tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13776557.post3309211287052360207..comments2023-05-12T09:10:41.514-07:00Comments on Fatosphere: Things that make you go hmm...Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655779284394470566noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13776557.post-59310194259977932542008-04-24T13:42:00.000-07:002008-04-24T13:42:00.000-07:00Hi Anonymous,In response to your first question: i...Hi Anonymous,<BR/><BR/>In response to your first question: in a nutshell, no. Going on a diet in most cases requires spending more money, not less. I don't agree with those who try to reduce the "cause of obesity" to economic factors, but there is no denying that there is a strong correlation between poverty and fat. This may be because it is easy to get low-quality food for cheap (think McDonald's), though not all fat people eat a poor quality diet so this can't be the whole explanation for the correlation.<BR/><BR/>As for what triggers people's "disgust", who knows. Probably a lot of things. But if it's a comparison between fat people in the US vs. starving people elsewhere in the world, that is extremely naive for many obvious reasons: (1) if we ate less food in the US, the surplus couldn't just magically be distributed for free to people who needed it elsewhere; (2) a fat person doesn't necessarily eat more than a thin person; (3) even if fat people eat more food on average than thin people, you can't look at an individual person's body and know anything about their overall resource consumption because (a) they may drive a Hummer or ride a bike; (b) they may be a vegan or a carnivore; (c) they may have ten kids or none; etc. I could continue enumerating these arguments all day, but hopefully you get the point.<BR/><BR/>If I was going to be really snarky, I might say something like "What about the moral implications of imposing artificial starvation on yourself to lose weight for aesthetic reasons when people in other countries are dying of real starvation that they have no control over?" Oh, oops, I just said it.Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05655779284394470566noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13776557.post-41831289309215188392008-04-24T12:16:00.000-07:002008-04-24T12:16:00.000-07:00Do you think that the steadily rising cost of food...Do you think that the steadily rising cost of food will affect overweight/obese individuals..i.e...encourage them to lose weight? Additionally, do you think part of the disgust that some people feel towards the overweight/ obese is the moral implications of this physical state as while so many throughout the world are suffering from malnutrition and starvation?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13776557.post-78418586366686586252008-04-22T11:37:00.000-07:002008-04-22T11:37:00.000-07:00Hmmm... banning fat-accepting websites.... Well, ...Hmmm... banning fat-accepting websites.... Well, we could always take the example of online gambling sites and host our blogs on servers in Panama.<BR/><BR/>But seriously, I do see your point. For me, the whole issue boils down to this: I may disagree, and think someone is a complete ass, but I respect their right to say such stoopid things, because if someone stops them then where do we draw the line? Free speech and all that.<BR/><BR/>Unless, of course, that idiotspeek is in the comments section of my blog. Then I just delete it, because I am, you know, Supreme Ruler of Musings.Fat Chickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05176272413381902774noreply@blogger.com