....Not methane.
The solution is for humans to be less selfish not for there to be less humans 
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@secularmerlin

If humans were less selfish, then there would be less humans.
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@zedvictor4
If humans were less selfish, then there would be less humans.
Conjecture 
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@secularmerlin
This whole discussion is conjectural. One wouldn't suggest otherwise.

My comment was just a logical development of our particular interaction.