Posted on 05/23/2008 7:17:18 PM PDT by Eric Blair 2084
Stigma can be a powerful force in changing behavior. Just ask smokers, whose once accepted habit is now so marginalized that the prevalence of smoking has dropped to about 19 percent of U.S. adults from nearly 24 percent just a decade ago. A lot of factors figured into the decline since smoking's mid-20th-century peak, but the sense that smoking is disgusting as well as unhealthful and socially costly has certainly contributed to many people's decision to quit.
Now that smokers have been taken care of, the obese are the new scapegoats for a lot of our ills. Last week, a letter published in the Lancet noted that the obese contribute more than their thinner compatriots to food scarcity and global warming, given that they eat more and require more transportation energy to move themselves around. While the authors' intent was probably not to make the obese feel worse, the media translations of the study in my quick Google search turned up headlines such as "Fat People Cause Global Warming, Higher Food Prices" and "Scientists Blame Fat People for Global Warming."
You might think that the obese could use some blame. As obesity increasingly becomes the norm, maybe society has grown too accepting. Perhaps what is lacking is the same thing that helped smokers lose their butts: a healthy dose of social stigma. If only there were more shame in being fat, maybe more people would be motivated to lose weight. But in fact, researchers say, stigma does very little to motivate overweight or obese people to change.
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...
haha! he was fantastically funny back in the day...
Thin women aren't nuts, they're just HUNGRY!!
Not everyone who is large is a glutton. People who take certain kinds of medications, like steroids for autoimmune disorders, or even certain kinds of cancer treatments, can end up looking fat. Can you tell by looking at someone whether they are obese from overeating or instead from some physical ailment? How it feel for you to be judged as a "pig" by people who don't even know you, when you were really suffering from an illness? Granted, it is a small percentage of overweight people who are in this position, but you never know.
I have a relative who is big and believe me, they get discriminated against. She eats less than most people I know. Also, I remember once complimenting a man I worked with who had formerly been heavy on his obvious success in losing the pounds. It turned out he had osteosarcoma and that was why he was getting skinny; he was dead in a few months. It was I who ended up feeling ashamed. Things are not always as they appear. There but for the grace of God go any of us.
Hildy, I've been around long enough to remember when "if it feels good, do it" was not the way most people thought or lived their lives. Stigmas and fear of parental outrage kept many in check. Shame was alive and well then.
In today's world, many young people, and even older ones, shack up without benefit of a marriage license. Should their parents refuse to associate with them under these circumstances? This would be one way of stigmatizing their actions.
That most parents haven't is part of the problem. I believe children who have good parents need the love and acceptance of those parents. Too many parents caved in to this new trend.
Yes, stigma is a persuasive tool to keep us in line, but if we think we all have the right to point out another's faults, no one will be speaking to each other any more!
Including all too frequently right here on FR.
Makes you wish the monitor worked both ways so we could see what the stigmatizers looked like..
But FR is just a reflection of one part of Society. At the other end are the Fat Acceptance and "Big Is Beautful" people.
For me, it's not the weight issue that is a problem, it's the lack of fitness. I used to visit my niece at her college and have lunch with her and her friends. One would think, "Wow, being surrounded by college girls.."
Umm...pot bellies and flabby arms on both sexes. Too much internet, video games, etc.
We do not see children playing outdoors much or walking to school any more compared to a generation or two ago. The SUV caravans await the school bus so the kids do not have to waddle a few hundred feet.
Given this, of course we are getting fat and weak.
Here I am typing when there is a lawn to mow and a stump to dig out...
Outside of adolescents, who even thinks in terms of being “cool”?
Ah, a Conservative Socialist. Sounds like a party you and your dweeby ilk can get behind.
The ultimate goal now is the cover and to hell with the book.
Surprisingly, this is from a left-leaning Brit:
Can Blaming People for Being Fat Help Curb Obesity?
Can blaming journalists for stupid propaganda stop stupidity?
No, because journalists are too stupid to realize they’re stupid.
Their version of “Stigma” hasn’t worked on me for smoking.. lol they forget.. some people LIKE a smoke once and a while.. a bunch of whiny crying liberals trying to give me a stigma about it isn’t going to change me wanting to have a cigarette after dinner.. lol
I’m not sure if the anti tobacco garbage will fail with the sheeple.. but the more they push me the stronger my resolve is to tell them to get lost.
There are a whole lot of people who smoke but wont admit it.
I see it first hand in town (Vegas) when I go in to the casinos.
I have heard first hand many times people saying things like “Don’t tell so and so I smoke, when I am in Vegas and at home I do it.. but I don’t want this or that person to know”
Many many people lie about smoking.. some of my friends smoke but say they would never admit it to anyone but other smokers.
It's impossible to separate them from those who simply gorge their way through life just by looking at them.
To allow the Weight Nazis to victimize and brand a whole class of mostly good people and good citizens as quasi-criminals, weak-minded, mentally-unstable, pigs and gluttons, and enemies of the welfare of the state is intolerable and reminiscent of the fascism of the 30's and 40's.
But then, we see evidence of the liberal fascists trying to control our lives every day, don't we.
Any one of us could be targets of attack by them at any given time for things beyond our control. The posters here who lump the obese into one group to attack and scorn are beneath contempt.
Leni
I am for blaming the obese for being fat in the sense that it is their responsibility. But that doesn’t mean that the government should be targeting them in any way, shape or form. Social engineering is for losers.
I would add that there are some people here who treat expressions of disapproval the way liberals treat smoking. I had one guy (can’t remember his name but I do recall he was zotted in the Saturday Night Massacre last year) go ‘round and ‘round with me asserting that Christians writing a letter to a TV network about content in a show is exactly the same as the government banning the content. It was just bizarre.
So, who are you to wave your finger?
I’m sure you have NO habits that could be considered “unhealthy” or annoying.
It must be nice to be perfect.
Freedom of choice includes the freedom to make bad choices. You have NO right to tell anyone other than yourself and your children what to do. By using the state to enforce your *feelings* about some action that presents you and yours no danger is the ultimate in leftist thought.
I’m an adult. My parents raised me as best they could, and I now make all my own decisions, and have for over 30 years. I certainly don’t need some busybody telling me what I should and should not consume.
Oh, and I am not a smoker, not that it’s any of your concern.
You’ve obviously missed the “that girl needs a cheeseburger” posts on nearly every Ann Coulter thread...
You are well adjusted. Those who like to screw with other people are neurotic morons.
Yep. For some reason they're unable to comprehend the all-important distinction between mere expressions of disapproval (however harsh) and calls for gov't action/prohibition.
Just for fun, I'll paraphrase your comment.
There are a whole lot of people who are fat but won't admit it. ...some of my friends are fat but say they would never admit it to anyone but other fatties. LOL
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