Why people hate fat Americans

spiked-online ^ | 9 September 2005 | Daniel Ben-Ami

[tbird5]

If Americans had to be described with one word, there's a good chance it would be 'fat'. Americans, we are constantly told, are the fattest people on the planet. Obesity is rife. Compared with other nations the Americans are not just big, but super-size.

Yet this obsession with obese Americans is about more than body fat. Certainly there is a debate to be had about the extent to which obesity is a problem in America - a discussion best left to medical experts. But a close examination of the popular genre on obesity reveals it is about more than consumption in the most literal sense of eating food. Obesity has become a metaphor for 'over-consumption' more generally. Affluence is blamed not just for bloated bodies, but for a society which is seen as more generally too big for its own good.

It is especially important to examine this criticism of American affluence in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. An assumption underlying much of the discussion is that, at the very least, wealth did America no good in its battle with nature. An editorial in last weekend's UK Guardian caught the tone: 'America is the richest and most powerful country on Earth. But its citizens, begging for food, water and help, are suffering agonies more familiar from Sudan and Niger. The worst of the third world has come to the Big Easy.' The implication is that America's wealth is somehow pointless.

[Feiny]

They spelled it wrong.

Americans are PHAT!

[spinestein]

[Well, what does Michael Moore have to say for himself!?!]


According to the article, this:

[Michael Moore only refers to the obesity issue in passing - in Stupid White Men he argues: 'If you and I would eat less and drink less, we'd live a little longer.' (8) Perhaps this is a sensitive issue for him, seeing as he is no lightweight. But he does criticise America for being number one in relation to several areas of consumption, including beef, energy, oil, natural gas and calories]




For many non-Americans, pretending that the world's only superpower is morally bankrupt because of its rampant gluttony is the only thing that keeps them from despair at their own lack of achieving America's standard of living.

I guess that we're supposed to feel guilty that we can go into a supermarket and take our pick of any and all food we want and only pay a small portion of our weekly paychecks for it.

I realize that there are many places on Earth where decent food is not widely available, and if it is, it may be too expensive for the average citizen to afford. The solution to that problem is to remove the dictatorial governments from where they are obstructing the free market and preventing the peasants from having anything of value, since they always seem to be present when there are food shortages around the world.

And if some people wish to eat roots and berries that they gather for themselves like our distant ancestors did, then they are welcome to do so, but leave me alone while I'm eating my pizza.

[durasell]

Interesting no, that an article with the phrase "Fat Americans" in the headline is immediately taken as American bashing? If the headline had read, "Hate Rich Americans" or "Hate Thin Americans" then it would be taken as envy.

[ccmay]

This is an obvious hate-America hit piece.

It most certainly is not. It's quite the opposite. You did not read the whole article before bashing it.

Third time in this thread! Geez, people, try to know what you're talking about before you give us all the benefit of your opinion.

-ccm

[Shortstop7]

LOL!! Thanks!

[pcottraux]

"But he does criticise America for being number one in relation to several areas of consumption, including beef, energy, oil, natural gas and calories"

Here, Moore is being an ultimate hypocrite.

You make some good points here.

[garyhope]

Samoans?

You should see the Tongans living in Texas. Big, big people.

But yes, we do have our share of non-svelte people in this country. We also have a giant food industry pushing food, food, food 24/7 on TV and every 50 feet at fast food restaurants and football field sized supermarkets.

Food is not just nourisment here, it's a BUSINESS, a very big business. There's also a very large emotional component to overeating. The rich are uusually much thinner.

[durasell]

Intentional or not, being over weight is part of Moore's gimmick. It sends the message that he's not a "TV person" or one of the "elite." He's just a regularly guy who is overweight.

[TUAN_JIM]

Unless those 2 cents are theirs.

[ozzymandus]

I thought it was short people we were supposed to hate. I heard they have no reason to live.

[Vision]

Explain. As a side note

I don't really know how to explain as it's so obvious. We are first class society and others are yet to get to this point

[spinestein]

[...a key objection to McDonald's is that it campaigned to override 'cultural mores against gluttony']



I can't argue with this specific point, but blaming McDonald's, as some feel obliged to do, is pointless. The people who go into McDonald's and order sausages, eggs, bacon and cheese, wrapped in a pancake which has maple syrup baked into it (called a McGlutton...er...I mean McGriddle breakfast sandwich) only do so because they chose of their own free will to eat one.

But I can only be amused at the irony of living here in America and consuming such a sandwich in the morning, and then later that evening trying to flush the remains of said sandwich down the government mandated mini-flush toilet using the pint of water alloted per flush by our federal legislators in their feeble attempt to force us to conserve water.

[latina4dubya]

The implication is that America's wealth is somehow pointless.

sour grapes! we know they wish they had what we have...

[latina4dubya]

It most certainly is not. It's quite the opposite. You did not read the whole article before bashing it.

yes--i now see what you are saying:

Living standards in countries such as Ethiopia and Niger should be, at the very least, as high as those in America today. In that sense we should all aim to be fat Americans.

[Thinkin' Gal]

That's just not right.

[Huntress]

I thought it was short people we were supposed to hate. I heard they have no reason to live.

Hehehe.

[BookaT]

I recently read about Germans actually being fatter on average than Americans.

I don't remember were I read it. I really think a lot of people could lose some weight andfeel better about life. However I will never agree that any fast food or food producer should be held accountable for people being fat.

When you pick up that shovel or strap on the feed bag it is your choice

[Cobra64]

Holy shi'ite Batman... that's one fat broad!

[Bon mots]

Geographic Breakdown

The Domestic Impact
While obesity rates have increased in adults nationwide, the epidemic has increased more dramatically in specific areas of the country. The following chart depicts a regional breakdown among people in the U.S. The prevalence of overweight and obese persons is highest overall in the Southern region of the country.

---

[Bon mots]

Where the fatties are:




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