Time's Letters Show Ignorance
This is frustrating. LLW sent over a note that Time had run two letters in reply to its CDC coverage. Have a look. The first one, though, is a kicker.
The American public does not need the CDC, the CCF or anybody else to tell them what to think. Just spend a few weekends observing the crowds at amusement parks, the local zoo, or other popular spots. The obesity problem is glaring. If you don't believe your own eyes, ask foreigners visiting our country what they notice most about us.
The beauty is that that's from a doctor - Dr. Amir Mehran at UCLA. It all comes down to appearance. I think I'm particularly fond of how the good doctor just admitted that he can diagnose people by looking at them. That's an amazing trait and, really, is marketable.
Then, almost in reply, you get this letter addressing - surprise - the relationship between us and foreign countries.
Your report confirmed that we are in a state of denial about our health, particularly about obesity. People in the U.S. are ridiculously overweight compared with those in Europe, let alone Asia. The money spent here to treat increased numbers of cases of diabetes and coronary disease alone should tell us that it is not "O.K. to be pudgy." Wake up, Americans! You are fat and paying a dreadful price for failing to eat less and exercise more. Obesity is an epidemic.
It's immensely frustrating that Time chose to run just two letters from people who are pretty closed-minded on the thing. The doctor has a vested interest, sure. But the author of the second letter, Jeffrey Sears, only has ignorance to blame. It's frustrating when people just shut off and don't even consider the facts laid out before them.
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| MichMurphy |
May 28th, 2005 | Link |
I just wanted to comment on
I just wanted to comment on something regarding the cultural influence on health professionals to see 'obesity' as a disease.
I recently visited a health professional, who had the same training, in this country, as all of her other colleagues, but due to the fact that she was raised in a totally different culture, in Jamaica, her views on fat are wildly different from the mainstream. And, to repeat, she has the same training as her anti-fat colleagues, so it seems that the variable at work here is simply her upbringing.
She told me that, in Jamaica, "bigger is better," and even after all her North American education, that philosophy stuck with her, and she refused to -- actually COULD not -- view fatness as a disease state. She is the first size-friendly health professional I have met in the flesh.
I find it interesting that the doctor who wrote that vitriolic letter above does not even stop to think for a moment that maybe, just maybe, he is viewing the topic through a cultural lens and, furthermore, not everyone sees things the way he does -- even other health professionals.
As you can see, this also puts an interesting spin on the theory that "people from other countries" also think obesity is a disease. I guess the question really should be, "from WHICH countries?" Because -- gasp -- some cultures might be different than others, and therefore hold different opinions about body size.
It is not as universal as some would like us to believe.
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| chublove |
May 29th, 2005 | Link |
"If you don't believe your
"If you don't believe your own eyes, ask foreigners visiting our country what they notice most about us."
"People in the U.S. are ridiculously overweight compared with those in Europe, let alone Asia."
I would agree both with MichMurphy's comment above and add my personal observation:
When my British partner visited the US for the first time, you wanna know the thing he noticed the most about "us?" That the whole "Americans are so obese" rhetoric was a lot of hooey. He actually commented to me several times that everybody looked normal enough--which I guess carries with it its own set of problems, but the point is that to plenty of "foreigners," this "epidemic" of weight is silly and nonexistent, at least when they're able to observe for themselves who's going to all the amusement parks and zoos. But I've found that many Europeans have different ideas of what overweight/fat/etc. mean--to most everybody here in the states, I'm very overweight, and am treated as such, but in Europe, I've found a higher degree of fat acceptance.
Oh, and I love the silent paradox in that doctor's statement--he seems to be condemning fatties for going out and being active. I guess we present eyesores in popular public areas. So we can't go out in public, lest we offend somebody's delicate sensibilities, but if we stay home, that of course contributes to our "deadly disease." Give me a break.
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| antidieter |
May 29th, 2005 | Link |
why is the doctor watching
why is the doctor watching people anyway? isn't he there to enjoy teh rides? if he wants to observe people there are cheaper places to do that.
and to look at someone and make an estimation of their health status that is a skill I should would like to learn.
RR
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| profe |
May 29th, 2005 | Link |
Both letter writers are
Both letter writers are wrong, of course. There is no statistically meaningful difference between U.S. body weights and those in England or Germany. Fat people in Europe are not as visible --they are more likely to be rural whereas big people are urban in the U.S. Also, big people in Europe are more covered up and don't go around in shorts or tight fitting t-shirts.
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| EmilyH |
June 2nd, 2005 | Link |
Argh! So what are us
Argh! So what are us "pudgy" people supposed to do, starve ourselves and become anorexic? It's genetic! When are they going to figure that out?
Telling people they are not okay to be the way they were born is just ridiculous and amounts to nothing more than bigotry.
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| Pollux |
June 2nd, 2005 | Link |
Wow, that's really sick that
Wow, that's really sick that this doctor guy seems to want fatter people to not LIVE at all. We're not allowed anywhere because we're so offensive. We all know we're not welcome at health clubs because those are for people who are already thin. It's like how people feel about Church -- some people get the idea that you must be a perfect Christian but the old adage is that a Church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints. I see this mentality in the realm of being heavy. You are expected to become thin before you're ALLOWED to step into the world and live. Why is it that we have strangers decide how we should live? And if someone finds a person fat or ugly or anything, can't they just turn their head and look at someone who they think is great looking? How EASY is that? Instead we have to be humiliated and attacked so we will learn how worthless we are because of our size. This world is insane.
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