Obesity "More Dangerous Than Terrorism"
Are you as sick of this kind of nanny state advocacy as I am? So called "experts,"--who I have come to believe are the cause of most society's problems--are now proclaiming obesity to be more dangerous than terrorism. From the story: World governments are focusing too much on fighting terrorism while obesity and other "lifestyle diseases" are killing millions more people, an international conference heard Monday. Overcoming deadly factors such as poor diet, smoking and a lack of exercise should take top priority in the fight against a growing epidemic of chronic disease, legal and health experts said. Global terrorism was a real threat but posed far less risk than obesity, type two diabetes and smoking-related illnesses, US law professor Lawrence Gostin said at the Oxford Health Alliance Summit here. "Ever since September 11 we've been lurching from one crisis to the next which has really frightened the public," Gostin told AFP later. "While we've been focussing so much attention on that we've had this silent epidemic of obesity that's killing millions of people around the world and we're devoting very little attention to it and a negligible amount of money."
Give me a break! Stop the hysteria! This kind of inapt moral equivalency not only diminishes the true dangers of terrorism--which is mass murder most foul and could become genocide if the terrorists ever get nukes or a deadly microbe--but it also promotes the idea that the state has the obligation to force us to live lifestyles acceptable to "the experts." I am not against educating people to live healthy lifestyles, of course. But this is flat out ridiculous.
P.S. Does it seem to you that these experts really want money transferred from stopping Osama and into their pockets so they can micromanage the lives of billions of people? Now, that's power!
Labels: Expertitis
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 10:09 AM
8 Comments
8 Comments:
slow news day Wesley?
Really? You think terrorism is more likely to kill you than the 143 million pounds of bad beef just recalled?
Your moral compass doesn't point you to the fact that the USDA missed out on protecting America from bad food practices(you must feel they have no serious moral obligation to US citizens) because their work force has been reduced while the amount of food they need to audit has increased, or that the recall was prompted by one of those "animal rights" groups you preach against, actually discovered that the food we are being served cant even walk. Yeah they're doing the USDAs job.
The recall was prompted by a stomach-churning video filmed by the animal luvin Human Society at a California slaughterhouse, showing workers tormenting sick beef cows.
The workers beat, dragged and jabbed the animals' eyes, hoping pain would make them stagger to their feet. They sprayed a powerful water hose into one sick cow's nose.
What an udder disgrace.
You think a terrorist is more likely to kill us than a Big Mac Heart Attack. You must be aware that heart related disease is the leading cause of death in the country. But hey ignore it, wave a flag about cave dwelling Muslims who are going to blow you up with a suicide vest, when ever a legitimate problem with our food supply arises.
Do you think heart disease is not a moral obligation of the fast food establishment, and that uninformed Americans should ignorantly blissfully suck down grease and fat and meat to our hearts content without warning?
Ignore the fact that latest recall shows, food safety has taken a back seat to industry profits.
Hmm , I'll have to disagree, and if you think the trillions of dollars we spend on military deficit is not enough and we need to sink more money into finding Osama Hussein, then you do not recognize the moral destruction you are imparting on future generations through debt and corporate corruption.
Go have some Freedom Fries and worry about the terrorists waiting for you while mortgaging the future of your children’s country to heed George Bush’s paranoid call for safety through war ...puhh-leeez
Dark: I posted on the beef recall before it was huge news, in fact, off of the govt. press release. Didn't know HSUS's involvement at the time.
HSUS, by the way, used the abominal treatment of the downer cows appropriately. But their goal isn't safer meat, it is no meat.
The industries that do cruel things like that play right into their enemies' hands.
The jihad is real. But that's a debate for another blog, not this one.
Thanks for writing.
Well, if we continue along the line of making fuel out of food, these nice people may get their wish.....and then some.
Mort
Hi Wesley,
Do you see an inconsistency with opposition to this sort of thing and support for the FDA ?
Now i'm not suggesting that these are equivalent, but they would both seem to be nanny state intrusions.
Absolutely. Food ain't a drug for one thing. Drugs have side effects. They must be tested for safety and efficacy. Food, while sometimes abused--is well, food.
I am not a libertarianm obviously. Regulation has its place, particularly with regard to issues people can't deal with individually. The government definitely should regulate food safety--as in the great beef recall recently, for example. But I don't think it has a place telling people (adults anyway) what or how much they can eat.
The other thing that bothers me is that we have gone full circle: It used to be if we don't do this, or we don't do that, "the terrorists win." I thought that was bogus and I think that stating this issue or that issue is worse than terrorism is just as dumb. Let's see: we have global warming, obesity, smoking, etc..
Etc. Etc.
Dark Swan -
I am obese. I acknowledge it and I recognized the problem on my own. I stopped eating fast food. I stopped eating as much beef and went to baked chicken. I eat more veggies and less chocolate and candy. I walk more and sit less. I have so far lost about twenty pounds and am working on losing the rest.
I don't need someone mothering me and telling me what I should or should not eat. I figured that out on my own. I'm 30 years old - I'm an adult. I don't need somebody else to take the blame for the fact that I have a weakness for Jumbo Jacks and 3 Musketeers bars. I had to grow up on my own and make my own decisions.
If I order a hamburger sandwich, I don't need some government watchdog looking over my shoulder saying, "You shouldn't eat that, y'know. You'll get fat." I've got a Yiddish Mama who does that quiet effectively, thanks.
I'll get fat. Yeah, doy, I know that! I'm gonna get a knife and cut it in half, eat half of it now, and save the rest for later, instead of gorging on the whole thing. I'm a big girl! I can do this! I have the technology!
I'd rather the government keep an eye on anybody who wants to kill me and keep them from killing me, thanks. If they don't stop other people from killing me, it won't matter so much that I'm working on my own to lose weight, now, will it?
By the way -
Eat sensibly, exercize every day, diet and don't indulge on snacks... die anyway.
He who dies thinnest... still dies.
Love,
Tabs
thanks Tabs,
good luck with your diet, newfound energy awaits you..
...I never said anything about the govt telling you what to eat. I agree, less govt = good for liberty. I did the USDA failed its duty to oversee fair practice in the meat industry, leaving it to an animal rights group to sound the alarm on unsafe beef.
Also, What I did point out is that Wesley thinks your more in danger from a terrorist than a heart attack or stroke. I totally disagree with his point.
I think feeding the Military Industrail Complex to save us from terrorists as stated above is a very bad idea. Transfering hard earned tax dollars to wealthy military corporations who make it ther business to sustain war and death is the biggest immorality of our government. But I havent seen Wesley discuss issues of that moral magnitude or relevance here.
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