A fat rant.

[jazzer]

This self destructive life style leads to major medical expenses that I have to pay for in my taxes when these people have heart attacks and get ailments like diabetes for example.

Kinda like when women use abortion as birth control and guess who picks up the tab. There are a lot things our taxes go for, and if someone is displeased either write your political rep or speak at the voting booth I guess.

[guyser]

Why stop at fat people?

We would be entering a very slippery slope should we start to charge for being fat. Perhaps we could tax , or rather "sin tax" foods to help pay for the rise of obesity and unhealthy living.

But then we can start moving towards the genetic tax , since so many problems in health and wellness are genetically passed on. We can charge little tiny taxes since the taxee will be paying from the moment he/she is born. Lets be honest, some disease or hereditary trait is well known to the parents and they knowingly went on to have babies. So..pay up.

We already sin tax booze and smokes, so lets get more money, legalize pot and tax the hell out of it.

While we are at it lets not forget to tax the adventurous among us. Put a special tax on mountain climbing, mountain biking, spelunking , any form of motor racing , snowmobiling , atv riding , etc. It would have to be a very hefty since not many people do these things, and as such that specific tax base needs to support the outrageous incurred costs. It could be $100 or more per session...who knows?

Smokers at least pay their share. The money from smokers exceeds the liabilities and can create windfalls for govt pension plans. They die early, cant collect, but with every pack they open they make a good contribution to paying their share.

And then we will need to the stupidity tax. Or more commonly called the parent tax. When they let lil johnny out to ride his bike without a helmet, stupid tax comes into effect.

I suppose we need to find better ways than attacking the fat people of this world. Morbidly obese people are sick , very sick and not just because they are stuffing their maw on a daily basis.

[Amazing Atheist]

Well, good for you AA. I still think obesity is not all cut and dried, black and white. At least you don't lump all overweight people in the same category as a couple of poster from this thread.

Obesity is not black in white I never said it was.

There are 2 categories of obese people. There are those who eat themselves to obesity and as i mentioned in my last post there are those who either have bad luck genetically or some medical problem.

Those who have medical issues etc aren't the problem and never were. The real problem are those who are putting massive strain on our health care system. Not just overweight people either. The ectomorphs which are the skinny people who never gain a pound who eat themselves to a heart attack or other health problems are equally as bad too.

There are ways to curb this behavior though and I do have some suggestions.

1: Ban ads on TV etc for fast food and other foods that are considered unhealthy, very much in the same manner as the banning of cigarette ads.

2: Increase taxes on unhealthy foods and make healthy foods more affordable for people.

3: Regulations on the chemicals as well as other contents in foods like sugars, fats and salts etc.

4: Ban candy machines and pop machines in schools nationally and replace those with healthy alternatives.

5: Regulate retailers to start advertising healthy products and placing them in the front of the store as opposed to junk food which is what most do now.

6: Ban all unhealthy foods from school cafeterias and replace them with healthier alternatives.

Banning ads does work when combined with proper education, an example of this can be seen with the steady drop in the number of tobacco users out there as cigarettes not only become increasingly expensive but 'uncool' as well.

Obesity is on the rise because people are increasingly eating bad food and drinking more pop etc.

[jazzer]

Good post AA.

[Amazing Atheist]

Good post AA.

Well it's true.

I unlike many people understand that what most people eat is either going to kill them eventually or almost definitely cause health problems for people later on.

I am not targeting fat people so much as the companies who manufacture the poison they eat. In that regard someone who has ate themselves almost to the point of no return is also to blame.

I can't lump all the blame on companies some of it has to be lumped on those literally eating themselves to death.

With the rise in obesity related health problems the health care system will under gor major strain in the decades to come.

[Frankie]

Good Stuff Amazing Atheist. Someone has to put those issues you raised into action. I think those are easy to comply with, it's just a matter of someone having the responsility to do it. You know, some schools have taken some of that stuff into action, but it all depends of the school. You know what would be great, is if the government could take it upon themselves to enforce these issues. I think it's an important issue, and the corporations and school boards and such, just couldn't care less I think. This is a political issue that should be handled as such, to do what's best for the people.

[Amazing Atheist]

Good Stuff Amazing Atheist. Someone has to put those issues you raised into action. I think those are easy to comply with, it's just a matter of someone having the responsility to do it. You know, some schools have taken some of that stuff into action, but it all depends of the school. You know what would be great, is if the government could take it upon themselves to enforce these issues. I think it's an important issue, and the corporations and school boards and such, just couldn't care less I think. This is a political issue that should be handled as such, to do what's best for the people.

Our government is supposed to act in our best interests taking action in regards to health problems and deaths caused by the foods that are made cheap and convenient to people is the only responsible path to take.

It however is not only the government though I also feel that the people also have a responsibility to help themselves as well.

I mean we can't out right ban shitty food but we can make it more expensive via taxes and at the same time lower prices on healthier alternatives. Of course these taxes would be directly put into the health care system and into the promotion of healthy eating habits.

In regards to schools many school boards all across Canada have now banned pop and candy machines, while they still could do more it is at least a start.

[White Doors]

I unlike many people understand that what most people eat is either going to kill them eventually or almost definitely cause health problems for people later on.

Breathing oxygen has the same effect.

But thanks for sharing your benevolent knowledge with us Plebs.

[AngusThermopyle]

It however is not only the government though I also feel that the people also have a responsibility to help themselves as well.

I believe that people have a far greater obligation to take care of themselves than the government does. To even speculate that the government is responsible for the personal health choices people make is absurd. What next? The government should make us bathe regularly, make us go to bed at the approved time?

I find far too many people are unwilling to behave like adults and accept responsibility for their own lives, this whole idea that the government should make sure we eat properly simply serves to illustrate the lack of personal responsibility many people display in this day and age.

[Amazing Atheist]

I believe that people have a far greater obligation to take care of themselves than the government does. To even speculate that the government is responsible for the personal health choices people make is absurd. What next? The government should make us bathe regularly, make us go to bed at the approved time?

I find far too many people are unwilling to behave like adults and accept responsibility for their own lives, this whole idea that the government should make sure we eat properly simply serves to illustrate the lack of personal responsibility many people display in this day and age.

It is hard for people to take responsibility especially if your on the lower end of the income spectrum.

Shitty food is cheaper, advertised more and so on. The government does have responsibility in regards to higher taxation and stiffer food regulations. The CRTC for example could ban ads for fast food and other junk food etc. People also have to make choices in regards to what they eat but for some it can't be done especially not with healthy food costing much more then unhealthy food.

No one is saying you have to eat healthy but if you don't you should have to pay more for food then those who don't as you are deliberately putting you self at increased risk of health complication which then turns into increased health care costs.

[capricorn]

I believe that people have a far greater obligation to take care of themselves than the government does.

I agree. The more a government does for its citizens, the less citizens take responsibility for themselves and their families.

One of the pitfalls of a universal program such as health care which is managed by government is that citizens eventually call for more and more regulations to bring citizens in line. If there were no universal health care and citizens had to pay for their own care, you can be sure we wouldn't have to cajole or regulate them to look after their health and that of their families.

[Moxie]

Mother of god, now the extreme left want the government to be food police. Honestly if you guys and gals ever end up in charge of this country I hope I'm dead. You won't be happy until the government has a chip in our forheads where you can have your socialist idiology downloaded into our brains daily. Honestly, your assertion that the government should control our diet is absurb. Garbage Police, Food Police what's next with the Nanny Nation Lovers? SEX, oh yea I can see you butting into the bedrooms of our nation. Nothing is sacred as long as your Socialist Idiology of dependance on the State is being enforced.

I posted that video because I liked this woman's attitude about her self image and it's turned into a thread where some want us to be controled by the Government's Fat Police. The word Nazi keeps going through my head, I wonder whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, is it because the hard left uses Communism as their idiology?

Bye the way the great epidemic on Obesity is another left wing Tin Foil Conspiracy. When Global Warming wasn't embraced by the unwashed masses the media unleased the "Obesity Threat" to society. The Ice Age, Y2K, blah blah blah.

Give up, only a very small number of Canadians want to live in the socialist version of Utopia. Who's going to pay for all this Nanny Nation mentality? Us Cons as always.

[geoffrey]

I'd have no problem with people being ridiculously overweight. I have a problem with paying for it Moxie.

Your idealistic free loving world doesn't exist in Canada. If you paid health insurance based on your actual risk, then sure, we could avoid policing foods. But that's not an option as long as the cost is shared. We already heavily tax alcohol and smokes because of their health effects. Transfat rich foods and other unhealthy foods should also be taxed. As should unhealthy lifestyles.

If we aren't going to force people to pay for their risk, then we need to force them to pay for the habits that cause the risk.

--

By the way, more evidence that being fat will kill you, make you sick and make you a burden on the rest of the population:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ry/Science/home

[ScottSA]

It is hard for people to take responsibility especially if your on the lower end of the income spectrum.

Tripe. I see more pizza deliveries and Mcdonalds denizens from the lower economic strata than the upper, and I have a hard time justiying dropping $30 to $40 on pizza deliveries myself, so lets not trot out the old catfood and potato mantra here.

[ScottSA]

I posted that video because I liked this woman's attitude about her self image and it's turned into a thread where some want us to be controled by the Government's Fat Police. The word Nazi keeps going through my head, I wonder whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, is it because the hard left uses Communism as their idiology?

I always agree that a person should have the right to do what they want, as long as they pay their own way. I'm all for smokers rights, for two reasons:n One, they live shorter lives as a rule and don't burden the HC system for decades of declining years, and two, sin taxes more than pay the HC costs of their ailments before kicking. Thus it becomes a matter of personal choice.

Fat related deseases mean shorter lives, but there is no sin tax to pay for the related medical costs. I'm all for people's right to lumber around looking like creamed cottage cheese in cellophane if that's what they care to do, but there's an issue of HC to consider too. The seedier side of socialized medicine is that if the state is asked to pay for HC, it has a moral right to regulate health to some extent too.

[Amazing Atheist]

I agree. The more a government does for its citizens, the less citizens take responsibility for themselves and their families.

One of the pitfalls of a universal program such as health care which is managed by government is that citizens eventually call for more and more regulations to bring citizens in line. If there were no universal health care and citizens had to pay for their own care, you can be sure we wouldn't have to cajole or regulate them to look after their health and that of their families.

I would rather pay for my health care via taxes then pay for health care per doctors visit. The private health care system in the US is the second leading cause of bankruptcy...

The average middle class Canadian would not be able to afford the costs associated with abolishing public health care.

I believe however that a 2 tier system where private business should be able for example to have MRI service and what have you while at the same time also having the same service at public hospitals for those who cannot afford to pay.

[Amazing Atheist]

I posted that video because I liked this woman's attitude about her self image and it's turned into a thread where some want us to be controled by the Government's Fat Police. The word Nazi keeps going through my head, I wonder whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, is it because the hard left uses Communism as their idiology?

Anyone who uses the word Nazi automatically loses any debate....

It is either higher taxes on food or regulating it, you really can't have it both ways. Obesity as a result of eating shitty food is an epidemic.

For those who eat themselves to death you should not have a good self image. Having a good perspective about how much fat you gained eating poison is not good at all.

[AngusThermopyle]

For those who eat themselves to death you should not have a good self image.

This is just a wild guess, a stab in the dark if you will, but I don't think that those who eat themselves to death have any kind of self image at all. Good or bad.

[SVTman]

so i just got to watch the Video of this girl. she seems to have a very good head on her shoulders. i think that she will do very well in this life even if she is a little big boneded. does that mean i am going to try and be that way no and i am sure she will still try and loose some weight but i think that she will because she has a reather good outlook on her situation.